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Founded in 1944, the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) is the not-for-profit research and education affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA). HRET’s mission is to transform health care through research and education. HRET’s applied research seeks to create new knowledge, tools and assistance in improving the delivery of health care by providers and practitioners within the communities they serve.

Further reading –

http://www.hret.org/

Health Risk Assesment – The HRA includes questions about chronic diseases, injury risks, modifiable risk factors, and urgent health needs. An HRA generally asks about overall health and functional matters such as ability to engage in activities of daily living (ADLs), level of physical activity, history with regards to falling, any experience with pain, eating patterns, fatigue, alcohol or tobacco use, and medication use.

Further reading –

https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/downloads/AWV_chart_ICN905706.pdf

Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designations are used to identify areas and population groups within the United States that are experiencing a shortage of health professionals. There are three categories of HPSA designation based on the health discipline that is experiencing a shortage:

1) primary medical;

2) dental; and

3) mental health.

The primary factor used to determine a HPSA designation is the number of health professionals relative to the population with consideration of high need. Federal regulations stipulate that, in order to be considered as having a shortage of providers, an area must have a population-to-provider ratio of a certain threshold. For mental health, the population to provider ratio must be at least 30,000 to 1 (20,000 to 1 if there are unusually high needs in the community).

The number of mental health care HPSA designations includes HPSAs that are proposed for withdrawal and HPSAs that have no data. By statute, designations are not withdrawn until a Federal Register Notice is published, generally once a year on or around July 1.

Further reading –

Mental Health Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)

Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. For 3 decades, Healthy People has established benchmarks and monitored progress over time in order to:

• Encourage collaborations across communities and sectors.
• Empower individuals toward making informed health decisions.
• Measure the impact of prevention activities.

Healthy People 2020 continues in this tradition with the launch on December 2, 2010 of its ambitious, yet achievable, 10-year agenda for improving the Nation’s health. Healthy People 2020 is the result of a multiyear process that reflects input from a diverse group of individuals and organizations. Read the press release for the Healthy People 2020 launch. [PDF – 149 KB]

Vision
A society in which all people live long, healthy lives.

Mission
Healthy People 2020 strives to:

• Identify nationwide health improvement priorities.
• Increase public awareness and understanding of the determinants of health, disease, and disability and the opportunities for progress.
• Provide measurable objectives and goals that are applicable at the national, State, and local levels.
• Engage multiple sectors to take actions to strengthen policies and improve practices that are driven by the best available evidence and knowledge.
• Identify critical research, evaluation, and data collection needs.

Overarching Goals

• Attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death.
• Achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups.
• Create social and physical environments that promote good health for all.
• Promote quality of life, healthy development, and healthy behaviors across all life stages.

Further reading –

https://www.healthypeople.gov/

The Healthcare Cost Report Information System (HCRIS) contains annual reports submitted by institutional providers to Medicare. It provides information to CMS that assists with the annual settlement summary between CMS and the institutional provider.

The cost report information includes facility level:

• utilization statistics,
• costs,
• charges,
• Medicare payments, and
• fiancial information.

Further reading –

https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Downloadable-Public-Use-Files/Cost-Reports/

The Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS, often pronounced by its acronym as “hick picks”) is a set of health care procedure codes based on the American Medical Association’s Current Procedural Terminology (CPT).[1]

The acronym HCPCS originally stood for HCFA Common Procedure Coding System, a medical billing process used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Prior to 2001, CMS was known as the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). HCPCS was established in 1978 to provide a standardized coding system for describing the specific items and services provided in the delivery of health care. Such coding is necessary for Medicare, Medicaid, and other health insurance programs to ensure that insurance claims are processed in an orderly and consistent manner. Initially, use of the codes was voluntary, but with the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) use of the HCPCS for transactions involving health care information became mandatory.[2]

HCPCS includes three levels of codes:

• Level I consists of the American Medical Association’s Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and is numeric.
• Level II codes are alphanumeric and primarily include non-physician services such as ambulance services and prosthetic devices, and represent items and supplies and non-physician services, not covered by CPT-4 codes (Level I).
• Level III codes, also called local codes, were developed by state Medicaid agencies, Medicare contractors, and private insurers for use in specific programs and jurisdictions. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) instructed CMS to adopt a standard coding systems for reporting medical transactions. The use of Level III codes was discontinued on December 31, 2003, in order to adhere to consistent coding standards.

Further reading –

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/MedHCPCSGenInfo/index.html

Risk Adjustment and Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) coding is a payment model mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 1997. Implemented in 2003, this model identifies individuals with serious or chronic illness and assigns a risk factor score to the person based upon a combination of the individual’s health conditions and demographic details. The individual’s health conditions are identified via International Classification of Diseases – 10 (ICD –10) diagnoses that are submitted by providers on incoming claims. There are more than 9000 ICD-10 codes that map to 79 HCC codes in the Risk Adjustment model.

CMS requires documentation in the person’s medical record by a qualified health care provider to support the submitted diagnosis. Documentation must support the presence of the condition and indicate the provider’s assessment and/or plan for management of the condition. This must occur at least once each calendar year in order for CMS to recognize the individual continues to have the condition.

Further reading –

https://www.icd10monitor.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-hierarchical-condition-categories-and-icd-10

CDC’s Health Alert Network (HAN) is CDC’s primary method of sharing cleared information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers; federal, state, territorial, and local public health practitioners; clinicians; and public health laboratories.

CDC’s HAN collaborates with federal, state, territorial, and city/county partners to develop protocols and stakeholder relationships that will ensure a robust interoperable platform for the rapid distribution of public health information. The HAN project is intended to “ensure that each community has rapid and timely access to emergent health information; a cadre of highly-trained professional personnel; and evidence-based practices and procedures for effective public health preparedness, response, and service on a 24/7 basis.”

Currently, HAN is a strong national program, providing vital health information and the infrastructure to support the dissemination of that information at the state and local levels, and beyond. A vast majority of the State-based HAN programs have over 90% of their population covered under the umbrella of HAN. The HAN Messaging System currently directly and indirectly transmits Health Alerts, Advisories, and Updates to over one million recipients. The current system is being phased into the overall PHIN messaging component.[1] CDC’s HAN is a strong national program, providing vital health information and the infrastructure to support dissemination at state and local levels, and beyond. The vast majority of the state-based HAN programs have over 90% of their populations covered under the umbrella of HAN. The HAN messaging system directly and indirectly transmits Health Alerts, Advisories, Updates, and Info Services to over one million recipients.

HAN Message Types

Health Alert: provides vital, time-sensitive information for a specific incident or situation; warrants immediate action or attention by health officials, laboratorians, clinicians, and members of the public; and conveys the highest level of importance.

Health Advisory: provides important information for a specific incident or situation; contains recommendations or actionable items to be performed by public health officials, laboratorians, and/or clinicians; may not require immediate action.

Health Update: provides updated information regarding an incident or situation; unlikely to require immediate action.

Info Service: provides general public health information; unlikely to require immediate action.

Further reading –

https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/index.asp

The Affordable Care Act Federal Upper Limit — or ACA FUL — is a drug pricing benchmark based on a new formula detailed in the Affordable Care Act. ACA FUL will be included among a variety of commonly consulted drug pricing benchmarks. They are derived from various methods and represent nuanced different assessments for comparison, analysis, and decisions related to reimbursement and product positioning.

Further reading –

https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/prescription-drugs/federal-upper-limits/index.html