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• CMS issues IPPS proposed rule for FY 2013

  Inpatient acute care hospitals could see a 2.3% increase in payment rates under the fiscal year (FY) 2013 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule, released April 24. The 2.3% is a net update after inflation, improvements in productivity, a statutory adjustment factor, and adjustments for hospital documentation and coding changes.

• HHS proposes one-year delay of ICD-10-CM/PCS

  HHS released a proposed rule today announcing a one-year delay of the implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS. If finalized, ICD-10 would become effective October 1, 2014.

• Major mobile operators to support free text alerts

  Major mobile operators in the U.S. will support wireless emergency alerts that will not cost receivers' a dime, reports MobiHealthNews.

• Psychiatric patients face much longer wait in EDs

  Patients who show up at the emergency room for psychiatric emergencies wait on average 11.5 hours. Those who are older, uninsured or intoxicated wait longer, according to a study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

• How hospitals can save water and big bucks too

  For more than a decade, Geoffrey W. Glass, director of Facility and Technology Services at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, has been finding ways to dramatically cut water use and waste. Through simple, economical, and incremental steps, the water conservation program has saved the 390-bed hospital at least $250,000 a year.

• McKesson False Claims Medicaid settlement bill: $190 million

  Inflated price reporting on prescription drugs that led to higher payment rates for pharmaceuticals under Medicaid cost McKesson Corporation $190 million in a settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the government announced Thursday, April 26.