If you have questions about the new Rural Emergency Hospital model, we finally have some answers. Two years since Congress passed the law authorizing Emergency Rural Hospitals – and two months before billing can begin – we now know exactly what the new provider type will entail. With yesterday’s release of the Final Rule for… Read More

Last week, CMS released its final rule for the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS), and a larger-than-expected boost in operating payments got much of the attention from healthcare journalists and membership associations like the AHA. But beyond the immediate (and somewhat deceiving*) headline that reimbursement will increase by $2.6 billion, we at Ascendient were… Read More

As North Carolina considers various proposals for Certificate of Need reform, the state’s General Assembly invited Ascendient founder Dawn Carter share her CON expertise with the Joint Legislative Committee on Access to Healthcare and Medicaid Expansion. In a 30-minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of questions, Dawn used extensive data to refute the notion that… Read More

On August 30, 2021, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed Senate Bill 462 into law. The bill, which amends the Certificate of Need (CON) law as summarized below, takes effect on October 1, 2021. Increase in Three CON Cost Thresholds The bill increases three cost thresholds above which CON review would be required. Notably, these… Read More

TRANSCRIPTION: I’m Daniel Carter. I wanted to take a few minutes today to share some ideas with those of you who may be working on your community health needs assessments. Now, these are ideas that I have developed over a number of years working with all types of organizations including public health departments, FQHCs, and… Read More

  In this short video, Daniel Carter will discuss the evolution of microhospitals as he highlights two examples. Video Transcription: I’m Daniel Carter. I want to talk a little bit today about the evolution of microhospitals as it pertains to regulations.  To do that I want to talk about a couple of specific states. First… Read More

Is competition always healthy in the health care world? Dawn Carter and Richard Bruch go “On the Record” about possible changes to the “certificate of need” laws in North Carolina.