Govexec.com reports that OPM has clarified the earlier report about the number of current and former federal employees who will be affected by the December 1 change in ID security contractors.

Up to 150,000 hack victims will have to re-enroll in with ID Experts to
continue receiving credit monitoring, OPM said, as that population was
only affected by the initial hack and was therefore never offered
protection under the second ID Experts contract. An additional 450,000
to 500,000 individuals will receive notifications and a
renewed opportunity to enroll for the first time.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued earlier this week a final rule on 2017 payments to physicians under Medicare Part B.  No doubt after the election CMS will unveil 2017 Medicare Part B premiums and cost sharing amounts for Medicare participants.

CMS also issued a report on the latest results of the Hospital Value Based Purchasing Program. Modern Healthcare reports that a growing number of stakeholders believe that the time has come to pull the plug on this ACA program because it’s not having any appreciable impact on improving patient mortality rates.

Healthcare Dive informs us that the Leapfrog Group has issued its annual report on hospital safety.

Leapfrog’s fall 2016 Hospital Safety Grade program, which looked at patient safety at 2,633 U.S. hospitals, gave 844 an “A,” 658 a “B,” 954 a “C,” 157 a “D,” and 20 an “F.”

You can look up any particular hospital at the Group’s website.

Federal News Radio brings us up to date on TRICARE reform which is a topic tha the FEHBlog follows because a reform group has been suggesting that TRICARE should look more like the FEHBP.