Morning Headlines 7/28/15

Senate panel will push HHS to delay Stage 3 MU rules

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will submit a series of recommendations to the Obama administration focused on expanding EHR use through directives and rule changes, rather than legislative actions that can take years to pass. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who chairs the committee, reports that the submission will include a recommendation that MU3 be delayed.

Health care will have its own Internet soon, Athenahealth chief says

CNBC interviews Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush, who predicts that “the lion’s share of routine health care” will be managed online in the future. Bush cites Amazon’s transformation of the retail market as an example of how to build consumer trust.  “Amazon took a piece of the Internet and made it safe enough, reliable enough, and connected enough that Main Street Americans use it for retail. We’re going to do the exact same thing. We know how to do this now. We’ve done it in other sectors."

Number of 5-star hospitals doubles in updated CMS ratings

CMS updates its five-star rating system for hospitals, which is based entirely on patient-satisfaction surveys, to reflect newly collected survey results. The scores will be updated quarterly moving forward.