March 4th 2024
A new study points to disparities for patients in respiratory failure, which can have dire consequences. The lead researchers talk about the implications.
Elevating to ICD-10: It may be a great fit for healthcare
December 1st 2007The World Health Organization's latest version of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) will bring "the good, the bad, and the ugly" for nearly all who use this classification system. However, the biggest asset is that the latest version is much more detailed and organized than ICD-9.
Read More
Control healthcare costs with effective use of hospitalists
November 1st 2007An effective use of hospitalists is to have them available to free up general practitioners from hospital rounds. Appropriate use of hospitalists can also enable physicians to visit patients more than once a day in the hospital setting.
Read More
ASCs have limited services but offer some advantages
November 1st 2007Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASC) represent an unparalleled snapshot of the evolution of healthcare delivery, experts say. The surge in growth of ASCs nationwide affords patients the opportunity for non-emergent surgical and procedural services outside the hospital structure while also yielding cost-effective benefits for managed care organizations.
Read More
Demand for e-visits grows but uptake still sluggish
November 1st 2007Earlier this year Susan Andrews, MD, evaluated a broken arm for a long-time patient in her family practice. Without leaving her Memphis office, Dr. Andrews conducted a complete history, assessed the injury and arranged a referral to an orthopedist, even though the patient was actually 2,000 miles away vacationing in the Caribbean.
Read More
Focus on fundamental right to healthcare for all
October 1st 2007Today's standard of care has morphed from comprehensive to catastrophic care. As the number of uninsured Americans has increased, so has the percentage of emergency room cases that aren't emergencies. As many as one-half of ER patients are there for routine treatment because they have nowhere else to go.
Read More
Medical home model champions patient-centered care
August 1st 2007The goals of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) are hard to argue with. The coalition of employers and physician groups hopes to transform how primary care is organized and financed. It says patients will get better treatment, physician payments will be improved and value will be added for purchasers and consumers by allowing patients' family doctors to coordinate care. That coordination will depend on technology.
Read More
Physician-hospital joint ventures evolve medical practice
August 1st 2007For years, surgeons and other specialists working at hospitals were at the financial mercy of administrators. While it was true that these physicians were the ultimate authority on clinical care, the decisions about equipment, more staff and other important aspects of treating patients were often out of their hands. With departments wrestling each other for precious few dollars, their requests were frequently denied.
Read More
GAO report says physician profiling could help control Medicare costs
July 1st 2007As the concern about the long-term fiscal viability of Medicare continues to grow, so has the recognition that some of the services ordered by physicians-and subsequently billed to Medicare-might not be warranted.
Read More
Right size engineering: MinuteClinic CEO Michael Howe puts retail service suite in context
July 1st 2007As far as Michael Howe is concerned, the healthcare community should no longer question whether retail clinics are here for the long haul. The way he sees it, the criticisms about quality and continuity remain theoretical and spoken by a vocal minority. But even more so, the millions of consumers who are driving demand for retail-clinic services seem to have answered the question already.
Read More
Doctors rarely talk about drug costs in treatment plans
June 1st 2007Employers are putting more financial burden on employees in the form of higher copays and deductibles, however, in the physician's office, patients' cost concerns usually aren't discussed in advance of a particular treatment.
Read More
P4P rewards: Paul Brough removes disconnects between more pay and better performance
April 1st 2007Virtually everyone agrees that properly incentivizing physicians-particularly rewarding the high-level performers-is critical to changing the direction of the U.S. healthcare industry. No single stakeholder can effect much of a change alone, however; if the industry is going to change, it will be with help from every direction and demographic.
Read More
One hospital's experience with remote radiology
April 1st 2007A joint collaboration between a small hospital in Indiana and an Indianapolis-based picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) and complete radiology provider enabled the small hospital round-the-clock access to radiologist services. Upon its opening in October 2006, the Monroe Hospital in Bloomington, Ind., joined forces with the PACS and radiology provider to supply the facility with radiologists to cover all of the hospital's general and subspecialty radiology services through both on-site and remote radiologists.
Read More
Hospitals look to improve infection-prevention measures
March 1st 2007The primary cost to patients with hospital-acquired infections is a prolonged stay and additional therapeutic interventions. But because of the high financial costs, there is increasing outside pressure to decrease infection rates.
Read More
Hospitals look to improve infection-prevention measures
March 1st 2007The primary cost to patients with hospital-acquired infections is a prolonged stay and additional therapeutic interventions. But because of the high financial costs, there is increasing outside pressure to decrease infection rates.
Read More
As the managed care industry continues to consolidate, not-for-profit and provider-sponsored plans haven't lost their niche in the marketplace. They compete on demonstrated quality and the added value of community accessibility, which would, on the surface, seem to be exactly what politicians and healthcare advocates are begging for.
Read More
National Provider Identifier: Leveraging regulation to improve health plan operational efficiencies
February 1st 2007The administrative simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish national standards for electronic healthcare transactions. This includes assigning healthcare providers a National Provider Identifier (NPI), a 10-digit numeric provider identifier that will be used in standard electronic transactions, such as healthcare claims. As of a legislated date of May 23, 2007, each participating provider will have one and only one NPI, regardless of practice locations or settings.
Read More
Arbitration resolves billing disputes without costly litigation
February 1st 2007With Administrative costs accounting for as much as 40% of all healthcare dollars spent, many states are seeking new and innovative ways to eliminate bureaucracy and red tape. One area receiving more attention is the resolution of billing disputes between providers and payers. In 2006, New Jersey and California implemented arbitration programs to resolve the growing aggregation of healthcare payment disputes.
Read More
Retail ready: Is value enough to keep convenient retail clinics on a roll?
February 1st 2007It would seem that any healthcare entity able to introduce lower costs and greater convenience would be welcomed with open arms, if not a genuine ticker-tape parade. Yet, walk-in retail clinics, new players built on low cost and convenience, are struggling to gain a national foothold, and experts aren't sure the new guy will even make it in the end.
Read More
Hospital disaster preparedness plans become a necessity
January 1st 2007In the late 1990s, the idea of a disaster preparedness strategy hardly registered for most of the nation's hospitals, but today more and more are coordinating individual and regional strategies. Hospitals in those communities where disasters have previously occurred are the most likely to have ongoing disaster preparedness plans in place.
Read More
Essential extras: Plans support dental and vision benefits that contribute to better health
January 1st 2007Just like the rest of healthcare, dental and vision ancillary benefit providers are adopting cost-sharing strategies that offer options to employees but demand more skin in the game. With less financial responsibility on the shoulders of employers, ancillary benefits have become more flexible, varied and are more closely tied to the overall health of individuals, who are assuming more risk for their health.
Read More
Hospital redesign can offer patients the best clinical care
October 1st 2006Step into any newly designed hospital today and you just might do a double take. Lobbies, corridors and patient rooms look more like those in hotels these days, catering to patients and families with restaurant-like pagers, plush family seating that converts into beds and a menu of dining options that allows patients to order what they want and when.
Read More