Steff Deschenes
The nature of a healthcare organization is to help others improve their health, but it would save money and reduce turnover if these organizations also focused on their own employees by promoting healthy living and wellness for them.
A patient spends just a few hours or days under the supervision of a clinician or nurse after a surgery or hospitalization. The rest of the recovery time and healing process is done within the patient's home. It's important to be able to retrieve real-time information from patients within these critical post-hospital days so physicians can spot trends and respond in a timely fashion if something needs immediate attention.
Organizations are beginning to recognize the importance of value-based purchasing. One industry expert offers three strategies for getting started immediately and making the most of this new payment model.
Health organizations rely on high-speed broadband connections for critical applications like telemedicine and remote care management of chronic illnesses. With the expansion of 4G LTE networks and other advances in technology, clinicians are able to identify issues before they become a crisis that require hospitalization, and reduce healthcare and operating costs. It also gives patients the opportunity to take charge of their health.
Many may think of data in terms of numbers and text, but not only does voice documentation have a place in the array of data collection tools that can be used by healthcare companies, it offers financial benefits.
Organizations face three major tasks when launching a telemedicine program throughout their clinical, technical and administrative departments. One industry insider offers three steps for successful implementation and achieving ROI.
Nearly every healthcare organization and affiliated clinician group faces challenges when working to meet new models of care and payment delivery. One industry expert offers six pieces of advice to lower costs, improve care and maximize revenue in the ED.
Hays Green, healthcare policy practice lead at WPC, a Nashville-based company that provides consulting solutions, has outlined five preparatory actions that providers can kickstart today to create a solid infrastructure to achieve long-term ACO goals. "These steps can help organizations enter the commercial realm of accountable care models on level footing," Green said.
In the Federal Register in 2000, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Compliance Program for Individual and Small Group Physician Practices identified monitoring and auditing as one of the seven components that provide a solid basis for an effective compliance plan. And with an increase in regulatory and payer audit activity seeking to identify improper payments, it's wise for proactive physician practices to implement processes that will ensure proper compliance.
Mergers and acquisitions generally occur because organizations want to become bigger or they want to acquire capabilities that will make them more effective, but no matter what the reasons for the transactions, they aren't simple.