Revenue Cycle Management
Based on 2011 data analyzed by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), total operating costs per full-time equivalent (FTE) physician rose a modest 1.27 percent since 2010. Hospital/IDS-owned multispecialty medical practices saw more of a cost jump over the same measurement period, MGMA reported, an increase of 6.45 percent.
Bundled payment and payment reform in general are hot topics in healthcare circles, and will prove to be a challenge for many. Jay Sultan, thought leader for payment reform at TriZetto, a healthcare management solutions company, shared with Healthcare Finance News five key ideas for hospital leaders to consider in order to break barriers to successfully implement payment reform at their organizations.
With healthcare costs and chronic disease rates continually rising each year, it will only become more difficult for both employees and employers (who must pay to insure their employees) to keep up financially, which is why successful employee wellness programs are becoming an increasingly important asset in the workplace.
Healthcare providers are feeling the pressure to implement ICD-10 by the Oct. 1, 2014 deadline. With so much reimbursement money on the line, 65 percent of providers are looking to third-party consultants for help making the switch, said a recent report from healthcare market researcher KLAS.
A report issued Nov. 29 by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) calling for more oversight of the meaningful use program has been mostly well-received by stakeholders. Doctors, however, are concerned about the burden of pre-payment audits.
A report released Nov. 29 by the Office of Inspector General calls for random audits of doctors and hospitals prior to payout through the meaningful use EHR incentive program, to ensure they have qualified. It is also calling for EHR certification changes to allow for reporting of yes/no measures.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will need to place a lot of emphasis on implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the coming year, according to the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) annual summary of management and performance challenges facing the agency, released this week.
A RAND Corporation study, released Monday in the November issue of Health Affairs, found that physicians with less than 10 years of experience had 13.2 percent higher overall costs than physicians with 40 or more years of experience.
When it comes to making difficult financial decisions at hospitals, it's crucial to maintain transparent communications with employees and the community. How one small hospital weathered a financial crisis was the focus of a presentation Oct. 26 at a hospital best practices workshop presented by the Maine chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association in Auburn, Maine.
The number of merger and acquisition transactions in the healthcare industry declined by nearly 10 percent in the third quarter of 2012 compared with the third quarter of 2011, according to a recent report from research and publishing firm Irving Levin Associates. Industry experts, however, do not believe it is a cause for major concern.