Supply Chain

Hospitals could see substantial savings by instituting environmentally-friendly practices in operating rooms, says a study published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery.

As the price of a barrel of oil skyrockets, spurring fears of a worldwide recession, officials at Novation, a healthcare contracting supply company, and its members will be able to track supply costs better than before because the Texas-based company just began publishing its Budget Projections Impact Reports monthly instead of bi-yearly.

Recent deals highlight need to coordinate RCM decisions

Chris Charland is the senior director of capital equipment at Novation. He spoke recently with Healthcare Finance News editor Richard Pizzi about healthcare supply chain management trends to expect in 2011.

In early January, Blue Shield of California proposed rate hikes for nearly 200,000 individual policy holders that would see some members' premiums jump as much as 59 percent on March 1.

After more than a month of corporate chess that saw Community Health Systems launch a $3.3 billion hostile takeover bid for hospital operator Tenet Healthcare, things have quieted down.

The Senate has passed legislation that would repeal a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires small businesses, including physicians, to file an IRS form 1099 for each vendor purchase of $600 or more.

Amerinet, a St. Louis-based national group purchasing organization, has begun offering member facilities a program designed to help reduce energy consumption.

Overall U.S. healthcare prices increased slightly from November to December, rising 0.3 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Via Christi Health, the largest healthcare provider in Kansas, is expanding its relationship with MedAssets to optimize its financial improvement and lower costs on physician preference items through the company's clinical cost management consulting capabilities.