Jeff Lagasse

Patient factors must weigh equally under Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program to avoid crippling penalties for safety-net facilities, study says.

Elizabeth Mitchell of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement said with preparation, it would be hard to still get hit with penalty.

Cost savings are further bolstered by avoiding unnecessary surgeries and achieving lower rates of expensive complications.

If quality of a hospital or system is made public and easier to understand, organizations have a market incentive to improve, says Leapfrog CEO.

The study saw little difference in patient mortality, hospital readmissions within 30 days, lengths of stay or specialty consultant use among patients treated by the expanded PA group and those treated by the conventional group.

While the AMA focused on a defense authorization bill, the AHA advocating for a bill that would remove the 96-hour physician certification requirement as a condition of payment for critical access hospitals.

PHMG says it will be able to redirect additional hours directly to patient care, as they will no longer be faxing patient records throughout the day.

HRI survey finds 40 percent of patients are now asking ahead for price estimates for their care and shopping around for best deals.

ASU plans to build a 150,000-square-foot medical facility that will house Mayo's new medical school, as well as a medical technology innovation accelerator and biomedical engineering research labs.

University Hospitals of Cleveland is just now beginning to move toward a streamlined billing solution.