News
Health insurers are embracing social media, mobile health applications and even games as they position themselves for accountable care and try to encourage their members to take more interest in their wellness, according to a new report from Chilmark Research.
Proponents of lean management argue that whether or not healthcare providers realize it yet, there is a major demand within their organizations for the model because, they will tell you, lean improves patient safety and reimbursement rates, and creates new standards around transparency. But getting healthcare organizations on the lean bandwagon takes leadership.
For-profit healthcare chain, Steward Health Care System, is continuing to expand its reach, this time northward into Maine. On Monday, Mercy Health System of Maine, a nonprofit, Catholic system associated with the Sisters of Mercy and Catholic Health East, announced that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent with Steward, the first step in a possible acquisition.
This week, a Kaiser Health News analysis of Medicare data showed that 2,211 hospitals will face penalties in October for having too many patients readmitted for care within 30 days of discharge. Hospitals in several states react to this impending financial challenge.
In late August, Highmark opened its ninth Highmark Direct retail store in an Erie, Pennsylvania shopping plaza, highlighting a trend that is "about to accelerate dramatically," the consulting firm Oliver Wyman predicts, as more Americans buy health insurance on the open market or in government-mandated exchanges and employer-provided insurance declines.
Employer-sponsored health care is at a crossroads, with myriad financial challenges, legal uncertainties and the result of the 2012 election weighing heavily on company decisions about healthcare benefits, according to a new Deloitte issue brief.
A legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act's restriction on doctors owning hospitals was foiled last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Houston dismissed an appeal from Physician Hospitals of America and the Texas Spine & Joint Hospital.
If you were tired of the lies, half-truths and fear-mongering that has pervaded the health reform debate for the past three years, well strap on your hip waders, because it's about to get deep.
The electrical and magnetic neurostimulation technologies market reached $16.3 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow moderately during the next few years, according to a recent report from life sciences research publisher Kalorama Information.
Most of the headlines about the choice of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as running mate for presidential candidate Mitt Romney have screamed about how the author of the House budget plan would upend the Medicare program and upset seniors' certainty about healthcare. Ryan's plans for Medicaid, however, are more extreme and immediate.