Community Benefit
Engagement is a big buzzword in healthcare these days. Every program seeks to achieve it; every provider wants to enhance it. But what is engagement exactly?
All but five states received a failing grade this year on the way they provide healthcare price transparency, according to a report by Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute.
Medicare's Trust Fund has a 12 years of solvency left and seniors are also being forced to pay more, making it a ripe time to reform today's haphazard payment system, argues Medicare's independent advisor.
Since 2008 when CMS first implemented the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey for U.S. hospitals, the scores from these surveys have become increasingly more important to hospital executives as a measure of quality. They are now used to determine 30 percent of the total incentive under the Hospital Value Based Purchasing program.
Last month, Paul R. Bengston, CEO of Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, a small, critical access hospital located in St. Johnsbury, Vt., was chosen to lead the American Hospital Association's Section for Small or Rural Hospitals in 2014. The 21-person governing council represents small or rural hospitals in the AHA's policy process and member services initiatives.
Since the recession first began in 2008, hospitals and health systems have continually seen a drop in inpatient volumes. Most industry experts say they expect more of the same for the rest of 2014 and even the next five years or so.
Like many businesses faced with a transforming industry, hospital operators are working on ways to evolve into new models while bringing in revenue.
Back in the early 2000s, Mid-State Health Center was in dire need. The new CEO knew something had to be done immediately, but the facility didn't have access to appropriate funding. So, the CEO got creative.
Empowered consumers, rapid innovation and increasing competition are among PwC's top health industry issues for 2014.
As a strategy to improve its patient satisfaction scores and re-establish the human-to-human connection between patients and caregivers, Steve Pu, DO, medical director at Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett, Mo., helped establish an initiative called Sacred Moments in January 2012.