Quality and Safety
Rural, critical access hospitals are being left out of some of the biggest shifts in American healthcare initiated by the ACA, leaving some rural healthcare leaders worried about being marginalized and that they could be left behind as reforms spread.
Home health agencies can help hospitals reduce readmissions and control overall healthcare costs, according to a new study, but how effective these agencies are in meeting such goals largely depends on the quality of organizational support given to healthcare field workers.
A program that combines a mobile app, analytics and direct intervention is showing promise in reducing the costs associated with hospitals' most expensive patients -- the so-called "super-utilizers."
New research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Premier, Inc., concludes that the inappropriate use of antibiotics in U.S. hospitals could result in an estimated $163 million in excessive costs.
The value-based model of healthcare is gradually transitioning from the pilot phase to implementation, as health insurers and providers strive to offer better care while eliminating unnecessary costs. But for providers who have always been paid fee-for-service, it is a different way of thinking.
Predictive analytics uses a variety of statistical techniques that analyze current and historical facts in order to make predictions about the future. In the healthcare setting, such data analysis can be effective in addressing a variety of key issues, including preventable readmissions.
Weill Cornell Physicians, Cornell University's physician group, has inked a new accountable care agreement with Aetna, intended to enhance care for approximately 9,000 of the insurer's commercial and Medicare members in New York.
In the first part of our conversation with Money Atwal, who is both CFO and CIO at Hilo Medical Center in Hilo, Hawaii, he told us about how he and his team were digging into hospital operations. In the second half of that conversation, he talks about the intersection of quality, finance and technology.
As regional payers and providers take the first steps to begin working together in the era healthcare reform, one area they can start with is the issue of readmissions.
Accountable care organizations are captivating because they contain elements of care delivery that most experts agree should improve healthcare: financial risk sharing, electronic health records, quality benchmarks, patient engagement and care coordination. But the question remains: can ACOs pull it off?