Quality and Safety
Critical access hospitals in five states are facing a spring deadline to apply for participation in a federal program aiming to develop and test new models of integrated, coordinated healthcare in rural communities.
It's the rare hospital C-suite executive who doesn't worry about the federally-mandated financial penalties that can result from not reining in avoidable 30-day readmissions. Several potentially useful solutions to this costly problem have sprung up recently.
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.
Although highly touted, the patient-centered medical home model failed to lower use of services or total costs and produced little quality improvement over three years, research in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association has found.
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.
Medicare accountable care organizations are having varying rates of success in addressing their patients' diabetes and heart disease, according to government data released Friday.
A new study from Stanford University has turned the concept of patient dumping on its head. It finds that hospitals are less likely to transfer critically injured patients to trauma centers if they have health insurance.
By thoroughly assessing security risks, it's much easier to get the funding you need to strengthen your data protection program.
Like many businesses faced with a transforming industry, hospital operators are working on ways to evolve into new models while bringing in revenue.