Quality and Safety

Many safety-net hospitals that treat a higher number of lower-income patients than other hospitals are worried that the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) will have a disproportionate impact on their reimbursements due to their traditionally higher readmission rates. A new Commonwealth Fund analysis confirms those fears.

The Alliance of Specialty Medicine joined a number of other medical organizations as it called on Congress to permanently fix the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) Medicare payment formula as part of any legislation designed to avert the fiscal cliff.

A new tool created by ProPublica supports what nursing home auditors and researchers have been saying for years: federal fines vary widely by state. Nursing homes in some states pay a steep price for misconduct while those in neighboring states don't.

The National Quality Forum announced that Christine Cassel, MD, will become its president and CEO mid-summer 2013 when she leaves her decade-long post as president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation. Cassel took a few minutes to talk to Healthcare Finance News about her upcoming role.

A patient-centered care model and the capacity to deliver primary care are more essential for starting an ACO than financial strength, according to a recent study from the Commonwealth Fund.

When patients have access to after-hours services with their primary care provider, emergency room usage is significantly lower and fewer patients go without needed medical care, according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) released last week by Health Affairs.

Bundled payment and payment reform in general are hot topics in healthcare circles, and will prove to be a challenge for many. Jay Sultan, thought leader for payment reform at TriZetto, a healthcare management solutions company, shared with Healthcare Finance News five key ideas for hospital leaders to consider in order to break barriers to successfully implement payment reform at their organizations.

Hospitals and medical practices across the country have continued to increase their privacy and security budgets over the past five years, said a new HIMSS survey released Wednesday. Officials, however, say the percentage of the budget dedicated to these issues is still cause for concern.

As the home care market becomes increasingly competitive, two worker-owned cooperative home care agencies get proactive by becoming the first home care companies in the country to be certified B Corporations.

More than 350 healthcare, patient, veterans and business organizations on Tuesday urged Congressional leaders to reject any proposal to turn the Medicare Part D plan into one that resembles the rebates structure of Medicaid drug programs.