Quality and Safety
The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is the future of healthcare in the United States says the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) - but only if PCMHs are led by doctors.
A recently released health policy brief examining the efforts in the U.S. healthcare system to improve care transitions concludes that simple solutions would go a long way to improving patient care and saving costs.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has begun its second cycle of funding requests and is seeking applications. Up to $96 million for comparative effectiveness research is available.
An Office of Management and Budget (OMB) report released last week that showed sequestration would cause an $11 billion cut to Medicare and looming cuts to physician reimbursements under the sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) has physicians groups saying the cuts would eviscerate their ability to provide quality care.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), a global investments firm, and the American Heart Association (AHA) have recently teamed up to launch a new research collaboration to study how effective workplace wellness initiatives have been at KKR and four of its portfolio companies.
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have shown considerable promise, demonstrating savings and reduced readmission rates, said a recent Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice study.
In 2009, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBS) launched the Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), a global payment reimbursement pilot program that rewards participating physician groups for controlling spending and improving quality of care. A Commonwealth Fund-sponsored analysis of the first two years of the five-year pilot has found that such programs may be effective at controlling healthcare spending and improving quality.
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Rick Langfelder at Lutheran Medical Center, a 462-bed hospital located in Brooklyn, N.Y., spoke recently with Healthcare Finance News Associate Editor Kelsey Brimmer regarding the most pressing financial issues that many hospitals located in urban areas of the U.S. have been facing over the last few years and what is to come for them.
During a White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) conversation in July, leaders in healthcare and policy discussed the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) to reduce the environmental footprint of hospitals, lower costs and improve overall patient health by way of including sustainability efforts and initiatives into their business models.
As a full-time consumer and part-time conspiracy theorist, I’ve often wondered how meaningful an FDA approval really is. How much trust can I place in their endorsement of the products I buy and the foods I eat?