Quality and Safety
As the acquisition of physician practices has once again become a hot topic, hospitals may be considering payment for certain intangible assets. For regulatory purposes, these transactions must remain consistent with the fair market value (FMV) standard under the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute.
A recent Yale study of the care quality received at safety-net hospitals in metropolitan areas of the U.S., which provide care for the majority of uninsured, low-income and other vulnerable populations, found that the quality at these facilities is nearly the same compared to non-safety-net hospitals in the same areas.
The business of healthcare is complex and is often not clearly understood by the patient or even by the medical office staff. Here are five steps that medical practices should take to help patients understand medical bills and be better prepared to handle them.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill Monday designed to control the state's healthcare costs. Included in the legislation is an overhaul of the medical liability system, which proponents say will decrease the cost of defensive medicine.
According to a recent study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, nurse burnout has been linked to higher rates of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), which therefore costs hospitals millions of additional dollars each year.
A trio of conservative health economists say that while the 2010 federal health law aims to slow health spending through programs such as value-based purchasing and bundled payments, it fails to fundamentally alter the healthcare financing system.
Managing multiple chronic conditions is still elusive for most patients, according to a Kaiser Permanente Colorado Institute for Health Research study that found only "fleeting" success for a minority of MCC patients.
The use of generic prescription drugs has risen to a current rate of $1 billion every other day, saving the U.S. healthcare system more than $1 trillion over the last 10 years (2002-2011), according to a report released Thursday by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA).
In fiscal year 2013, inpatient hospital payments will be increasing by 2.3 percent ($2.5 billion) under the final rule for the hospital inpatient and long-term care hospital prospective payment systems (PPS). The final rule was issued Wednesday night by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
A letter bearing the Friends of the AHRQ seal and the signatures of 139 organizations including the AAFP, illustrated the distress the bill has promoted within the minds and hearts of primary care advocates and initiates the nation over.