Quality and Safety
Bon Secours Health System wants to ensure discharged patients get the care and attention they need without being unnecessarily readmitted to the hospital. To that end, they're launching a new population health and care management program.
For some nurses, the emergence of the Ebola virus is increasing a sense of hospital leadership's underinvestment and under-appreciation. The resulting union-driven strikes could cost health systems in their budgets and reputations.
Though supply chain professionals are keenly aware of the importance of quality and cost, their clinical counterparts may not be as familiar with an organized movement to link these two components with patient outcomes.
The percentage of babies born prematurely fell to 11.4 percent in 2013, according to a new report. Officials say the ACA's expansion of Medicaid to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level has played a role.
Since 2005, Denver Health has saved more than $200 million as a result of using a lean management philosophy to fine-tune operations and clinical processes. That's especially important these days, as hospitals and health systems have assumed more financial risk in delivering care.
When Medicare started tracking patient satisfaction in late 2012, and shaving payments to hospitals that fell short, patient experience was put high on hospitals’ agendas. And, as patients’ out-of-pocket costs have risen, they have become savvier, more demanding consumers.
California's public health department has failed to adequately manage investigations of nursing homes statewide, resulting in a backlog of more than 11,000 complaints -- many involving serious safety risks to patients, according to an audit released last week.
In coming years, health systems will likely take on more risk for the health outcomes of their patient populations. If they are looking to prepare for the inevitable, support programs for Type 2 diabetes may be a good place to start.
More than 83 percent of physician practices do not believe current Medicare physician quality reporting programs enhanced their physicians' ability to provide high-quality patient care, according to new research released Monday.
The Lean process improvement philosophy can bring significant cultural change to a healthcare organization, if there is strong support from the C-suite. But what happens when a Lean-supporting CEO departs? Here is a cautionary tale.