Quality and Safety

Stakeholders must keep the momentum going in order to sustain improvements in population health.

When it comes to providing consumers with easily accessible information about physician quality, a report out Dec. 10 gave most states grades of 'D' or 'F,' often because they compile data only about primary care doctors, not specialists.

In 2012, Medicare spent close to $10 billion on Graduate Medical Education. Despite this taxpayer subsidy, very little is spent on training doctors in the nuances of caring for older people.

During the first eight months of this year, fewer than 18 percent of Medicare patients ended up back in the hospital within a month of discharge, the lowest rate in years, the federal government reported Friday.

Northern Michigan's Munson Healthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan are venturing into the developing world of new payment models by launching a value-based hospital reimbursement agreement.

LifePoint Hospitals, headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn., acquires the struggling Bell Hospital and forms a joint venture with Portage Health.

In theory, if an investment has high societal value, there should be a way to reward the investor and still leave society better off. Investments that improve health tend to produce significant potential cost offsets.

All healthcare providers worry about attracting and retaining good employees. Fred Morgeson, a professor of management, offers healthcare employers five tips for successful hiring and employee retention.

Consumers are not alone in finding retail clinics an attractive option. Increasingly, hospitals are adding them to their array of services.

A new study suggests educating doctors via real-time price comparison is a potentially effective tool in the effort to control costs.