Quality and Safety
Firearm assaults cost U.S. hospitals almost $630 million in 2010, according to recent research by the Urban Institute. The cost of an inpatient stay for a firearm assault injury was nearly $14,000 more than average.
Due to its substantial impact on a hospital’s bottom line, Tony Stajduhar, president of the Permanent Physician Recruitment Division at recruitment firm Jackson & Coker, believes physician recruitment should always be a top-five concern for hospital administrators -- something that he says is not always the case.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care topped the list of the National Committee for Quality Assurance annual rankings of health insurance plans in 2013, followed by the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest.
Perhaps the most front and center challenge facing healthcare providers today in preparing for the impact of the Affordable Care Act is in the area of reducing costs.
The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and is undeniably changing the landscape of healthcare in the United States. It is forcing hospitals, physicians and payers to restructure the manner in which healthcare is delivered, services coordinated and costs more effectively managed.
This short video, sponsored by the Colorado Regional Care Collaborative Organization (RCCO) and produced by Health2 Resources, shows how Colorado healthcare leaders are driving transformation in the area through community engagement.
Doctors are told that the value-based care model will allow them to foster closer relationships with their patients, have greater access to clinical and pricing data and let them see fewer patients but earn more money but they are leery of the model.
Being surveyed to participate in the Medicare program is usually seen as an onerous task by most healthcare facilities, but the hospice community wants to be surveyed more frequently, even if the cost of those surveys comes out of its own pocket.
In this age of dwindling resources and competing priorities, nutrition research holds the key to increasing our understanding of the causes of obesity and its related co-morbidities and holds promise to markedly influence global health and economies.
With labor costs in 2013 accounting for approximately 60 percent of hospital and health system operating budgets, many healthcare systems and hospitals have begun assessing high-labor cost areas with an eye to curbing those costs.