Quality and Safety
When Premier healthcare alliance officials announced this week that their data-sharing collaborative saved 92,000 lives and $9.1 billion since 2008, the emphasis was on the data, but in a briefing Wednesday about the private sector's role in Medicare Susan DeVore, Premier president and CEO, explained that one of major drivers behind the collaborative's success was the culture change that took place among the healthcare providers.
In a study published online Wednesday in JAMA Surgery, researchers calculated that during 2009, six technologically advanced and minimally-invasive surgical procedures contributed a cost savings and workplace value of more than $11 billion.
A recent survey of physicians in the U.S. by consulting company Deloitte shows that most are worried that the future of the medical profession may be in jeopardy and that the overall performance of the healthcare system in this country is "suboptimal."
The 333 hospitals taking part in Premier healthcare alliance's QUEST collaborative saved 92,000 lives and $9.1 billion over four-and-a-half years, Premier announced on March 19, and if the practices employed in the collaborative were replicated nationwide, Premier officials say, hospitals potentially could save 950,000 lives and approximately $93 billion.
Premier Research Institute Vice President and Chief Scientist Eugene A. Kroch and two hospital executives shared what they believe to be the top characteristics associated with a healthcare organization's readiness to form an accountable care organization (ACO) during a webinar on Thursday.
A report released last month by the Office of Inspector General found that about one-third of skilled nursing facilities chosen from a random sample were not meeting some of the requirements for Medicare funding.
Care coordination initiatives -- whether they're paper-based or digital -- have the potential to significantly reduce the nation's healthcare bill.
Hospices take note: the April 1, 2013 deadline to submit the NQF #0209 data for Payment Year 2014 in the Hospice Quality Reporting Program, or HQRP, is approximately two weeks away.
Integris Health, Oklahoma's largest health system, announced Thursday it will build a medical home model under a grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
A bill to encourage mediation in disputes over medical errors is expected to be signed into law in what supporters say is a step -- if small -- in the direction of malpractice reform.