Quality and Safety
The charts said it all -- high levels of quality improvement coupled with significant savings as Hawai'i Pacific Health changed the way it provided care and started tracking gains on both the clinical side and the financial side.
Women in a number of counties located primarily in the South and West have higher mortality rates than those in other regions, and the reasons extend beyond access to medical care, according to research published in the March issue of Health Affairs.
A new series of data briefs prepared by Avalere Health and released by the SCAN Foundation show that seniors enrolled in traditional Medicare who suffer from severe mental illness (SMI) and substance abuse disorder (SUD) cost the program an average of five times more than those without SMI in 2010.
As part of the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General's current focus on nursing facilities, the OIG recently released a report entitled: Skilled Nursing Facilities Often Fail To Meet Care Planning and Discharge Planning Requirements.
David P. Blom is one of thousands of hospital executives across the country who are bracing for a reduction in Medicare payments as part of a series of federal spending cuts that began March 1. He talked with Kaiser Health News' Mary Agnes Carey about how his company is preparing to deal with sequestration.
During a session on how health reform is reverberating at the state level during the National Health Policy Conference held earlier this month, attendees learned how one health system in Ohio is using the accountable care organization model to improve care and costs and expand its horizons.
A new study purports to demonstrate that primary care physician offices in Ontario discriminate against the poor by being less likely to offer them appointments.
When it comes to healthcare analytics, hospitals and health systems can benefit most from the information if they move towards understanding the analytic discoveries, rather than just focusing on the straight facts.
An accountable care initiative comprising insurer Independence Blue Cross, local provider group Abington Health and St. Louis-based tech firm Lumeris, will be among the first of its kind in greater Philadelphia, with doctors having a 360-degree view of a patient's care across specialists and physicians, hospitals and clinics from all networks.
With the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) expansion of insurance coverage expected to increase the need for primary care services -- requiring an estimated additional 7,200 primary care providers -- 7 million Americans could likely face a primary care physician shortage after 2014.