All Articles In 'Tag Archives: 'Hospitals''
Medicare Hospital Payment: MedPAC Recommends One Percent Rate Increase for FY 2014
Hospitals face another year of tight Medicare reimbursement, with rates for FY 2014 falling farther behind cost increases and margins declining as a result. Most hospitals already lose money on caring for Medicare and Medicaid patients. [...]
Medicaid Expansion and Hospitals: Hospital Medicaid Revenue to Outpace Crowd-Out Losses
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a trade-off for providers, particularly hospitals: On the one hand, Medicare fee-for-service hospital payments will be cut by $260 billion over 10 years. Some people newly eligible for Medicaid will [...]
Patient Engagement to Lower Health Costs and Improve Outcomes
It’s not uncommon for a patient to be confused or overwhelmed by a diagnosis or treatment plan. Complicated medical procedures or decisions can overwhelm patients to the point that they feel that they cannot, or should [...]
Chronic Care Management: Technologies to Better Manage Chronic Conditions
The nation’s largest health care buyers – Medicare, state Medicaid programs, large employers, and health plans – are eager for ways to improve the quality and efficiency of chronic health conditions, which drive the bulk of [...]
Hospital Admissions: Trends in Hospital Utilization
Hospital admissions and readmissions are a hot topic in the healthcare community. Reducing hospital utilization can result in a leaner, more efficient system with lower costs and greater health outcomes. The opportunities to save money and [...]
Four Payment Reform Models of Keen Interest to Large Employers
While the Affordable Care Act is expected to shift more of health coverage from the private employers to taxpayers, the most common source of health insurance for Americans is still though an employer or the employer [...]
Payment Reform Models: Employers Explore Population-Based and Bundled Payment
For the past several years, major payers in U.S. health care have experimented with new payment models that create incentives to control unnecessary health care spending. The traditional fee-for-service model for health insurance does not give [...]
Electronic Health Records: Best Practices in Washington State Save Medicaid Money
Health information technology, care coordination, and cost containment have increasingly become entwined in health care policy. Medicare and Medicaid both have electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs to encourage physicians, hospitals, and other providers to use [...]
22 Proven Patient Safety Strategies
Poor quality of care and preventable medical errors are a major cause of high costs and patient suffering. The opportunities for improvement are considerable. In addition, as states and health plans gear up for Health Insurance [...]
Electronic Health Records: EHR Use Increasingly Common Among Office Based Physicians
Through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, certain healthcare providers – including most physicians and hospitals – may be eligible for incentive payments if they follow guidelines regarding implementation and active [...]
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