Best EDs Focus on Flow

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This article appears in the May 2012 issue of HealthLeaders magazine. Among the greatest challenges in the emergency department is improving patient flow, and this comes with a sense of urgency amid deep concerns about patient safety due to overcrowding. In addition, the latest HealthLeaders Media Intelligence Report reveals that healthcare leaders expect worsening ED… Read more »

Bigger hospitals, mergers drive higher prices

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May 9, 2012 | By Alicia Caramenico Fierce Healthcare   Large hospital systems are using their size and market clout to boost prices, a trend that started long before the health reform law passed, according to a study in this month’s Health Affairs. It’s the “must-have” hospital systems and large physician groups–providers that health plans… Read more »

Hospitals to see more bad debt without health reform

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June 8, 2012 | By Alicia Caramenico Fierce Health Finance   While the industry awaits the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling later this month, a new report from Moody’s Investors Service warns that a full or partial repeal of the health reform law will hurt for-profit hospitals. If the Supreme Court strikes down the entire Patient… Read more »

Hospitals Add Palliative Teams at Feverish Pace

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 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 4, 2012   FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Fighting stage-four ovarian cancer, Carol Delzatto has more doctor appointments than she cares to count. But this day, she is beaming as Dr. Pamela Sutton comes into sight, greeting her patient and calling her beautiful. Delzatto looks forward to her monthly… Read more »

Financial stress pushes hospitals to partnerships

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Kansas City Business Journal by David Twiddy, Reporter Date: Friday, June 1, 2012   Carondelet Health has confirmed that it is investigating a potential merger, joint venture or other partnership to continue operating its two Kansas City-area hospitals. In a released statement, Carondelet CEO Fleury Yelvington said the health care provider “like most health systems in… Read more »

By Putting Patients First, Hospital Tries To Make Care More Personal

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John Rose/NPR   No one likes to go to the hospital. But some hospitals around the nation are trying to make their patients’ stays a little less unpleasant. They’re members of an organization called Planetree, which was founded by a patient named Angelica Thieriot, who had a not-so-good hospital experience back in the 1970s. “She… Read more »

1 in 5 ED Patients Referred By Primary Care Doctors

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Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, May 29, 2012   One in five patients who went to the ED but were not sick enough to require an inpatient bed said they sought the emergency department because their primary care doctor told them to go there, according to a federal survey. The Centers for Disease Control and… Read more »

Mapping Out Revenue-Cycle Solutions

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This article appears in the May 2012 issue of HealthLeaders magazine. The payer and provider communities are still dealing with HIPAA 5010, and trying to shift attention to ICD-10 is tough,” says Craig Collins, division chair for revenue cycle and administrative lead of the ICD-10 transition at the Rochester, Minn.–based Mayo Clinic. “We put together… Read more »

Hospital malpractice defense tactic unfair, critics say

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By Karen M. Cheung Fierce Healthcare   The recent malpractice case at UPMC Presbyterian highlights a common legal tactic that protects physicians under the corporate shield of the health organization–remove the physicians’ names from the case, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The family of Samuel Sweet, a patient who died in 2009 while being treated at… Read more »

4 Keys to Engage Patients and Operate in an Outcomes-Based Reimbursement Environment

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Written by Benjamin Littenberg, MD, CMO, and James Rose, MBA, Senior Vice President, Patient Engagement Systems  May 11, 2012   Emerging models such as accountable care organizations will require better care coordination among providers, hospitals and their patients. Furthermore, Medicare, Medicaid, private and self-insured payors will continue to pay hospitals and physician practices based on… Read more »