Jeff Lagasse

The announcement comes on the heels of a failed merger bid between Southcoast and Care New England, which would have created the third largest health system in Massachusetts.

Deal shifts day-to-day operations management of LifePoint's home health agencies and hospices, as well as all future home health and hospice acquisitions, to LHC Group.

Sixty-two percent in the survey said their healthcare costs either increased or stayed the same when compared to their previous plan.

Executive touts remote care platform for episodic, bundled and chronic care management programs.

FairChex found that, depending on the procedure, consumers looking at hospital ratings may choose a hospital for care not knowing they perform poorly in a certain procedure, effectively resulting in poor quality delivered at the highest cost.

Patient factors must weigh equally under Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program to avoid crippling penalties for safety-net facilities, study says.

Elizabeth Mitchell of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement said with preparation, it would be hard to still get hit with penalty.

Cost savings are further bolstered by avoiding unnecessary surgeries and achieving lower rates of expensive complications.

If quality of a hospital or system is made public and easier to understand, organizations have a market incentive to improve, says Leapfrog CEO.

The study saw little difference in patient mortality, hospital readmissions within 30 days, lengths of stay or specialty consultant use among patients treated by the expanded PA group and those treated by the conventional group.