News
Healthgrades recently released its 2011 Healthcare Consumerism and Hospital Quality in America report, which documented patient outcomes at almost 5,000 American hospitals. From gaps in mortality rates to procedures and diagnoses, the report was eye opening and offers some keys to note concerning hospital quality.
As hospitals and doctors continue to merge at an accelerated rate, health systems will face significant risk management challenges, according to an analysis by Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management arm of Aon Corporation.
Administration officials including Health and Human Service Secretary Kahtleen Sebelius and CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, Tuesday announced new proposed rules to eliminate obsolete and redundant government healthcare regulations that could save hospitals and providers $1.1 billion annually and more than $5 billion over five years.
The American College of Physicians, which represents 132,000 internal medicine specialists, is proposing a privacy rule that says researchers should maximize appropriate uses of information to achieve scientific advances without compromising ethical obligations to protect individual welfare and privacy.
The Commonwealth Fund released its third annual national scorecard of 42 indicators of healthcare performance Tuesday, giving the U.S. a score of 64 out of a possible 100.
Consulting firm TransUnion announced Tuesday it has acquired Denver-based Financial Healthcare Systems, provider of the real-time payment estimation tool ClearQuote.
The U.S. healthcare system scored 64 of a possible 100 on key measures of performance, according to the third national scorecard report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System. The report released Oct. 18 also reveals a poor score - 53 of a possible 100 - on measures of efficiency, showing relatively low use of electronic information systems and high administrative costs.
Doctors can expect to see salary increases in 2012 but they’ll be smaller than those in 2011 says a physician compensation survey released this week by global consulting firm, the Hay Group. In 2011, physician salaries increased by 2.7 percent but expectations are that in 2012 they'll increase only by 2.5 percent.
Making good on the pledge to help fund the development of accountable care organizations (ACOs) as part of its company policy of limiting profits to 2 percent of revenue, Blue Shield of California has announced 18 providers that will share grants totaling nearly $20 million to help them participate more effectively in ACOs.
The deadline for HIPAA 5010 compliance is knocking at the door but there is confusion, even at this late date, about what "readiness" means, says the Healthcare Billing & Management Association (HBMA).