Quality and Safety

Out of 1,010 large medical groups that Medicare evaluated under the physician value-based payment modifier, just 14 are getting payment increases this year. But at the same time, only 11 groups will be getting reductions for low quality or high spending.

While reimbursement is still being determined, it’s estimated that lung cancer scans for eligible individuals could cost Medicare more than $9 billion for the scans, biopsies and treatments through 2020.

Federal penalties for high rates of patient readmissions are compelling hospitals to dig into the causes of the re-hospitalizations, which frequently have more to do with socioeconomic factors than the healthcare provided.

If people choose not to have important preventive care and end up needing an expensive hospital stay years later as a result, everybody is worse off.

Hospitals and healthcare centers are creating networks comprised of the collaborations of providers, physicians, payers and patients -- all toward the goal of increasing the patient experience while decreasing the cost to provide that care.

More than 1,300 healthcare providers operate on the edge of the U.S. healthcare system. They are critical access hospitals, small facilities that have fewer than 25 beds and are often in remote, rural areas and provide needed care to smaller populations.

“Not all readmissions can or should be prevented; indeed, some are planned as part of sound clinical care,” AHA says.

Department of Justice says chain allowed patients to undergo radiation cancer treatment that was not supervised by radiation oncologists.

The consumer demand for price transparency is growing as patients pay more out-of-pocket expenses as deductibles rise.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Tuesday announced a new model of accountable care organization that asks participating healthcare providers to take on the highest level of risk with the possibility of higher returns than any other CMS program.