Quality and Safety

With the myriad of issues healthcare organizations face, it is often easy to lose sight that they face the same decisions every business does. Advancing the organization and achieving business success require developing new products, finding new markets and building enabling systems and infrastructure.

According to a recent study released by the North Dakota Hospital Association, North Dakota hospitals and their employees contribute an estimated $4.7 billion each year to the state economy.

I spent a couple days this week at the annual meeting of the Medical Group Management Association, in San Antonio. As always, the hallway conversations, chats with vendors in and around the trade show booths, and the twitter back channel were among the most interesting parts of the experience.

In light of the recent Readmissions Reduction Program under the Affordable Care Act, numerous hospitals and medical industry experts are examining new approaches that will decrease the rate of hospital readmissions. "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates $15 billion is spent annually on readmissions for Medicare patients, with $12 billion of that amount being preventable," said Jeff Huber.

The Federal Trade Commission recently held a daylong workshop to examine the ways pet medications are distributed in the U.S. and how the current practices affect consumer choice and price competition. Pet meds are big business -- American consumers spend $7 billion on them annually -- and veterinarians and pharmacists are wrangling for their piece of the pie.

Looking for a way to send ObamaCare foes into a tizzy? Try suggesting emulating the French system. In any way.

With medication shortages, patient safety and accurate dosing creating daily challenges, some providers have found financial benefits in pharmacy automation solutions.

Beaumont Health System based in Troy, Mich., recently made medication error prevention a strategic imperative for improving patient safety, quality and cost across its three hospitals. In just six months, the organization was able to save nearly $535,000 in equipment purchases through the use of medication barcoding.

A panel discussion taking place at MGMA-ACMPE's annual conference in San Antonio Monday morning focused on the state of healthcare with an eye toward the future.

Three out of 10 patients who receive a kidney transplant require readmission to the hospital within 30 days of discharge after the initial surgery, finds a new analysis of national data, but better outpatient monitoring may prevent such readmissions.