Quality and Safety

An American Hospital Association (AHA)-sponsored webinar on Wednesday highlighted findings from a study on the diversity in hospitals and featured successful practices tips from two hospitals recently honored for promoting overall diversity and creating strategies for disparities reduction at their facilities.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona and non-profit health system Banner Health have announced an equal partnership designed to provide a coordinated Medicare Advantage offering to be known as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Advantage.

In the Federal Register in 2000, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Compliance Program for Individual and Small Group Physician Practices identified monitoring and auditing as one of the seven components that provide a solid basis for an effective compliance plan. And with an increase in regulatory and payer audit activity seeking to identify improper payments, it's wise for proactive physician practices to implement processes that will ensure proper compliance.

A newly released report documents the successes of a private hospitals program to safely discharge homeless patients and save money for the participating hospitals.

Last week, the Jackson Health System, a six-hospital network based in Miami, announced it will be considering proposals for outsourcing physicians, physician assistants and advance nurse practitioners in its emergency departments.

A new study from New York-based insurer Emblem Health provides evidence suggesting that inpatient point-of-care case management can both reduce patient hospital readmissions and provide a solid return on investment.

Large hospitals are big consumers of energy. Just how much is the subject of new results from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS).

With healthcare undergoing intense market transformations in payment models, revenue sources and the demands of healthcare innovation, leaders in the field need to focus on actively managing the move to value-based payments and accelerate their planning for these transitions.

A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) showed that half of all the billings paid by Medicare in 2010 to community mental health centers for the partial hospitalization program were questionable.

With an increasing demand for home care services, home care businesses have been springing up in communities across the country. And with the rapid expansion of these largely unregulated businesses questions about the industry's hiring practices have begun to surface.