Quality and Safety
To improve America's lackluster performance on health outcomes compared with its peer nations and to maintain its international competitiveness, the United States needs to invest more in its public health system and spend public health dollars more efficiently, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.
The Premier healthcare alliance has created a new efficiency dashboard that identifies 15 separate categories where there could likely be savings opportunities for hospitals, as announced by the company during a media call.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced yesterday that it has signed on 27 organizations as the first under its Shared Savings Program for accountable care organizations (ACO).
Research by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and healthcare data company MedAssurant shows that Medicare Advantage (MA) managed care plans can reduce 30-day hospital readmission rates by as much as 20 percent compared to traditional Medicare fee-for-service plans (FFS).
A remote patient monitoring and care management program implemented by Geisinger Health Plan using technology provided by AMC Health has shown a 44 percent reduction in hospital readmissions, the company announced recently.
Helen Darling has dedicated her career to promoting healthcare quality and helping businesses be smarter about healthcare.
Watchers of a February broadcast of “60 Minutes” may have been stunned to learn that studies have been conducted that seem to prove that antidepressants, on the whole, are no more effective than placebo.
About six years ago, Anne Peters, MD, an internist practicing in southern California, started receiving calls from doctors in her area. They told her their patients were reporting that she was billing Medicare for procedures she had done for them – things like brain scans and surgery – procedures she didn’t do.
According to a recent Vanderbilt University Medical Center study, hospitals that spend more on emergency care tend to have better patient outcomes, including fewer deaths.
The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced last week a three-year demonstration project that will take place in four counties aimed at improving care coordination for seniors and persons with disabilities who are dually eligible for Medicare and the state's Medicaid insurance program Medi-Cal.