Reimbursement
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.
Eastern Connecticut Health Network, Inc. (ECHN) is building an HIE, and the health system has tapped MobileMD to help get the job done, signing a five-year agreement.
Healthcare IT stakeholders gathered Oct. 14 in Washington for a work meeting, discussing ways IT could help improve transitions in care.
U.S. National Healthcare Expenditures (NHE) are $2.7 trillion in 20111 and are forecasted to grow 34% in five years. This multi-trillion dollar economy will shift its reimbursement paradigm to ICD-102 in under 24 months. ICD-10 will introduce opportunities and risks to hospitals and health plans that may be equivalent to the $148.2 billion to $500 billion in losses3 to the U.S. economy in the mortgage crisis. This is because ICD-10 introduces favorable and unfavorable reimbursement results.
Medicare has begun publishing patient safety ratings for thousands of hospitals, but the latest data is intensifying objections from the hospital industry and some academic researchers that Medicare is using dubious and unfair measurements in ways that will hurt some hospitals.
Having cost the Republican Party a Congressional seat earlier this year with his plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program, House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan is back with an even more sweeping health care proposal.
A new five-year research deal between health insurer Humana and pharmaceutical company Pfizer will see researchers from the two companies work to reduce inefficiencies in the delivery of healthcare to seniors suffering from a range of chronic conditions.
The federal bundled payments effort may promise providers a share in savings when they improve quality and lower costs, but it will likely take the squeeze in fee-for-service Medicare payments to drive many providers to participate in the new delivery model. Private payers have a role in leading on this transformation.
Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute (HCI3) has released a new version of its episode of care analysis freeware aimed at helping providers wanting to take part in the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation's (CMMI) Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative.
Small and resource-poor, the Western Washington Rural Health Care Collaborative (WWRHCC), has shown it is not afraid to tackle - and complete - big projects, such as building an HIE from scratch and developing a telepharmacy system.