Revenue Cycle Management
The Ohio Hospital Association has released its annual community benefit report, which details $2.6 billion in charity care and other benefits the state's hospitals provide to local communities.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced it will begin using Medicare's standard payment rates for certain medical procedures performed by non-VA providers on Feb. 16, 2011.
New data from the Standard & Poor's Healthcare Economic Composite Index indicates that the average per capita cost of healthcare services rose 6.70 percent over the 12 months ending October 2010, a deceleration from the 7.08 percent reported for the 12 months ending in September.
Owens & Minor, a national distributor of medical and surgical supplies to the acute-care market, lead the 2010 list of the "Top 25" Healthcare Supply Chain operations issued by research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc.
When providers mismanage the revenue cycle, the financial impact may seem relatively small on an individual claim, but when multiplied by hundreds of visits a week, the effect on the bottom line is the equivalent of death by a thousand paper cuts -- slow, agonizing and certain. The good news is there is a remedy.
Overall U.S. healthcare prices increased slightly from October to November, rising 0.2 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The University of Michigan Health System reports that a four-year Medicare physician group demonstration project, similar to an accountable care organization, has saved more than $15 million in the cost of care.
The Premier healthcare alliance reports that its new failure-to-supply program has helped more than 1,400 members save more than $3.5 million in the past year.
In order to remain in compliance with Medicare rules, and avoid denials by recovery audit contractors (RACs) and others, hospitals must reduce outpatient procedures performed during inpatient stays.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has posted the 2011 Medicare clinical laboratory fee schedule files on its website.