Revenue Cycle Management
Medians for U.S. not-for-profit healthcare systems remained steady in 2012, but analysts expect a weakening in ratios due to the pressures of healthcare reform.
As medical supply prices have steadily risen in recent years, many hospitals have turned to group purchasing organizations to buy in bulk and keep costs down, but group product purchasing also complicates the product supply trail, often leading to errors that prevent fulfillment, delivery and payment.
Underlying changes in some healthcare cost factors appear to be taking root and have some economists wondering if the slowdown in healthcare spending growth may last beyond the near term.
Healthcare prices in the United States rose marginally from June to July 2013, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, although the rate of increase was higher than a year ago.
Farzad Mostashari, Dick Foster and Uwe Reinhardt lead a panel discussion at Health Datapalooza IV to discuss whether or not the current surge in public and private sector spending on health IT programs is going to reduce healthcare costs.
When it comes to hospital construction and design, the decisions around what is built and how it's built all have significant impact on not only an organization's bottom line, but also the quality of care given to patients.
Too often healthcare providers find themselves handicapped when it comes to optimizing business processes because their primary mission is care, and business comes second.
CMS has announced updates to the process for making Medicare national coverage determinations (NCDs) to provide clarity and transparency with regard to modifications made to the coverage process since the Medicare Modernization Act.
Lean may be the biggest craze these days in creating efficiencies in hospitals and health systems, but some facilities are having success with a process that got its start at NASA.
Eight-hospital Barnabas Health in New Jersey is launching an accountable care organization program with the state's largest insurer, intended to both lower costs and improve care quality. The ACO go-live date is September 1.