Efficiencies in delivery of care for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia for Medicare patients increased sharply from 2002 to 2011, according to a study to be published in Health Affairs in March. Heart attack and heart failure productivity grew 0.62 percent and 0.78 percent respectively; productivity growth for pneumonia reached 1.9 percent. Researchers […]
Despite earlier reports about a slowdown in job growth in hospitals in 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a robust increase in 2014, continuing through January 2015. The healthcare sector added 38,000 jobs in January; hospitals alone added nearly 10,000 jobs. In 2014, the healthcare sector averaged 26,000 new jobs per month. […]
Large health systems and other healthcare groups including the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association (AHA) have approached the current Administration with suggestions about how to rework the Medicare Shared Savings Program’s accountable care organizations (ACOs). These groups contend that the timeframe for taking on risk is too short and the bonuses […]
Last week we reported that the Department of Health and Human Services announced its initiative that 50 percent of Medicare payments be delivered through alternative payment models by 2019. This is the first time Medicare has set specific time frames and payment percentages for the shift away from fee-for-service payments. Provider advocates, according to […]
Both MedPAC and HHS released recommendations for hospital payments during the last week. MedPAC (the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission), the primary Medicare advisory group to Congress, finalized its recommendation for a 3.25 percent increase in acute care hospital rates in 2016. HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) set specific goals for the […]
Moody’s Investors Service expects that the fundamental business, financial and economic conditions in the healthcare sector will remain weak over the next 12 to 18 months, contributing to its negative outlook for the sector in 2015. (Cash Flow Settling into Low Level of Growth Amid Negative Outlook, 2015 Outlook, Moody’s Investors Service, December 2014) […]
DGA Partners and Health Strategies & Solutions, healthcare management consulting firms, have merged to form a single consultancy, to be known as Veralon Partners. “This is a merger between equals with many complementary services,” says Daniel M. Grauman, who is Managing Director and CEO of the new firm. “It will allow us to better serve […]
Last week we presented the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s (HFMA) Value Project strategies for value transformation. To make the strategies actionable, we now present the tactics identified by the Value Project. These tactics provide a roadmap that enables boards and executives to plot their organizations’ course to value transformation. To recap, organizations cross four […]
Organizations cross four major “summits” to achieve the ACA’s Triple Aim of improving the patient experience, advancing population health and lowering the total cost of care, according to the Healthcare Care Financial Management Association (HFMA). Through its Value Project, HFMA worked with a diverse group of 35 hospitals and health systems to identify and detail […]
Note: iProtean will observe the holidays beginning December 24 and will resume on January 7, 2015. We wish everyone a very happy holiday season! Although there has been a drop in numbers of uninsured patients following the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, the remaining uninsured have driven up “uncompensated care” to an all […]