Four-fifths of executives at healthcare and payer organizations said in a 2015 KPMG survey that their IT has been compromised by cyber-attacks. Malware was the top information security concern of the 223 healthcare executives surveyed. The recent cyber-attack on a California hospital highlighted ongoing malware dangers for hospitals and the need to plan accordingly, […]
Patient-centered medical homes generally reduce both cost and utilization, according to a new report from the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative. The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is an innovation in care delivery designed to advance and achieve the Triple Aim of improved patient experience, improved population health and reduced cost of care. A medical home […]
The American College of Healthcare Executives’ third annual survey found that the chief concerns of community hospital CEOs involve financial issues, especially transition from volume to value (risk-based payment) and Medicaid payment. Financial concerns trumped other areas such as quality, patient safety, government mandates and personnel shortages. A former chairman of the Medicare Payment […]
During 2014, the first full year of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) insurance coverage expansion, total hospital uncompensated care costs (UCC) decreased to the lowest level since 2001. The decrease was only the second since 1990, according to the annual UCC report from the American Hospital Association. UCC dropped from $46.4 billion in 2013 […]
New study results suggest that pay-for-performance may not work sufficiently to incentivize quality improvement among some physicians. The study found that pediatricians in an accountable care organization who received small incentives did improve quality, but not as significantly as doctors employed by a hospital. The study, published in JAMA Online, focused on quality performance […]
Twenty-one organizations launched the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (NGACO) Model in January, according to CMS. These organizations “have significant experience coordinating care for populations of patients through initiatives such as the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the Pioneer ACO Model,” CMS wrote in its fact sheet. The new model differs from previous ACO […]
CMS issued a proposed rule revising discharge-planning requirements in late October, estimating that the changes would cost $22,000 per hospital annually and $6,400 for critical access hospitals. The American Hospital Association, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and others have challenged the cost estimates, claiming the revisions will cost nearly 10 times as much as […]
Cyber risk figures into the credit rating for many companies and organizations, said Moody’s Investors Service analysts in a recent cross sector global report. Assessing cyber preparedness for credit rating purposes “is challenging because the risk is complex and evolving very quickly.” Moody’s considers the risk of a widespread, material cyber event similar to how […]
Note: the editorial staff at iProtean will be taking a holiday break beginning next week and will return the first week in January. Happy Holidays! The not-for-profit healthcare sector will be “stable” in 2016, according to the Moody’s Investor Service 2016 Outlook, released early this month. Moody’s analysts attribute stability to operating cash flow […]
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) issued preliminary estimates for hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) for 2014, noting a 17 percent decline since 2010. This translates to a cumulative total of 2.1 million fewer HACs for hospital patients from 2011 through 2014. AHRQ estimated that nearly 87,000 fewer patients died in the hospital as […]