Showing posts with label Administration and Finance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Administration and Finance. Show all posts
White Paper: Healthcare system reduces complexity, reduces volatility, improves pension funded status
To download this whitepaper, click here.
Take Control of Your Purchased Services Spend: Best practice success stories
Webinar
Thu, Jan 16, 2014 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM MST
Click here to register
Webinar Summary:
Hospitals allocate nearly 30% of their Operating Budgets to Purchased Services, nearing $100 billion per year. Additionally industry trends expect purchased services to increase by 13% over the next 5 years, further impacting strained budgets. Combined with looming cuts in reimbursement, the financial hurdles for hospitals may seem impossible to overcome.
This webinar will focus on how two leading hospital systems, SSM and St. Joseph’s, put a process in place to identify areas of opportunity in order to reduce, consolidate and manage their purchased services spending and improve their contracting process. Additionally MD Buyline will showcase their decades of experience in purchased services and how they are enabling systems like SSM and St. Joseph’s in reaching their objectives to reduce spending and better manage the purchased services process.
Click here to register
Webinar Summary:
Hospitals allocate nearly 30% of their Operating Budgets to Purchased Services, nearing $100 billion per year. Additionally industry trends expect purchased services to increase by 13% over the next 5 years, further impacting strained budgets. Combined with looming cuts in reimbursement, the financial hurdles for hospitals may seem impossible to overcome.
This webinar will focus on how two leading hospital systems, SSM and St. Joseph’s, put a process in place to identify areas of opportunity in order to reduce, consolidate and manage their purchased services spending and improve their contracting process. Additionally MD Buyline will showcase their decades of experience in purchased services and how they are enabling systems like SSM and St. Joseph’s in reaching their objectives to reduce spending and better manage the purchased services process.
The Life of a Healthcare CIO: Mt. San Rafael Hospital's Michael John Archuleta
In collaboration with CHIME, Becker’s Hospital Review’s new "Life of a Healthcare CIO" series features leading hospital and health system CIOs from across the country who are sharing their experiences, best practices and challenges. An interview with Michael John Archuleta, director of IT at Mt. San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, Colo. Click here to read the full article by Helen Gregg, posted on Becker’s Hospital Review.
Overview of the FCC’s Healthcare Connect Funds webinar
Participants of this webinar will: click here to view the flyer
How to Register –
1. Go to - https://nosorh.webex.com/nosorh/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=661047402
2. Click Register.
3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click Submit.
This call will be recorded and the viewable recording will be available on the NOSORH website - http://www.nosorh.org/news/webinars.php
- Understand discounts for broadband for public and not-for-profit health care providers
- Learn eligibility and application process
- Recognize how to participate as a consortium
How to Register –
1. Go to - https://nosorh.webex.com/nosorh/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=661047402
2. Click Register.
3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click Submit.
This call will be recorded and the viewable recording will be available on the NOSORH website - http://www.nosorh.org/news/webinars.php
A Check on Premature Hospital Discharges
The old man was in the hospital, dying, when family members were handed discharge papers. The prospect of taking the patient home was overwhelming; his family wanted him cared for in an institution that could address his complicated needs.
What could they do and where could they turn for help? Find out by clicking here.
What could they do and where could they turn for help? Find out by clicking here.
CMS Proposes a Medicare Prospective Payment System for Federally Qualified Health Centers
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule to establish a Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), as outlined in the Affordable Care Act. The proposed, updated payment system, which is scheduled to begin October 1, 2014, would increase Medicare payments to these health centers by approximately 30 percent for services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries in medically underserved areas. Read the full article here.
AHA: Medicare RAC Requests Up 47% Over the Past 6 Months
Since the fourth quarter of 2012, medical record requests from Medicare Recovery Auditors, or RACs, to hospitals have increased 47 percent, according to the American Hospital Association's RACTrac Survey for the second quarter of 2013.
Over the same six-month timeframe, Medicare RACs have boosted their complex audit denials to hospitals by 58 percent. Of complex denials, two-thirds of hospitals said medical necessity denials are the costliest types of RAC requests.
More than 1,200 hospitals participated in the AHA's second-quarter RACTrac Survey. Click here to view other key findings published by Becker's Hospital Review on August 29, 2013.
Clout, not costs, drives higher charges from hospitals, study says
Bargaining leverage, not the cost of providing complex care, is the main reason why some hospitals can demand prices twice as high as their competitors' and still get contracts to treat privately insured patients, according to a new study.
The analysis by the Center for Studying Health System Change of actual payments to hospitals and physicians by private insurers in 13 U.S. cities found that the most expensive hospitals got rates as much as 60% more than the lowest-priced competitor for inpatient care, and prices that were double the competition for outpatient care.
Read the full article published by ModernHealthcare.com on September 5, 2013 here.
The analysis by the Center for Studying Health System Change of actual payments to hospitals and physicians by private insurers in 13 U.S. cities found that the most expensive hospitals got rates as much as 60% more than the lowest-priced competitor for inpatient care, and prices that were double the competition for outpatient care.
Read the full article published by ModernHealthcare.com on September 5, 2013 here.
ACO Manifesto: 50 Things to Know About Accountable Care Organizations
Only a couple of years ago, it wasn't uncommon for healthcare experts to call accountable care organizations "unicorns." Despite the excitement and discussion around the model, few people had seen one.
ACOs have grown to become much more visible within the past three years, as more than half of Americans now live in primary care service areas served by ACOs. To better understand the model and its role in healthcare reform, Becker's Hospital Review collected the following facts about ACOs. Topics include ACO goals, terminology, geographic spread, payment structures, and the specifics of Medicare and commercial ACOs.
To learn more about individual ACOs, read the 2013 list of "100 Accountable Care Organizations to Know."
ACOs have grown to become much more visible within the past three years, as more than half of Americans now live in primary care service areas served by ACOs. To better understand the model and its role in healthcare reform, Becker's Hospital Review collected the following facts about ACOs. Topics include ACO goals, terminology, geographic spread, payment structures, and the specifics of Medicare and commercial ACOs.
To learn more about individual ACOs, read the 2013 list of "100 Accountable Care Organizations to Know."
ACO basics:
1. The term "accountable care organization" was coined in 2006 by Elliott Fisher, MD, director of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Hanover, N.H.
2. An accountable care organization is a group of payers, physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers that voluntarily collaborate to provide efficient, high-quality and coordinated care to an assigned population of patients. If providers reduce costs and/or improve specified quality metrics in a certain timeframe, they are able to receive financial rewards from or share in the savings with Medicare or a commercial payer. ACO arrangements can also involve risk, in which the provider would have to pay back a portion or all of the costs that exceeded the payer's established benchmark. Read more of ACO's Basics published by Becker's Hospital Review.
1. The term "accountable care organization" was coined in 2006 by Elliott Fisher, MD, director of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Hanover, N.H.
2. An accountable care organization is a group of payers, physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers that voluntarily collaborate to provide efficient, high-quality and coordinated care to an assigned population of patients. If providers reduce costs and/or improve specified quality metrics in a certain timeframe, they are able to receive financial rewards from or share in the savings with Medicare or a commercial payer. ACO arrangements can also involve risk, in which the provider would have to pay back a portion or all of the costs that exceeded the payer's established benchmark. Read more of ACO's Basics published by Becker's Hospital Review.
6 Tips on Rebranding a Community Hospital Under a Health System
When smaller hospitals are rebranded under a large health system, there may be concerns that the hospitals will lose their personal touch and become more corporate or distant. For Flint, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care and its 10 Michigan hospitals, however, that was not the case. In 2012, it changed the hospitals' names, rebranding the entire organization under the McLaren name and logo. For example, Bay Regional Medical Center in Bay City became McLaren Bay Region, Central Michigan Community Hospital in Mount Pleasant became McLaren Central Michigan and McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint became McLaren Flint. Although their names changed, their commitment to patients remained.
Here are six tips for ensuring community hospitals retain their connection to the community when undergoing a brand change under a large health system.
1. Do market research. McLaren conducted focus groups and other market research to determine community members' reactions to a possible name change. The result was overwhelmingly positive, which was a major factor in McLaren's decision to move ahead with the rebranding. "The McLaren brand had been growing for some time, so we had good brand equity built into that name," says Kevin Tompkins, vice president of marketing at McLaren. "However, in many cases, people weren't aware their local hospital was part of the McLaren system." Read 2-5 by clicking here.
Here are six tips for ensuring community hospitals retain their connection to the community when undergoing a brand change under a large health system.
Wielding the Carrot and the Stick: How to Move the U.S. Health Care System Away from Fee-for-Service Payment
The U.S. health system is plagued by fragmented care, variable quality, and high and rapidly growing costs. Underlying these problems is the prevalence of fee-for-service payment, in which health care providers are paid per visit, test, or procedure. Not only does fee-for-service payment fail to provide incentives for efficiency, quality, or outcomes, it encourages the provision of unnecessary care and often discourages coordination of care and management of patients across providers and settings.
A broad range of policy experts have called for the adoption of alternative approaches to paying for health care. But how do we move our $2.9 trillion health system from fee-for-service payment to other approaches?
Three elements are key to successfully moving toward alternative payment approaches:
A broad range of policy experts have called for the adoption of alternative approaches to paying for health care. But how do we move our $2.9 trillion health system from fee-for-service payment to other approaches?
Three elements are key to successfully moving toward alternative payment approaches:
- The carrot—Implement policies that reward high performance and encourage changes in the organization and delivery of health care.
- The stick—Reduce and eventually eliminate the option of remaining in the fee-for-service payment system.
- The muscle—Coordinate policies across public programs and private payers so they are applied consistently and their impact is maximized.
Life as an Independent Rural Hospital: Q&A With Duncan Regional Hospital CFO Doug Volinski
Three and a half years ago, Doug Volinski, CFO of Duncan (Okla.) Regional Hospital, arrived at the small independent hospital with a growing plate of experience.
He previously was the compliance officer at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas eventually becoming Valley Baptist's interim CFO and ultimately its vice president of finance. He then moved to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., just south of Chattanooga, Tenn., as the CFO of Hutcheson Medical Center before heading west to Duncan Regional.
"I've had a lot of different experiences, and in this industry, the more and variety of experiences you have gives perspective," Mr. Volinski says.
Here, Mr. Volinski explains the major issues at Duncan Regional, the strength of the hospital's balance sheet and what other CFOs of small rural hospitals should be focused on right now.
He previously was the compliance officer at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas eventually becoming Valley Baptist's interim CFO and ultimately its vice president of finance. He then moved to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., just south of Chattanooga, Tenn., as the CFO of Hutcheson Medical Center before heading west to Duncan Regional.
"I've had a lot of different experiences, and in this industry, the more and variety of experiences you have gives perspective," Mr. Volinski says.
Here, Mr. Volinski explains the major issues at Duncan Regional, the strength of the hospital's balance sheet and what other CFOs of small rural hospitals should be focused on right now.
- Q: Duncan Regional Hospital is a small, independent, 145-bed community hospital. As CFO, what are the biggest issues you're working on right now?
- Q: What is the hospital's balance sheet like today, and how does it compare to five years ago?
- Q: How would you describe the competition in the area? I understand the area is fairly spread out.
- Q: How is Duncan Regional being innovative with commercial payer contracts? Are there certain things you're doing with the Uniteds and Aetnas to make sure your reimbursement stays strong? And what is your payer mix?
Care coordination may lead to less competition, higher prices, article says
Better medical care may arise from new public policies to promote more coordination from hospitals, doctors and others in healthcare, but there may be a high price to pay, two economists cautioned in a new article.
More coordination may lead to less competition and greater leverage for hospitals and doctors to raise prices, wrote Katherine Baicker of Harvard University and Helen Levy of the University of Michigan, in a New England Journal of Medicine essay that outlines the tension and risks associated with growth of new healthcare payment models.
“Well-integrated provider networks may promote coordinated care that improves the allocation of healthcare resources, but they are likely to undermine competitive pressures to keep prices down while maintaining lower quality,” the authors wrote. “Coordinated systems may thus deliver the right care to the right patient at the right time, but at the wrong price.” Read more here.
More coordination may lead to less competition and greater leverage for hospitals and doctors to raise prices, wrote Katherine Baicker of Harvard University and Helen Levy of the University of Michigan, in a New England Journal of Medicine essay that outlines the tension and risks associated with growth of new healthcare payment models.
Moody's: 132 Statistics on Nonprofit Hospital Medians
Last week, Moody's Investors Service issued its annual medians report for nonprofit hospitals, finding that providers had a strong balance sheet in fiscal year 2012 but profitability metrics were down compared with FY 2011.
For the first time since FY 2008, Moody's found expenses outpaced revenue in nonprofit hospitals and health systems. Overall, median operating revenue growth dropped from 5.4 percent in 2011 to 5.2 percent in 2012. Net patient revenue growth dropped to 4.7 percent, more than a half-percent lower from 2011.
Balance sheets remained strong due to better returns from investments and more prudent capital spending — and Moody's analysts said strong cash reserves are "an important credit factor while operating in a period of unpredictability."
Several other trends bubbled to the surface after analyzing Moody's most recent hospital metrics, including the following: click here to read the list.
For the first time since FY 2008, Moody's found expenses outpaced revenue in nonprofit hospitals and health systems. Overall, median operating revenue growth dropped from 5.4 percent in 2011 to 5.2 percent in 2012. Net patient revenue growth dropped to 4.7 percent, more than a half-percent lower from 2011.
Balance sheets remained strong due to better returns from investments and more prudent capital spending — and Moody's analysts said strong cash reserves are "an important credit factor while operating in a period of unpredictability."
Several other trends bubbled to the surface after analyzing Moody's most recent hospital metrics, including the following: click here to read the list.
10 quality provisions in the FY 2014 HIPPS rule to know
CMS' final rule for the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System in fiscal year 2014 includes several changes related to quality and patient safety.
Here are some of the major quality- and safety-related provisions in the final rule, based on a CMS fact sheet:
1. CMS will implement the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program in FY 2015. Under this program, hospitals in the lowest quartile for medical errors or hospital-acquired infections will receive a 1 percent penalty on reimbursement.
Performance will be based on two domains included in the Inpatient Quality Reporting program. The first is a composite that includes eight individual measures, including pressure ulcer rate, postoperative hip fracture rate and postoperative sepsis rate. The second domain will include central line-associated blood stream infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections for FY 2015. CMS will add surgical site infections to this domain in FY 2016 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile in FY 2017.
2. The maximum penalty under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program will be increased from 1 percent to2 percent for FY 2014.
Here are some of the major quality- and safety-related provisions in the final rule, based on a CMS fact sheet:
1. CMS will implement the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program in FY 2015. Under this program, hospitals in the lowest quartile for medical errors or hospital-acquired infections will receive a 1 percent penalty on reimbursement.
Performance will be based on two domains included in the Inpatient Quality Reporting program. The first is a composite that includes eight individual measures, including pressure ulcer rate, postoperative hip fracture rate and postoperative sepsis rate. The second domain will include central line-associated blood stream infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections for FY 2015. CMS will add surgical site infections to this domain in FY 2016 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile in FY 2017.
2. The maximum penalty under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program will be increased from 1 percent to2 percent for FY 2014.
To read more click here.
Featured News: Don't fear failure. Fail fast, harness data and adapt
If Silicon Valley venture capitalists were trying to fix broken health care systems, they would invest in multiple solutions at once and expect most to fail. But they would take action.
That was the message from Rebecca Costa, an evolutionary biologist and a keynote speaker at the Colorado Health Symposium sponsored by the Colorado Health Foundation.
In nature, diversification ensures survival. In health care, Costa sees big organizations that want to meet endlessly, hold focus groups, then move tentatively, if at all, as they embark on singular solutions destined to fail at a glacial pace.
“Singularity is a drive toward extinction,” said Costa, a former CEO of a Silicon Valley marketing firm, a radio host and author of the book, “The Watchman’s Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse.”
“Any time anybody is betting on one solution, you’ve got a problem,” Costa told health experts from around Colorado and the U.S. as they gathered to ponder how to harness the power of change. Read more here.
That was the message from Rebecca Costa, an evolutionary biologist and a keynote speaker at the Colorado Health Symposium sponsored by the Colorado Health Foundation.
In nature, diversification ensures survival. In health care, Costa sees big organizations that want to meet endlessly, hold focus groups, then move tentatively, if at all, as they embark on singular solutions destined to fail at a glacial pace.
“Singularity is a drive toward extinction,” said Costa, a former CEO of a Silicon Valley marketing firm, a radio host and author of the book, “The Watchman’s Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse.”
“Any time anybody is betting on one solution, you’ve got a problem,” Costa told health experts from around Colorado and the U.S. as they gathered to ponder how to harness the power of change. Read more here.
The new normal? Shift to outpatient care, payer pressure hit hospitals
Three years ago, Henry Ford Health System began to overhaul how its doctors and nurses care for patients outside the Detroit-based system's six hospitals. Now it must face the economic strains of its own success, as fewer patients turn up to fill hospital beds.
Since January, the number of patients admitted to Henry Ford hospitals has declined 6%, compared with a 2.5% inpatient decline overall in Southeast Michigan; Medicare patients who returned to the hospital within 30 days after discharge fell 19% during the same period. A boom in births has offset fewer patients who need cardiac, pulmonary or kidney care—but only partially.
“We think it's beginning to have an effect,” Dr. William Conway, Henry Ford's executive vice president and chief quality officer, said of the system's broad strategy to prevent hospitalizations. “These things really are working.” To read more click here.
Since January, the number of patients admitted to Henry Ford hospitals has declined 6%, compared with a 2.5% inpatient decline overall in Southeast Michigan; Medicare patients who returned to the hospital within 30 days after discharge fell 19% during the same period. A boom in births has offset fewer patients who need cardiac, pulmonary or kidney care—but only partially.
“We think it's beginning to have an effect,” Dr. William Conway, Henry Ford's executive vice president and chief quality officer, said of the system's broad strategy to prevent hospitalizations. “These things really are working.” To read more click here.
Improving incentives to free motivation
“Improving Incentives to Free Motivation,” calls for an approach to payment reform that harnesses the inherent motivation that doctors and patients have to make good decisions about health care. The authors reject the assumption that health care costs will drop and quality will improve if policymakers and payers simply find the right mix of rewards (“carrots”) and punishments (“sticks”).
The report draws on a large body of research that shows external incentives designed to change simple behaviors, like improving productivity in rote tasks, do not work for more complex behaviors. They can actually be harmful when used for complex behaviors, undermining assets like creativity and drive, which are essential to the success of health professionals. To read the full article click here.
The report draws on a large body of research that shows external incentives designed to change simple behaviors, like improving productivity in rote tasks, do not work for more complex behaviors. They can actually be harmful when used for complex behaviors, undermining assets like creativity and drive, which are essential to the success of health professionals. To read the full article click here.
Fewer hospitals may lead to higher prices
On July 16, two New York City hospital networks announced they were merging to create the largest health care system in the metropolitan area and one of the biggest in the country. The CEO of one of the hospitals said the merger would pave the way for more “efficient” and “integrated” care. Joining the two networks into one entity — to be called the Mount Sinai Health System — would also compensate for “the inability of the federal government or the state governments to be able to pay for the health care that people in the past have demanded,” he told the New York Times.
Put another way, the new large system will have more market power that may allow it to demand higher reimbursements from private insurers, ultimately raising costs for consumers.
Consolidation like this is happening all over the country...read the full article here.
Put another way, the new large system will have more market power that may allow it to demand higher reimbursements from private insurers, ultimately raising costs for consumers.
Consolidation like this is happening all over the country...read the full article here.
Those hospital rankings could use a healthy dose of skepticism
The U.S. News & World Report "Best Hospitals" rankings for 2012-13 were released last week, followed by the usual media hoopla and a few chest-thumping press releases from hospitals at the top of the list. Whether the rankings actually mean anything is an entirely different story.
The highest-ranked hospitals are always quick to tout their rankings in hopes of attracting new patients who will pay top dollar. Many Americans will consult the U.S. News list when they are selecting a hospital for their next elective procedure or care consultation. Why go to the third-best cancer center in your area when you can go to the best!
But a quick look shows that these rankings are not all they're cracked up to be. The methodology that U.S. News uses to rank hospitals yields a list that is flawed to the point of being nearly useless. It also may be counterproductive, since some of the so-called quality criteria U.S. News cites can encourage investments in higher-cost and lower-quality care.
The problems with hospital rankings are similar to the problems with U.S. News scoring for colleges and universities. Read more here.
The highest-ranked hospitals are always quick to tout their rankings in hopes of attracting new patients who will pay top dollar. Many Americans will consult the U.S. News list when they are selecting a hospital for their next elective procedure or care consultation. Why go to the third-best cancer center in your area when you can go to the best!
But a quick look shows that these rankings are not all they're cracked up to be. The methodology that U.S. News uses to rank hospitals yields a list that is flawed to the point of being nearly useless. It also may be counterproductive, since some of the so-called quality criteria U.S. News cites can encourage investments in higher-cost and lower-quality care.
The problems with hospital rankings are similar to the problems with U.S. News scoring for colleges and universities. Read more here.
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