Category: “Healthcare”

The need to form ACOs and cut costs has also resulted in IDNs wanting to provide more than healthcare - they want to be the insurer as well. What does it mean when one organization controls both the insurance side and the delivery side of the business?

"The Healthcare Supply Chain Association (HSCA) today announced a new economic analysis on the value of group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to the U.S. healthcare system which found that GPOs generate up to $55 billion in annual savings for hospitals, Medicare and Medicaid, and taxpayers. The report specifically found that, from 2013 to 2022, GPOs are expected to generate savings of up to $864 billion for the entire U.S. health system, $229 billion in Medicare savings, and $169 billion in Medicaid savings. Healthcare economists Dobson DaVanzo & Associates used updated National Health Expenditure (NHE) data published by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to complete the empirical analysis"

AnMed Health System (Anderson, S.C.)  has retrofitted nine X-ray rooms and three mobile imaging systems with DRX detectors and installed two CARESTREAM DRX-Revolution Mobile X-Ray Systems and a dual-detector CARESTREAM DRX-Evolution DR room.

Now academic medical centers are merging with for-profit systems. The University of Arizona Health Network in Tucson agreed to sell its operations to Banner Health. Banner will spend at least $500 million on UAHN capital projects over the next five years, create a $300 million endowment for clinical research and pay off UAHN's long-term debt of $146 million. Banner is the seventh-largest secular, not-for-profit system in the country.

For a good information on the subject read  "Overtreaded" a book by one of Healthcare's thought leaders Shannon Brownlee <<Click Here>>

Helen Macfie, PharmD, Chief Transformation Officer, and Regina Berman, MA, BSN, Vice President of Population Health, have been hired to improve outcomes, reduce hospital readmissions, and coordinate care throughout the community.

In their attempt to claw back money for Medicare and Medicad, CMS pays private auditors as part of the RAC program (recovery auditing program). Auditors get from 9% to 13% of the money they accuse hospitals of miss-billing for. Unfortunately they have a dismal record because a large percentage of claw back funds get returned to hospitals. So the question is with such a large financial incentive are the auditors making up these false charges against hospitals? AHA answers that in this whitepaper to CMS.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield now spending 1 out of every 5 medical claim dollars incentivizing better health outcomes rather than rewarding providers for volume.

Ascension is a Catholic healthcare organization dedicated to the transformation of healthcare through excellent clinical care throughout the continuum of care and through innovation. Ascension is the nation's largest Catholic and non-profit health system, providing the highest quality care to all with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable. Last year Ascension provided $1.5 billion in care of persons living in poverty and community benefit programs. Its Mission-focused Health Ministries employ more than 155,000 associates serving in more than 1,900 sites of care in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

Close the Hospital, Fire the Physician: The Case For Harshness in Healthcare

The $2.8 trillion industry that fatally harms upwards of 440,000 patients per year might need is a good dose of mercilessness — toward itself. Toby Cosgrove, MD, CEO of Cleveland Clinic and Jonathan Bush, CEO and co-founder of Athena Health said some shocking things at a recent panel discussion. We have too many hospitals. “The hospital occupancy in the United States right now is 65 percent. There were a million hospital beds 20 years ago. "Now there are 800,000 and we still have too many," he said.

Closing hospitals, firing doctors, hanging up on calls for donations: It sounds reprehensible, except it's not at all. It's the new reality. It used to feel crass to talk about healthcare with business lexicon, but it's getting easier and easier by the day. This isn't good news to hospitals that have been asleep at the wheel, masking their faults with do-gooder hyperbole about their missions. People may not have much patience for that fluff too much longer.

1. U.S. — $8,745 in health expenditure per capita

2. Norway — $6,140

3. Switzerland — $6,080

4. Netherlands — $5,099

5. Austria — $4,896

6. Germany — $4,811

7. Denmark — $4,698

8. Canada — $4,602

9. Luxembourg — $4,578

10. Belgium —$4,419

"Essentially it wipes out any profit we would have next year, so that's kind of why we're struggling with it," said Jackson Health System chief financial officer Mark Knight, noting the state's largest public hospital had operated in the red for years before turning things around. Jackson stands to lose $47 million in Medicaid funding with this one issue. Tampa General would be out $13.3 million.

Hospital mergers drive up costs because they control pricing and reduce competition. Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital merged into a single system known as Partners Healthcare, something the State now regrets.

The negative outlook reflects challenges Sutter Health is currently facing, including its poor performance in fiscal year 2013 and a capital plan of $5 billion over the next five years. Sutter Health posted a $22 million loss from operations in fiscal year 2013, compared with an operating profit of $549 million in 2012

CMS is considering reducing reimbursement once again for services that hospitals provide impacting rural and the community space the most. "Hospitals should view this move toward site-neutral reimbursement as a harbinger for the future." Pretty cavalier about taking money away from already struggling hospitals in MSR's opinion.

Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin health system today comprises the Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Falls, and St Joseph’s Hospital in West Bend, along with more than 30 clinics.