Recent studies suggest a gap in operational readiness as providers move toward value-based care while lacking fully-automated capabilities By Greg Bengel, contributing writer
Hilo Medical Center adds paperless solutions to EHR, rewarded with Stage 7 Award by HIMSS Analytics By Wendy Grafius, contributing writer
Study finds scheduling follow-up visits may be habitual; using evidence-based guidelines would save money, provide better access to care By Katie Wike, contributing writer
Just when the Meaningful Use program was on life support, the ONC makes two key announcements that seem to have healthcare leaders rallying around the program (and the organization) once again.
The transcription group at Intermountain worked closely with its Nuance Healthcare implementation team to plan for the go-live. Together, they developed a strategy for a fast, successful enterprise-wide rollout. Following the implementation at the hospitals, the rollout to Intermountain’s 150 clinics began.
In 2001, the corporate transcription department of UC Health (formerly Health Alliance) in Cincinnati, Ohio was drowning from an increased volume of medical transcription. In particular, an increase in Emergency Department dictations added to an already heavy workload.
Many industry leaders championed a free market approach to healthcare during the 12th Annual World Health Care Congress last week. Here are a few key reasons why I don’t think this model is “the fix” our industry so desperately needs.
An Accountable Care Organization (ACO) utilizes a payment and care delivery system that bases payments to providers on quality metrics and seeks to reduce the total cost of care for a certain population of patients. ACOs use a range of payment models and consist of groups of coordinated healthcare providers that provide care to groups of patients. ACOs are accountable to a third-party payer and the group of patients for the appropriateness, quality, and efficiency of the health services they provide.
In 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) set forth initial guidelines for ACOs to be created under the Medicare Shared Savings Program. These guidelines contained all necessary steps required for a physician, health care provider, or hospital to voluntarily participate in ACOs.
The quality measures used to evaluate an ACO's performance as defined by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) fall into five domains. These domains are patient/caregiver experience, care coordination, patient safety, preventative health, and at-risk population/frail elderly health.
The three stakeholders in an ACO are the providers, payers, and patients. Providers are a network of hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare professionals. The primary payer is the federal government, Medicare, but also includes other payers such as private insurances or employee-purchased insurance. The patient population of an ACO will primarily consist of Medicare beneficiaries, but in larger ACOs can also include those who are homeless and uninsured.
According to a new report, a lack of out-of-network interoperability is the biggest obstacle facing ACOs today. By Katie Wike, contributing writer
