In ACO Era, Physicians Will Still Play a Leading-But Changing-Role
July 17th 2014More than 8 million Americans have signed up for health insurance thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Significantly increasing access to care, the 4-year-old healthcare reform law also creates incentives for providers to reorganize the delivery of healthcare.
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HCA Earnings Get Bigger Boost than Expected from Healthcare Reform
July 17th 2014HCA, the country's largest for-profit hospital chain by revenue, Wednesday previewed strong second-quarter results, highlighting a 12.2% increase in income before taxes. It also raised its financial guidance for the year.
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Kentucky Law Grants Prescribing Authority to Nurses
July 16th 2014A new Kentucky state law that expands prescribing authority for advanced practice registered nurses took effect Tuesday, the same day that a study was published touting the benefits of having nurses manage care for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
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HHS Provides $100M to Support States' Medicaid Reform Efforts
July 16th 2014HHS announced that it would distribute more than $100 million to states in a new initiative called The Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP). The program intends to improve Medicaid programs and lower costs through technical support from the agency.
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NCQA Proposes Integration of Medical Homes and Ambulatory Clinics
July 15th 2014The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) proposed a program that would integrate patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) with nontraditional ambulatory sites. If adopted, the program would assess the quality of care delivered at practices such as ambulatory care, urgent care centers, retail clinics, and worksite clinics.
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Doctors' Employment Contracts Due For Renewal-and Revamp
July 15th 2014Physician employment contracts with hospitals that were signed in the early days of healthcare reform are coming up for renewal Experts say the expectation of payment reform requires that these new deals include the flexibility to adapt to expected and unforseeable changes.
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Clinical Documentation Improvement Helps Providers with ICD-10 Transition
July 14th 2014Most providers associate clinical documentation improvement (CDI) with the transition to ICD-10 coding, however, CDI - a process in which care providers receive feedback from specialists who review clinical documents - may also deliver clinical and financial benefits for healthcare organizations.
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Hospitals, Regulators Spar Over In-Patient Care Policy
July 14th 2014Fewer patients linger for days in hospitals without being admitted because of a new federal rule, but hospital and consumer groups are suing the government because they say the policy compromises Medicare patients' care, and patients are often stuck with costly, unexpected bills.
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Better Rules Needed to Boost Use of Big Data
July 14th 2014It's easy to get swept up in the swelling enthusiasm for using the explosion in electronic health and claims records to improve every aspect of healthcare. But the era of "big data" isn't going to happen without better federal rules for stimulating its uses and preventing abuses.
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Insurer's New Payment Model Saved Millions for Oncology Groups
July 11th 2014One insurer's experimental reimbursement model proved to lower the total costs of care for patients with 3 types of cancer. As an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service payment model, the episode payment model-which reimburses physicians on a fixed-price, based on episodes of best-practices and patient outcomes-provided encouraging findings in the battle against the rising costs of cancer care in the United States.
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Will Health Reform Bring New Role, Respect To Primary Care Physicians?
July 10th 2014While much attention has focused on expanded coverage and online insurance bazaars, policymakers' bigger challenge is improving Americans' health while putting a brake on the cost of their care. The keys to that puzzle, CareFirst and many others are deciding, are the internists and general practitioners who have largely been left behind by health care's financial boom.
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Cancer Patients Appreciate the Convenience of MyChart, Says Study
July 10th 2014There has been a sharp increase in the number of cancer patients at one hospital using MyChart, the online, interactive service that allows patients to view laboratory and radiology results, communicate with their healthcare providers, and more.
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Insurer Sees Success with Patient-Centered Medical Home Program
July 10th 2014The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) has been described as a model of "whole person" care delivery, 1 that is designed to support the goals of the Triple Aim. With team collaboration, the PCMH enhances patient access as well as their continuity of care. Now, 1 insurer reports that 1.1 million people who received care through its PCMH in 2013 were not only hospitalized less often, but they reported shorter lengths of stay than patients in fee-for-service care.
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New Form of US Healthcare Saves Money, Improves Quality, One Insurer Finds
July 10th 2014In one of the largest tests of a novel way to deliver and pay for healthcare, insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield announced on Thursday that 1.1 million people receiving care through its "patient-centered medical homes" last year were hospitalized less often and stayed for fewer days compared to patients in traditional fee-for-service care.
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