All News

According to several healthcare CIOs giving testimony yesterday in the District of Columbia, hospitals are pressed for both time and money when it comes to implementing the necessary changes to their EHR systems and clinical workflows.

In this segment, William Herman, MD, MPH, analyzes Dr Huckfeldt's presentation on glycemic targeting from a health service and clinical research perspective.

In this video segment Dr. Huckfeldt discussed factors contributing to low levels of glycemic control. Patient, medication and physician factors can all effect medication adherence.

Acutely ill patients are at high risk for pain, agitation and delirium (PAD), and recent evidence shows that implementing early assessment, prevention and detection protocols can reduce risk factors and improve patient outcomes.

A bipartisan group of legislators has drafted a bill that would reshape the way the nation pays doctors, responding to criticism that the nation's method of valuing medical procedures misprices payments.

In Miami, a new healthcare model - the ACO - rewards physicians for patient health, controlling costs

A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal would cut providers' reimbursement for dialysis treatment by 9.4%, or approximately $1 billion, nationwide.

Consolidation reduces competition in markets and gives hospitals more leverage to raise prices.

The 340B program was originally designed to assist hospitals that treat under- or uninsured patients in receiving discounted pharmaceutical drugs. Now, the federal subsidy program is getting a second look.

Physician groups voiced general support for a bill approved Tuesday by a Congressional subcommittee to replace Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.

According to a study published in the July issue of The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC), state leaders will have a unique opportunity to reshape the current insurance benefit landscape in the upcoming state healthcare insurance exchanges (HIEs).

The head of a major ObamaCare enrollment group urged Texans to embrace their new benefits under healthcare reform as a means to stay "healthy and financially secure."

One of the many impacts of the new federal health care legislation is expected to be the demand for more primary care doctors.

Anupam Jena, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Healthcare Policy, Harvard Medical School, presented research on how therapeutic choice and patient outcomes vary at the physician level.

As defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), meaningful use is the implementation and adoption of EHR systems to increase the delivery of high-quality care while ensuring patient safety. However, this hasn't been the experience of many physicians whose EHR systems are viewed as encumbrances in the way of their clinical workflows.

Accountability will continue to be a key element in the future of healthcare reform. Whether in accountable care organizations, patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), or other innovative programs for coordinating care-finding a way to drive quality-focused care is essential.

In a study of older men who had died from causes other than prostate cancer, almost half were found to have prostate tumors. And up to half of those tumors detected on autopsy would have qualified for treatment had doctors known about them while the men lived, though none had been the cause of death.

Medicare is accelerating plans to peg a portion of doctors' pay to the quality of their care. The changes would affect nearly 500,000 physicians working in groups.

Community health centers in California are seeing a large disparity in patients' quality of care. The noted variation is cited as a result of the amount of time certain centers have put into improving quality measures, and attributed to their adaptation of electronic health records to monitor patients wellness.

Under healthcare overhaul, federal payments to hospitals are tied to patient satisfaction. Customer service efforts are underway.

In her keynote address Anne Peters, MD, CDE, Director, Clinical Diabetes Program, University of Southern California, opened the meeting by defining what patient-centered care is. Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, values, and ensuring that patients are involved in all clinical decisions, said Dr. Peters. She emphasizes the importance of looking to the needs of the individual patient and make decisions.

Despite concerns that some providers are lagging in the adoption of electronic health records, federal officials plan to stay on schedule in requiring hospitals to meet Stage 2 meaningful-use requirements, the officials said Wednesday

Using low-dose CT scans to screen high-risk patients for lung tumors is far more effective at preventing lung cancer deaths than scanning those at low risk, according to a new analysis of over 53,000 volunteers.

Ratcheting up the campaign to sell the health law, President Barack Obama delivered a speech Thursday touting how millions of individuals are already benefiting from its insurance rebates, and others who buy coverage online in states such as California, New York and Oregon will pay lower-than-projected premiums next year because of increased competition.

Debate recently surfaced following controversial news that the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be delayed. However, welcome relief for employers has had little effect on individuals, who must still abide to the ACA's individual mandate or face tax penalties.

In light of news that nine of CMS' 32 Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations will exit the program, Paul Levy, former CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, wrote a blog post about the 10 obstacles to achieving mass-scale cost savings.

Most primary care doctors are still waiting for that Medicaid pay raise that was scheduled to begin in January under the Affordable Care Act, but a federal official says the government has now approved applications from 48 states to begin paying the higher rates.

Financial incentives can drive providers' adoption of health information technology, including e-prescribing.

The cost rates of insurance in the New York healthcare exchange are expected to be drastically reduced for most consumers in the state.

Medication adherence service provider HealthPrize, run by former Yale Medical School professor and neurosurgeon Katrina Firlik and lawyer Tom Kottler, hopes to raise the bar for patients' medication adherence. HealthPrize web and mobile platforms will utilize various incentives and technology to award patients for proper adherence