News

The human toll of sepsis—the number one preventable cause of mortality in hospitals—is staggering. Of the more than 750,000 severe sepsis cases each year in the United States, 215,000 patients die, making it the leading cause of death in non-cardiac intensive care units. It also accounts for a significant financial burden, equating to $16.7 billion in unnecessary healthcare expenditures.

 

PSQH»

The need for improved data management and quality reporting is increasing exponentially as various healthcare reform measures take effect. From hospitals and physicians participating in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans looking to improve their Star ratings, it seems that no healthcare sector is exempt from this litany of change.

 

EMR & HIPAA»

Evidence-based practice (EBP), a vital aspect of core measures performance and initiatives rolling out under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, has been demonstrated to improve care quality, enhance patient safety and reduce costs related to errors and adverse events.

 

Advance Healthcare»

Healthsense, a maker of in-home health-monitoring systems, has raised $4.3 million in capital, according to a regulatory filing.

 

Minneapolis- St. Paul Business Journal»

Recent articles have drawn attention to two serious physician stressors: (1) the overwhelming volume of rapidly changing medical evidence that physicians are expected to apply to clinical practice and (2) the relentless pressure to see more patients in less time.

 

Phys Biz Tech»

For most healthcare organizations and physicians, the bigger picture of the health IT movement is beginning to come into focus. As multiple federal initiatives continue to unfold in tandem, the synergy behind everything from meaningful use to value-based purchasing is influencing two primary goals: higher quality and lower costs.

 

Gevernment Health IT»

Senior living providers are actively seeking ways to make sure employees can provide residents the best care in the most efficient way possible, and they’re finding equipping front-line staff with mobile technology is essential to achieve that sweet spot.

 

Senior Housing News»

Most healthcare professionals are familiar with CPT, HCPCS and ICD-9/ICD-10 codes and understand their roles in meeting Meaningful Use and coding requirements. But what about the Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC^®)? LOINC is a code system for identifying laboratory and clinical observations that has only recently gained greater visibility in healthcare organizations.

 

Advance Healthcare»

Chapel Hill-based Heat Biologics has upped the amount of money it hopes to raise in an initial public offering of stock.

Separately, website IPOScoop.com is anticipating that Heat Biologics will price its shares after the market closes on July 24. That would mean that shares would start trading the following day.

 News Observer»

The use of health information exchanges (HIEs) in ambulatory care is unlikely to produce significant cost savings through reductions in rates of testing, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) concludes. But the researchers emphasized that there may be other economic benefits of HIE from "downstream outcomes of better informed, higher quality care."

 

Information Week»

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Ed Ricks, CIO at Beaufort (S.C.) Memorial Hospital, has one piece of advice for his peers struggling to get computerized physician order entry systems online to enable CPOE meaningful use compliance: Pay a group of physicians to test the system before you roll it out in your facility.

 

Search Health IT»

Here are five common mistakes made in ambulatory surgery centers that result in increased denials and decreased revenue.

 

Becker's ASC Review»

Studies have found that two out of three clinical encounters generate a question, yet only 40 percent of those questions are answered. If they were all addressed, it could change up to eight management decisions each day – a clinically significant impact.

 

Health Management Technology»

TAMPA, Fla. – (Aug. 1, 2013) – HealthPlan Services^SM (HPS), the nation’s leading technology, sales, retention and administrative services provider for the insurance and managed care markets, announced today the release of ServiceLink^SM Portal v2.0, designed to increase member satisfaction and retention by enhancing the customer support experience.

The doctor might be the same, but her bill's going to be higher.

A strong trend of hospitals buying up physicians practices as well as hospital mergers is threatening to also drive up costs to patients—at least in the short term.

 

CNBC»