A recent article Becker's Hospital Review says that providers will need to find ways to reduce costs - particularly in Medicare and Medicaid - while maintaining or improving quality.
William C. Mohlenbrock, MD, FACS, discusses "three specific initiatives to improve quality and control costs [in the healthcare reform law]: the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which establishes Medicare accountable care organizations; the Bundled Payments for Care Initiative, which expands CMS' Acute Care Episodes; and Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans."
Source: Becker's Hospital Review
Monday, October 17, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Journal of Hospital Medicine Shows Link Between Accreditation, Quality
New research published in the October issue of the “Journal of Hospital Medicine” shows that hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission outperformed non-accredited hospitals on nationally standardized quality measures of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, and pneumonia and that the performance gap between Joint Commission accredited and non-accredited hospitals increased over the years of the study.
The study, “Hospital Performance Trends on National Quality Measures" is the first to show the association between Joint Commission accreditation status and performance improvement over a five-year reporting period.
Source: TJC News Release
The study, “Hospital Performance Trends on National Quality Measures" is the first to show the association between Joint Commission accreditation status and performance improvement over a five-year reporting period.
Source: TJC News Release
HHS announces record number of National Health Service Corps members
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the number of participants in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) has nearly tripled because of investments in the National Health Service Corps through the Affordable Care Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and annual appropriations. The NHSC has awarded nearly $900 million in scholarships and loan repayment to health care professionals to help expand the country’s primary care workforce and meet the health care needs of communities across the country.
“Thanks to the National Health Service Corps, more Americans can see a doctor and get the health care they need,” said HHS Secretary Sebelius. “The investments we made are improving health and creating access to care, fueling economic activity nationwide.”
“Thanks to the National Health Service Corps, more Americans can see a doctor and get the health care they need,” said HHS Secretary Sebelius. “The investments we made are improving health and creating access to care, fueling economic activity nationwide.”
Analysts: Debt Reduction Talks Stalling Hospital Expansion
Wall Street panelists at the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) recent "Wall Street Comes to Washington" Conference say that expansions and construction of new hospitals aren't happening because of investor fears and over potential cuts that may be made by Congress to reduce the national debt.
"I think right now the biggest hurdle is planning," said Fitch Ratings analyst Jeff Schaub. "There are so many things that are unknown. And the planning cycle at acute care providers is five years, 10 years they’re looking out and there’s a big black hole starting 2013, 2014 and extending through 2017. So capital decisions that need to be made now, organizational decisions, affiliation decisions that really need to be made now are being made with a certain amount of contingency. Very often when I meet with hospitals they’re talking about...five, six, maybe even 20 different alternative views of the future and trying to quantify and make decisions among that entire array of possible outcomes."
Citigroup analyst Gary Taylor said that facilities that should be being built right now are probably not because investors do not know if how or if Congress will cost shift Medicare and Medicaid cuts to publicly-traded hospitals. “Since this debt ceiling debate took over and we’ve made commitments to reduce entitlement spending etcetera, publicly traded hospital stocks are down probably 40 percent on average, [and] nursing home stocks are down 70 and 80 percent on average,” Taylor said according to a report in CQHealthbeat (subscription required). “The collective wisdom of the market right now is that investing in . . . certain types of health care providers is extraordinarily risky because of the policy changes, primary reimbursement cuts, that are going to potentially come out of Congress.”
Source: CQ Healthbeat (subscription required); HSC Conference Transcript
"I think right now the biggest hurdle is planning," said Fitch Ratings analyst Jeff Schaub. "There are so many things that are unknown. And the planning cycle at acute care providers is five years, 10 years they’re looking out and there’s a big black hole starting 2013, 2014 and extending through 2017. So capital decisions that need to be made now, organizational decisions, affiliation decisions that really need to be made now are being made with a certain amount of contingency. Very often when I meet with hospitals they’re talking about...five, six, maybe even 20 different alternative views of the future and trying to quantify and make decisions among that entire array of possible outcomes."
Citigroup analyst Gary Taylor said that facilities that should be being built right now are probably not because investors do not know if how or if Congress will cost shift Medicare and Medicaid cuts to publicly-traded hospitals. “Since this debt ceiling debate took over and we’ve made commitments to reduce entitlement spending etcetera, publicly traded hospital stocks are down probably 40 percent on average, [and] nursing home stocks are down 70 and 80 percent on average,” Taylor said according to a report in CQHealthbeat (subscription required). “The collective wisdom of the market right now is that investing in . . . certain types of health care providers is extraordinarily risky because of the policy changes, primary reimbursement cuts, that are going to potentially come out of Congress.”
Source: CQ Healthbeat (subscription required); HSC Conference Transcript
ONC/FHA Call For Participants in HIMSS 2012 Interoperability Showcase
Is your organization successfully using nationally recognized standards to securely share patient data with other organizations? Demonstrate your successes within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and Federal Health Architecture (FHA) area in the HIMSS 2012 Interoperability Showcase!
ONC and FHA are looking to highlight cutting-edge interoperable health information exchange at HIMSS 2012, with a focus on ONC-related initiatives, including:
Nationwide Health Information Network
CONNECT
Direct Project
State HIE Programs
S&I Framework
SHARP Program
Regional Extension Centers
Beacon Communities
All nominated demonstrations must include interoperable health information exchange among at least three end user organizations. End users include healthcare organizations (hospitals, clinics, state or federal agencies, etc.) and health information exchanges, not health IT vendors or IT service providers. All demonstrations must be live. No canned demonstrations or static presentations will be considered.
A panel of ONC staff will evaluate all nominations and determine which nominated demonstrations will be included within the ONC/FHA area of the Interoperability Showcase. Only nominations directly related to ONC programs will be considered. Nominations are due October 26th at 5:00 p.m. ET, and the determination of who will be included will be made by November 2nd.
Complete information is here:
http://www.connectopensource.org/forms/himss12-call-for-participants
Source: ONC/FHA News Release
ONC and FHA are looking to highlight cutting-edge interoperable health information exchange at HIMSS 2012, with a focus on ONC-related initiatives, including:
Nationwide Health Information Network
CONNECT
Direct Project
State HIE Programs
S&I Framework
SHARP Program
Regional Extension Centers
Beacon Communities
All nominated demonstrations must include interoperable health information exchange among at least three end user organizations. End users include healthcare organizations (hospitals, clinics, state or federal agencies, etc.) and health information exchanges, not health IT vendors or IT service providers. All demonstrations must be live. No canned demonstrations or static presentations will be considered.
A panel of ONC staff will evaluate all nominations and determine which nominated demonstrations will be included within the ONC/FHA area of the Interoperability Showcase. Only nominations directly related to ONC programs will be considered. Nominations are due October 26th at 5:00 p.m. ET, and the determination of who will be included will be made by November 2nd.
Complete information is here:
http://www.connectopensource.org/forms/himss12-call-for-participants
Source: ONC/FHA News Release
Friday, October 7, 2011
HSPH Study: Lower Quality, High Cost Hospitals Treat More Poor, Minorities
Hospitals with the lowest scores on certain quality and cost measures treat more than twice as many minority and poor patients as hospitals with the highest scores, according to a Harvard School of Public Health study published in Health Affairs.
The study compared quality and cost measures at roughly 3,200 hospitals with the proportion of minority and Medicaid patients the hospitals served. "As the United States embarks on efforts to improve hospital care using value-based purchasing principles, we will need to help hospitals improve quality and efficiency simultaneously and to monitor the results of their efforts, so that we do not inadvertently worsen disparities in care," the study concludes.
Maulik Joshi, president of the Health Research & Educational Trust and senior vice president of research for the AHA, said the AHA "is committed to sharing with hospitals tools and strategies that can help eliminate disparities in care. As noted by today's study and others in Health Affairs, there are many community-based influences on health and health care. We need to address the many factors that impact community health, such as access to preventive and follow-up care, and work with all stakeholders to ensure improved care for patients and communities."
Source: AHA News Release
The study compared quality and cost measures at roughly 3,200 hospitals with the proportion of minority and Medicaid patients the hospitals served. "As the United States embarks on efforts to improve hospital care using value-based purchasing principles, we will need to help hospitals improve quality and efficiency simultaneously and to monitor the results of their efforts, so that we do not inadvertently worsen disparities in care," the study concludes.
Maulik Joshi, president of the Health Research & Educational Trust and senior vice president of research for the AHA, said the AHA "is committed to sharing with hospitals tools and strategies that can help eliminate disparities in care. As noted by today's study and others in Health Affairs, there are many community-based influences on health and health care. We need to address the many factors that impact community health, such as access to preventive and follow-up care, and work with all stakeholders to ensure improved care for patients and communities."
Source: AHA News Release
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Unveils Action Plan To Improve Healthcare Quality; Rein In Costs
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) released a comprehensive, interconnected action plan that fundamentally transforms the healthcare system, moving it away from a fee-for-service model to a patient-centered model. The action plan, Building Tomorrow's Healthcare System: The Pathway to High-Quality, Affordable Care in America, provides specific recommendations to improve healthcare quality and tackle rising costs and is based on the experience of BCBSA's 39 Plans in all 50 states and federal territories, in every market and every zip code. An independent economic analysis of the recommendations shows that, if adopted, this action plan will achieve more than $300 billion in federal savings over the next 10 years.
"We believe that the healthcare system needs to fundamentally change so that people get the best, most affordable care possible. We need to put the patient back in the center of healthcare and this is going to take a significant collaborative effort between both public and private sectors," said Scott P. Serota, president and CEO of BCBSA. "It's time to stop the finger pointing and start working together to make our system the best for patients. In Building Tomorrow's Healthcare System, we make specific recommendations for what the government should do and show how Blue companies nationwide have been working with doctors, hospitals, consumers and policymakers to transform the healthcare system."
The proposal lays out specific, actionable steps the government should take in four key areas:
1.Reward Safety: National and local leadership along with new provider incentives are needed to eliminate preventable medical errors, infections and complications that harm hundreds of thousands of people each year and cost billions of dollars.
2.Do What Works: The incentives in our system must be changed to advance the best possible care and reward quality outcomes, instead of paying for more services that are ineffective or redundant and add unnecessary costs to the system.
3.Reinforce Front-Line Care: A higher value must be placed on primary care and on ensuring there is an adequate workforce of professionals to deliver necessary, timely and coordinated care that results in better outcomes and lower costs.
4.Inspire Healthy Living: With 75 percent of today's healthcare dollar spent on the treatment of chronic illnesses — many of which are preventable — consumers must be empowered and encouraged to make better choices, live healthier lives and better manage their health.
If adopted, the recommendations would save $319 billion over the next decade according to an economic analysis by Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair Department of Health Policy & Management Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.
"The BCBSA proposal reflects a clear understanding of the transformational approach needed to reform our prevention and healthcare delivery system," said Thorpe. "Building evidence-based approaches to coordinate care for Medicare and Medicaid patients that will improve the quality and reduce healthcare spending is a discussion we need to have. Rather than simply shifting federal costs to seniors, the states, or elsewhere, these proposals have the potential to reduce total healthcare spending."
The proposal contains several examples of Blue Cross and Blue Shield initiatives underway across the country that can work as models for improving care and reducing costs. One example is the Michigan Health and Hospital Association's Keystone: ICU Program, which has dramatically reduced central line-associated bloodstream infection rates and ventilator-assisted pneumonia rates in ICU patients. More than 70 Michigan hospitals participate in this program and over a six-year period the initiative has saved 1,830 lives, eliminated an estimated 140,700 avoidable hospital days for patients, and saved more than $300 million.
"This action plan recommends changes that will bring about real improvement for our fragmented healthcare system," said Daniel Loepp, president and CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. "In Michigan, and in local communities across the country, the Blues are seeing first hand the difference that these types of programs can make for patients. That is why we're encouraging the government to work with the private sector to expand on efforts that improve the quality and affordability of care."
To read Building Tomorrow's Healthcare System: The Pathway to High-Quality, Affordable Care in America, please visit www.bcbs.com/pathway.
Source: BCBSA Press Release
"We believe that the healthcare system needs to fundamentally change so that people get the best, most affordable care possible. We need to put the patient back in the center of healthcare and this is going to take a significant collaborative effort between both public and private sectors," said Scott P. Serota, president and CEO of BCBSA. "It's time to stop the finger pointing and start working together to make our system the best for patients. In Building Tomorrow's Healthcare System, we make specific recommendations for what the government should do and show how Blue companies nationwide have been working with doctors, hospitals, consumers and policymakers to transform the healthcare system."
The proposal lays out specific, actionable steps the government should take in four key areas:
1.Reward Safety: National and local leadership along with new provider incentives are needed to eliminate preventable medical errors, infections and complications that harm hundreds of thousands of people each year and cost billions of dollars.
2.Do What Works: The incentives in our system must be changed to advance the best possible care and reward quality outcomes, instead of paying for more services that are ineffective or redundant and add unnecessary costs to the system.
3.Reinforce Front-Line Care: A higher value must be placed on primary care and on ensuring there is an adequate workforce of professionals to deliver necessary, timely and coordinated care that results in better outcomes and lower costs.
4.Inspire Healthy Living: With 75 percent of today's healthcare dollar spent on the treatment of chronic illnesses — many of which are preventable — consumers must be empowered and encouraged to make better choices, live healthier lives and better manage their health.
If adopted, the recommendations would save $319 billion over the next decade according to an economic analysis by Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair Department of Health Policy & Management Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.
"The BCBSA proposal reflects a clear understanding of the transformational approach needed to reform our prevention and healthcare delivery system," said Thorpe. "Building evidence-based approaches to coordinate care for Medicare and Medicaid patients that will improve the quality and reduce healthcare spending is a discussion we need to have. Rather than simply shifting federal costs to seniors, the states, or elsewhere, these proposals have the potential to reduce total healthcare spending."
The proposal contains several examples of Blue Cross and Blue Shield initiatives underway across the country that can work as models for improving care and reducing costs. One example is the Michigan Health and Hospital Association's Keystone: ICU Program, which has dramatically reduced central line-associated bloodstream infection rates and ventilator-assisted pneumonia rates in ICU patients. More than 70 Michigan hospitals participate in this program and over a six-year period the initiative has saved 1,830 lives, eliminated an estimated 140,700 avoidable hospital days for patients, and saved more than $300 million.
"This action plan recommends changes that will bring about real improvement for our fragmented healthcare system," said Daniel Loepp, president and CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. "In Michigan, and in local communities across the country, the Blues are seeing first hand the difference that these types of programs can make for patients. That is why we're encouraging the government to work with the private sector to expand on efforts that improve the quality and affordability of care."
To read Building Tomorrow's Healthcare System: The Pathway to High-Quality, Affordable Care in America, please visit www.bcbs.com/pathway.
Source: BCBSA Press Release
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