Skilled nursing facility (SNF) utilization has declined 15 percent from 2009 to 2016, a new Avalere analysis revealed.
The analysis of Medicare fee-for-service claims revealed that SNF utilization dropped from 1,808 SNF days per 1,000...
Hospital acquisitions of independent practices continued, with another 5,000 physician practices acquired by hospitals from July 2015 to July 2016, a recent Physicians Advocacy Institute (PAI) and Avalere Health analysis showed.
The...
For hospitals facing a physician shortage, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and health lay workers may be the key to providing high-quality care at lower costs, according to recent research.
The physician shortage is expected to...
Healthcare staffing remains a problem for hospitals, with almost 31 percent reporting that they cannot find enough candidates to fill open positions, a recent survey of over 200 hospital C-suite executives, administrators, and human...
High prices for provider compensation, healthcare services, and prescription drugs, as well as administrative costs, are responsible for increased healthcare spending in the US compared to other high-income countries, a new JAMA study...
Hospital readmission rates for conditions that carry value-based penalties under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) varied by admitting physician attending type, with geriatricians having the lowest 30-day readmissions...
Compensation for health IT professionals in provider and vendor organizations slightly increased from last year, reaching an average salary of $109,610 in 2018, according to the most recent HIMSS US Compensation Survey.
The survey of 885...
North Carolina-based UNC Health Care and Atrium Health recently announced that they will no longer pursue a hospital merger deal that would create one of the largest health systems in the country.
“After months of discussions and...
Patient financial responsibility is on the rise, according to findings from a TransUnion Healthcare analysis revealed at HIMSS18. Patients saw their average out-of-pocket costs increase 11 percent in 2017, growing from $1,630 in the fourth...
Hospitals and health systems are under immense pressure to improve efficiency and reduce their healthcare costs as payers decrease claims reimbursement rates and hospital consolidation continues to grow.
Facing tighter margins and...
Over one-half (52 percent) of physicians reported that their patients faced coverage issues at least once a month because of provider directory accuracy challenges, revealed a new survey from the American Medical Association (AMA) and...
Electronic health records (EHRs) did not reduce insurance-related and medical billing costs despite the federal government’s claims that EHR adoption would lower administrative expenditures, according to a recent Journal of the...
Maryland-based Bon Secours Health System recently announced its intent to engage in a hospital merger deal with Mercy Health in Ohio and Kentucky.
The Catholic health systems are currently engaged in merger talks, with a final deal...
Small and independent physician practices can survive in the era of healthcare consolidation by entering service sharing arrangements that allow practices to pool and manage resources collectively within a network, industry experts from...
Offering interactive patient education pre- and post-total joint replacement surgery is key to improving patient outcomes and generating new revenue, a multi-specialty hospital system in the Twin Cities area recently found.
An estimated 7...
Massachusetts public health officials recently approved a proposed hospital merger between the state’s largest hospital system, Partners HealthCare, and specialty hospital Massachusetts Eye and Ear.
The Public Health Council...
Healthcare finance professionals can bet on discussing compliance, innovative health IT systems, and patient financial responsibility at the 2018 HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition (HIMSS18) in Las Vegas.
Over 45,000 healthcare...
Local patterns of healthcare utilization and pricing resulted in significant healthcare costs variation across five states, a new Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) report showed.
NRHI’s second annual report,...
In the face of increased hospital consolidation, HHS should better support independent practices and develop policies that allow solo providers to compete with hospitals and health systems, the Physicians Advocacy Institute (PAI) recently...
Clinicians strongly agreed that providers should be responsible for reducing healthcare costs, but fewer clinicians felt that decreasing practice variation would lower costs, a recent Plos One study uncovered.
The survey of over 170...