Healthcare Management Advisor
Showing 113–128 of 132 results
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Reducing hospital readmissions is a CMS priority
Summer 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 538
Abstract: It’s estimated that a large percentage of hospital readmissions of elderly patients are “potentially preventable.” As a result, CMS has launched initiatives to reduce readmission rates and the associated costs. This article discusses increased CMS authority to cut payments to hospitals that have high readmission rates for a variety of conditions. It describes two broad approaches for reducing the rates and lists strategies that have helped several hospitals.
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Have you started EHR implementation? If not, you may miss out on incentive payments
Summer 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 623
Abstract: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 enables health care providers, physicians and hospitals to qualify for incentive payments when they adopt and demonstrate “meaningful use” of health care information technologies, particularly electronic health records (EHR). Beginning this year, hospitals can receive the first group of incentive payments by satisfying 19 requirements described in Stage One of the meaningful-use rule. This article shows how to get started.
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Taking a preemptive strike against hospital/physician contracting risks
Summer 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 888
Abstract: Within the U.S. health care system, there’s a spotlight on compensated relationships hospitals have with their physicians, as the federal government cracks down on health care fraud and abuse. To preempt the substantial damages awards and settlements that can result from improper hospital-physician contracting arrangements, hospitals should develop compliance procedures for establishing new compensated physician relationships. This article shows how to establish such procedures, while a sidebar warns against forgetting to examine existing arrangements.
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High-risk areas for hospital compliance – How to ensure you abide by the rules
Summer 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 895
Abstract: The sheer number of legal obligations that apply to hospital operations grows annually. And the consequences of violating or not complying with those obligations can result in large damages awards or settlements, government-imposed compliance programs, and exclusion from Medicare participation. But this article shows ways to reduce risk. It looks at the importance of employee education programs and discusses especially high-risk areas for noncompliance.
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The time is ripe for team-based care
Spring 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 1003
Abstract: There’s been a growing consensus in the medical community that teamwork is critical to patient care. This article describes the benefits, the training involved, and the qualities of the physicians who participate. However, this approach is so new to the health care industry that it requires outside input for its implementation. The article looks at the Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS®) program and the three phases a hospital should observe in rolling it out.
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Supreme Court decision settles debate over medical residents
Spring 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 716
Abstract: For two decades, there’s been a contentious debate between teaching hospitals and the Social Security Administration over whether residents should be treated as employees or students. If students are considered to be employees, both they and their hospital-employers must pay FICA taxes to cover Social Security and Medicare. Hospitals have relied on a FICA exemption to define residents working more than 40 hours a week as students, but a Supreme Court decision in January upheld a Treasury regulation making such residents ineligible for the exemption. As this article explains, hospitals must immediately begin paying payroll taxes for these residents.
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Is your hospital ready for critical deadlines?
Spring 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 497
Abstract: The health care industry is experiencing a convergence of three technology-based initiatives: 1) the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 in coding and adjudicating health care claims, 2) the introduction of the 5010 standard for electronic transactions between providers and payors, and 3) the HITECH incentive program for implementing certified “meaningful use” EHR systems. Deadlines for these initiatives are fast approaching, and many hospitals are already falling behind in preparing for them. This article describes the steps they need to take.
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Your hospital and local employers: A win-win combination
Spring 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 836
Abstract: Poor employee health habits can negatively affect employers’ bottom lines through high absenteeism, poor quality output, low productivity and skyrocketing insurance premiums. But hospitals are likely to be well positioned to help local businesses institute health management programs. Well-established hospitals offer employers credibility, a track record of accomplishment, diversity and flexibility of services, and certified expertise. This article shows how to get started, while a sidebar discusses how to help an employer build the foundation for a workplace health improvement program.
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7 steps for reducing revenue loss
Winter 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 615
Abstract: The way that a hospital manages its revenue cycle can mean the difference between a positive or negative bottom line. Some of the leading reasons for lost revenue are insurance denials and self-pay failures. Other causes include lost charges, delayed payments, underpayments and the costs of rework. This article lists seven measures a hospital can implement to improve its revenue cycle.
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Hospital governance: Revised standard on medical staff bylaws
Winter 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 720
Abstract: After seven years of debate, the Joint Commission has made significant changes to medical staff standard MS.01.01.01. As a result, hospital governing body and medical staff may need to make appropriate adjustments to meet the March 31, 2011, compliance date. This article discusses the changes, which are concerned primarily with the provisions that must appear in the medical staff bylaws (rather than rules or policies).
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Social media for hospitals? You bet!
Winter 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 797
Abstract: Although initially geared more toward individual use, social media is being used increasingly by a variety of businesses to gather information, communicate with stakeholders and facilitate collaboration among interested parties. These benefits are particularly appealing to health care organizations. This article shows why, and includes a sidebar offering examples of leading hospitals that already have an established social media presence.
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Lean management: Improve your hospital operations day in, day out
Winter 2011
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 894
Abstract: Lean management is all about removing waste and improving workflow. Due to its success in other economic sectors, it’s being adopted rapidly in health care. This article shows how hospitals can use lean processes to distinguish value-adding process steps from non-value-adding steps, allowing them to cut out the wasteful steps.
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Health GPOs continue to change, attract federal scrutiny
Fall 2010
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 276
Abstract: Nearly every hospital uses a group purchasing organization (GPO) for at least some of its purchasing needs. In the 1980s and 1990s, the industry consolidated into seven large GPOs to provide national group purchasing services. Now it looks like the industry is changing again as interest in regional and local GPOs grows. This brief article discusses hospitals’ increasingly assertive relationships with GPOs, and federal scrutiny among concerns about whether GPOs produce genuine purchasing savings for their members.
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Greening the hospital: It’s no longer optional
Fall 2010
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 782
Abstract: Many hospitals don’t have a complete understanding of the impact their facilities have on the environment, including the presence of toxins, the dollars spent on harmful products and processes, the health effects on patients and employees, the energy efficiency of hospital activities, and the volumes of waste that they disgorge. This article looks at some of the situations that may be present in a hospital and how to address them. These involve a hospital’s supply chains, waste disposal system, facility design and operations, and food service. A sidebar lists three online sources that can help hospitals improve their “environmental health.”
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Is there an ACO in your future? – Understanding the hospital’s role in accountable care organizations
Fall 2010
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 1074
Abstract: Health care reform will significantly expand patient access, yet major problems remain with the U.S. health care system. Overall costs are unsustainable, and several health-outcome measures lag behind other industrialized countries. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) includes provisions to address these issues through aggressive promotion of accountable care organizations (ACOs). This article explains what an ACO does, and discusses three PPACA programs that directly affect ACOs. It also suggests how to form an ACO and offers special tips for hospitals. A sidebar looks at legal impediments to forming an ACO.
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Strategies for responding to adverse events
Fall 2010
Newsletter: Healthcare Management Advisor
Price: $225.00, Subscriber Price: $157.50
Word count: 865
Abstract: If a death or serious disability results from a preventable medical error, the potential legal and financial consequences are huge. This article examines the recent history of attempts to identify and prevent “adverse events,” and lists five recommended responses to them. It also discusses the findings of an Office of Inspector General (OIG) study of this issue.