healthcare costs
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Changing The Structure Of Health Care Delivery Systems: To Benefit The Patient, The Providers, Or The Insurers?
In an important series of 3 articles beginning on the Sunday before the New Year, “Doctors Inc.”, Alan Bavley of the Kansas City Star looked at the increasing acquisition of physician practices by hospitals, and the impact this has on access to, quality of, and cost of health care for patients. [...] Read More »
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CHIME Calls For Stage 2 Delay
Responding to a feedback request from Senators on Capitol Hill regarding health IT adoption, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives called for a one-year pushback of the Stage 2 meaningful use deadline and defended the efficacy of the federal incentive program. Read More »
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Chuck Lauer: An IT Boondoggle?
A recent Wall Street Journal article left me speechless. Like a lot of other people in healthcare I have been indoctrinated with the belief that unless the industry fully and enthusiastically adopts information technology, hospital and health systems will never run efficiently and be able to deliver quality healthcare to patients... Read More »
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Clear Health Costs Wants To Save You From Medical Sticker Shock
Ever opened a letter from a doctor to discover an unexpectedly, eye-poppingly enormous bill? Well, one New York startup wants to make sure that never happens again, by providing a platform that allows the average medical consumer to compare prices. Read More »
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Cloud-Based EHRs With Integrated Billing Solutions May Save Thousands Of Independent Physicians From Acquisition, Reveals Black Book RCM Study
Nearly ten percent of physician practices are acquiescing to takeover offers from hospitals and larger medical groups, while more autonomous doctors confront the fallout from owning outmoded billing systems and unworkable electronic health records. However, Black Book surveys detect a defiant tipping point from the majority of independent physicians recently shifting to replacement EHRs... Read More »
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Clouded "Visionary" Leadership - Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's EPIC "Business Cycle Disruptions"
A typical excuse for the multi-million dollar compensation now enjoyed by many leaders of health care organizations is these leaders' supposed brilliance. [...] Recent events, however, suggest that the "visionaries" may need new glasses. Read More »
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CMS EHR Incentive Payments Flirt With $7 Billion
Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record payments are approaching $7 billion since its inception, with $6.9 billion paid out to 143,800 physicians and hospitals in total program estimates through the end of August. Read More »
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Commentary: 7 Challenges To Cost Control
[...] I argued that that the recent health care cost growth reduction is real, and that it could be maintained because incentive structures have the potential to link the self-interest of all major health system stakeholders with the social interest in cost growth containment, quality improvement, and better population health. Read More »
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Commentary: Better Communication For Improved Outcomes, Reduced Readmissions
Despite having one of the most technically advanced healthcare systems in the world, the United States continues to struggle with the most basic of tasks — efficient communication and care coordination amongst different providers. Read More »
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Commentary: Concerns About Quality Improvement Organizations Actions Around Meaningful Use
The federal government is pressuring the medical community to reduce patient care costs while improving the quality of patient care to all patients, including Medicare beneficiaries. Read More »
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Commentary: Fitting Disease Management Pieces Together
Health reform is changing the landscape of a patient’s care and treatment, and with the increasing prevalence and rising costs of chronic and complex diseases in the United States, key stakeholders — including payers and providers — are now searching for better ways to manage these conditions. Read More »
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Commonwealth Fund Spotlights 3 Telemed Model Citizens
While the nation’s healthcare costs continue to drain the economy, several forward thinking provider organizations are finding ways to turn the situation around with carefully thought out telemed programs. A recent report from the Commonwealth Fund highlights the cost effective approaches used by three “model citizens.” Read More »
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CommonWell Is A Shame And A Missed Opportunity
The big news at HIMSS13 was the unveiling of CommonWell (Cerner, McKesson, Allscripts, athenahealth, Greenway and RelayHealth) to “get the ball rolling” on data exchange across disparate technologies. The shame is that another program with opaque governance by the largest incumbents in health IT is being passed off as progress. Read More »
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Comparative Effectiveness Research Improves Outcomes, Kaiser Finds
The national Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) can look to Kaiser Permanente to see how comparative effectiveness research can enhance healthcare. Read More »
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Computerization In Health Care Demands High Data Standards
Recent reports bookend the promise and peril of computerization and the electronic medical record in health care. On the truly positive side, the Mayo Clinic and UnitedHealth Group have teamed up to form Optum Labs, a research group aimed at mining (initially) claims records for over 100 million people and 5 million clinical records... Read More »
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