Healthcare Financial News

The Association is sad to report the passing of Sister Mary Gerald Hartney, CSC, FHFMA, on Sept. 10. A founding member of HFMA (then known as the American Association of Hospital Accountants), she served as elected president for two terms from Jan. 1, 1954, to Dec. 31, 1955. While president, Sister Gerald held the first meeting of chapter presidents, helped launch the first correspondence course for hospital accounting, aided in developing standard accounting procedures for hospitals, and provided leadership, education, and support for hospital accountants.

She also helped plan the first HFMA annual meeting, known as the Indiana University Institute, and was instrumental in planning subsequent Annual National Institutes. After her presidency, she also served as a field consultant in financial management for the Catholic Hospital Association, among many other responsibilities. At the time of her passing, she was serving as a consultant for the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Notre Dame, Ind.

Retail clinics are less expensive for patients than care received in a physician’s office or an urgent care clinic, but there is not yet evidence that their increased use has led to a reduction in overall healthcare costs, according to a study in Minnesota published in the September/October issue of Health Affairs.

For the study, researchers examined 628,513 episodes of care, 3.2 percent of which occurred at MinuteClinic facilities, for members between 2003 and 2006. Researchers determined the overall cost per episode of care, which included the cost of a medical examination and laboratory and pharmacy costs, for five conditions--sore throats, ear infections, sinus infections, conjunctivitis, and urinary tract infections. Researchers compared the overall cost per episode of care that occurred in 2003, before MinuteClinic became part of the HealthPartners network, with those that occurred from 2004 to 2006.

The study found that the overall cost per episode of care for the five conditions increased by 14.1 percent during the four-year period. The average cost per episode of care for the five conditions increased by 20.3 percent in emergency departments, 12.7 percent in physician offices, 11.9 percent at urgent care centers, and 12.2 percent at MinuteClinic facilities during the four-year period, the study found. Read the abstract.

Despite the growing promise that the patient-centered medical home healthcare model offers, even many large physician practices lack the essential elements to create a medical home for patients to receive care, according to a new study published in the September/October issue of Health Affairs.

When researchers examined large medical groups with at least 20 physicians, they found that these physician practices are lagging on key measures of what it takes to create a “medical home,” a model of healthcare delivery that emphasizes comprehensive primary care to ensure the best outcomes for patients.

The largest of the groups in the study--those with more than 140 physicians--and those owned by a hospital or health maintenance organization scored highest on critical measures of the medical home model, perhaps because they have more resources to invest, said the researchers. Read the abstract.