Why the Medicare physician fee schedule is sheer madness
Amid the complexities of U.S. healthcare, there is probably no construct that’s more byzantine than the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) — the program’s elaborate system of paying physicians and other clinicians (including nurse practitioners, physician assistants and clinical psychologists) for more than 10,000 medical services.a In 2022, the schedule drove about $71.2 billion in…
Reimagining charity care: How Monument Health puts patients first with an innovative financial assistance program
Deepak Manmohan Goyal, MD, MBBS, MBA, executive director for revenue cycle and supply chain at Monument Health, remembers the case of a 40-year-old patient with late-stage cancer who sought care at the Rapid City, S.D., health system a few years ago before succumbing to her disease. An earlier and unrelated care episode ideally would have…
Healthcare Blame Game: New York Times medical debt piece dubbed ‘laziest story of the year,’ plus revisiting charity care policies
Brad examines a New York Times article by investigative reporter Sarah Kliff about a recent study of patients whose debt was eliminated by RIP Medical Debt. Researchers say the results surprised them.
Robert Rebitzer: How to overcome the disruptive forces that can impede high-value innovation
In the 1980s, two valuable innovations, laparoscopic gallbladder surgery and electronic health records (EHRs), came to market. The former became widely adopted in about three years. The latter took three decades and billions of dollars in federal subsidies. The reasons behind the differing uptakes of health innovation are among the topics in the book Why…
A year after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, what have we learned about managing counterparty risk?
On March 8, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) announced a $1.8 billion loss from the sale of securities to cover a decline in clients’ deposits. The following day, SVB’s stock dropped 60% and the bank saw a historic $42 billion in withdrawal requests. Twenty-four hours later, SVB was under the control of U.S. banking regulators…
The FTC’s new non-compete regulations will affect hospital agreements with physicians, unless courts intervene
Hospital advocates expressed concern about the implications of new federal regulations that prohibit employers from including non-compete clauses in employment agreements. Although tax-exempt hospitals largely fall outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will enforce the regulations, the newly issued final rule stands to affect clinical staffing. Non-compete agreements apply to between…
It’s time to revisit your charity care policy
The cover story in the May issue of hfm focuses on a South Dakota health system that developed a new process to identify charity care patients. In this episode, HFMA Policy Director Shawn Stack discusses why good financial assistance policies and process are essential to patient care.
Three Questions to Ask your RCM Vendor Right Now
All RCM vendors say they take tech, talent, and problem-solving seriously. But do they? Download the white paper to consider some hard-hitting questions.
Enhancing Patient Engagement and Healthcare Operations
This whitepaper presents the exploration of identity-based communication strategies within the healthcare industry to solve issues by prioritizing patient experience and ease of care services in a secure and trusted way.
Hospital Prices Machine Readable File: Build vs Buy Guide
Download this guide to assist you as you run the numbers and study the facts to decide whether or not to build your own MRF(s).