Improving Clinical Communication Across the Care Continuum
Communication processes and technologies are evolving to accommodate the growing number of clinical specialists working in various care settings with outside extended-care teams.
Moving Toward a Revenue Ecosystem
To maximize results, healthcare finance leaders should establish an integrated view of the organization’s entire revenue ecosystem, aligning across organizational strategy, payer contracting, clinical operations, and revenue cycle drivers.
Hospice Programs Save Costs, Reduce Readmissions
Applying hospice home based skills to hospital care and strategic planning may reduce patient stays.“There are many lessons hospitals can learn from hospice providers,” says John Mastrojohn III, executive vice president and COO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care
Critical Drivers of Payment Differentials
Increases in hospital payment have not kept pace with general inflation. Healthcare leaders can isolate areas that help maintain or improve current performance.
The Rise of Outpatient Joint Replacement
Although joint replacement surgeries will increasingly be performed as outpatient procedures, inpatient volumes are expected to hold steady.
Using Stakeholder Input to Design Healthcare Facilities
Using a Lean design process, Lee Health created a life-size mock-up of clinical and administrative facilities to optimize patient flow and staff flow before drawing the designs for a new outpatient facility.
Cost Scorecard Helps UCSF Surgeons Save $836K in Supplies
A monthly scorecard helped surgical departments reduce costs without requiring surgeons to follow a strict standardization process to limit the number of vendors.
Is There a Business Case for Readmission Reduction Efforts?
An analysis found that hospital readmission reduction programs inconsistently provide net savings to health systems. The average net savings per heart failure patient was $972, but the study found a $169 net loss per patient among general populations.
Montefiore Targets the Social Factors That Drive Up Healthcare Costs
Montefiore’s care management approach includes embedding primary care and HIV care providers in methadone clinics and integrating behavioral health specialists in primary care practices.
Addressing ICU Overuse
Treating patients in the ICU who cannot benefit from that level of care may reduce positive patient outcomes and satisfaction, as well as introduce unnecessary costs.