The State Health Innovation Plans developed by 25 states –with federal government support – reveal a variety of emerging approaches to healthcare reform that will likely take root and grow more broadly around the United States, according to a new report by Accenture. Accenture analysis of State Health Innovation Plans (SHIPs) reveals that truly person-centered health and human services is not an empty vision. Since the inception of the State Innovation Models initiative, CMS has invested
Read More
Healthcare Reform| Health Reform | Policy, News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner To Step Down
CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced that she is stepping down from her post in February, agency officials confirmed Friday. Her replacement, former UnitedHealth Group executive Andy Slavitt will now serve as principal deputy administrator. Tavenner, 63, spent more than three years with CMS and faced critical criticism for the disastrous roll-out of HealthCare.gov in fall 2013 and Medicare operations. Tavenner's email to staff did not offer any explanation for her
Read More
AMA: 10 Key Issues for Physicians to Watch in 2015
For the medical professional, 2015 presents another year of changes and continued challenges. From meaningful use struggles to Medicare physician payments, the AMA has identified the following 10 key issues for physicians to monitor in the year ahead: 1. The administrative load and competing regulatory programs. According to the AMA, time and expense devoted to administrative and regulatory requirements is one of the top frustrations to physicians. In 2015, the AMA noted they will be
Read More
How Will The Primary Care Model Evolve in 2015?
You may not be ready to admit it even to yourself, but you know it’s changing. Permanently. Some say it’s for the better. Others say it’s for the worse. Most don’t really care much one way or the other. After all, health care has been evolving and changing over thousands of years, and the experts best positioned to evaluate the health care turmoil of our times are yet to be born. Those of us who are now in the eye of the storm have an understandable tendency to analyze high velocity changes,
Read More
10 Myths about Hospital Supply Chain
Jump Technologies, a provider of cloud-based supply chain management solutions for hospitals and healthcare organizations, announced it will take on the challenge of debunking the myths that drive inefficient and wasteful inventory management processes, where there is an estimated $60 billion savings opportunity for the U.S. healthcare industry. Getting a better grip on managing a healthcare organization’s supply and demand will save tons of money to the organization while also increasing
Read More
19.7M “Clinically Inappropriate” Physician Referrals Occur Each Year
Research from Kyruus highlights how "clinically inappropriate physician referrals" can lead to poor patient care and costly inefficiencies. Nearly 20 million times a year in the U.S., patients are sent to a doctor who is not the right match for their specific condition. This is one of many key stats in the new physician referrals survey conducted by Kyruus,that highlights the massive issues in the doctor-patient referral system. Why does this matter? “Clinically inappropriate” referrals
Read More
10 Harbingers of Disruptive Change in Healthcare
As the global market for drugs surpasses $1 trillion this year, growing payer scrutiny of value for money is just one of the factors that will drive disruptive change in the use of medicines over the next decade. The ten harbingers of change identified by the IMS Institute reflect the deep and rapid changes in the global health sector that are upending business models and forcing all stakeholders to re-evaluate their approaches to bringing healthcare to patients. They point to a future of
Read More
Value-Based Health Care is Antithetic to Patient-Centered Care
Value-based health care is antithetic to patient-centered care. Value-based health care is also diametrically opposed to excellence, transparency and competitive markets. And value-based health care is a shrewdly selected and disingenuously applied misnomer. Value-based pricing is not a health-care innovation. Value-based pricing is why a plastic cup filled with tepid beer costs $8 at the ballpark, why a pack of gum costs $2.50 at the airport and why an Under Armour pair of socks costs $15.
Read More
The Squeeze Is On For U.S. Hospitals
Lots of financial scrambling, but the numbers still don’t add up Is healthcare a business? In the United States, the question has been asked time and again but never satisfactorily answered. By virtue of publically financed healthcare systems, the rest of the developed world has decided, to a greater or lesser extent, that medicine and healthcare are not pure businesses—that citizens have a right to care, even when they can’t pay all associated costs. It’s starting to look like Americans
Read More
Up to $12B in Unnecessary Medical Imaging Is Wasted Annually
The United States wastes nearly $12 billion dollars on unnecessary medical imaging each year, according to a recent study by peer60 that explores new survey of 196 hospital leaders. Since 2012, the United States has spent at least $2.8 trillion on health care yearly. But according to all the research reports and statistical data out there, the extra funds are not doing us any favors; most other developed countries have significantly lower costs.
Read More