Direct-care workforce growth reflects shift from inpatient care
The direct-care workforce is set to experience a major boom, with nursing assistants, home health aides and personal care aides outnumbering healthcare facility workers more than two-to-one by 2020, according to a recent analysis.
Hospitals accelerate cost-cutting efforts
With a push from private insurers, employers and government officials, the industry is seeing hospitals and health systems step up efforts to control escalating healthcare costs.
Risks, rewards of Shared Savings vs. Pioneer ACO
Although Pioneer ACOs and the Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs both require at least 15,000 beneficiaries and will be measured on the same 33 quality metrics, the two ACO models differ in payment arrangements, beneficiary assignment and benchmarks, according to a white paper from actuarial and consulting firm Milliman.
Better communication translates to better patient safety, satisfaction
Providers who communicate well also do a better job at keeping their patients safe, suggests new research from HealthGrades.
Mayo Clinic expands with health system affiliation
Mayo Clinic has added a fifth outside hospital system, Missouri's Heartland Health, to its Mayo Clinic Care Network, Rochester, Minn.-based organization announced yesterday.
State to curb fat paychecks with executive compensation cap
State-funded providers could earn a maximum of $199,000 under the new pay cap New York proposed last week, to take effect Jan. 1, 2013.
Joint Commission adds health, wellness rules
The Joint Commission this week issued new accreditation rules for hospitals that provide health and wellness programs. They include new requirements for training, gathering community input and following evidence-based guidelines.
Surgeons still tired despite duty hour limits
Fatigued residents have a 22 percent greater risk of causing a medical error than alert, well-rested doctors, according to a new study, which found surgeons were tired half of their waking hours, operating on less than 80 percent mental effectiveness. What's more, a quarter of the time their fatigue was tantamount to being legally drunk.
Patients sue Tenet Healthcare for hidden facility fees
A class action lawsuit accuses two Tenet Healthcare hospitals of including "misleading and undisclosed" hospital facility fees for non-hospital services provided at affiliated doctor's offices and outpatient clinics.
Zero tolerance curbs infections
As many as 70 percent of central line-associated bloodstream infections can be prevented with evidence-based strategies, according to a Joint Commission report.
Vendors sentenced after defrauding hospital, bribing execs
Four hospital vendors are headed to prison after being sentenced Friday for defrauding Florida's Memorial Healthcare System in a bribery scheme, in which the vendors paid kickbacks to hospital executives in exchange for $15 million contracts with the public hospital system, South Florida Business Journal reported.
U.S. patients report inferior care
Not only are sick Americans facing serious financial problems from high healthcare costs (43 percent), but many are experiencing problems with healthcare quality, according to a new poll released yesterday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NPR and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Healthcare CEOs see biggest paycheck bumps
The healthcare industry saw the largest increases in executive pay out of all sectors, a 7.8 percent jump in 2011, according to a Wall Street Journal and Hay Group CEO compensation survey, released yesterday.
HealthCare Partners-Davita merger creates ACO
Under the $4.42 billion deal, dialysis chain DaVita Inc. will acquire California-based physician group operator HealthCare Partners, branching out into a large, integrated accountable care organization, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Slow communication kept health system unaware of disciplined doc
The University of South Florida has revised its professional conduct policy after top leaders had no idea a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist and assistant professor had been disciplined by three state medical boards for prescribing pain pills without fully examining patients.
No planned CMS confirmation for Tavenner
Senate Democrats said Marilyn Tavenner will not likely be confirmed as the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, lacking the support of the 60 senators necessary for her confirmation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Hospital malpractice defense tactic unfair, critics say
The recent malpractice case at UPMC Presbyterian highlights a common legal tactic that protects physicians under the corporate shield of the health organization--remove the physicians' names from the case, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
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