acute care hospitals
PA first to report hospital-specific infection rates
Pennsylvania has become the first state in the U.S. to report hospital-specific, rather than aggregate, hospital-acquired infection rates. The new report, issued by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment (PHC4), addresses infection rates among 1.6 million treated in the state's 168 acute care hospitals in 2005. The report measures the number of cases and infection rate per 1,000 cases, mortality measures, average lengths of stay and average charges with and without infections-and …
... Read more...Press Release: PA Releases Nation's First Hospital-Specific Report on Hospital-Acquired Infections
PA Releases Nation's First Hospital-Specific Report on Hospital-Acquired Infections
... Read more...NJ sees long-term acute hospital growth
New Jersey is playing host to a growing number of long-term acute care beds, a service designed to fill the gap between standard acute care and nursing facilities. The state now has nine such hospitals, and more are planned. Nationally, there are more than 400 such hospitals currently open. These facilities, which offer no services other than extended care, target patients with serious conditions who will be hospitalized for three weeks or more. Many long-term acute care patients are on …
... Read more...SSM Healthcare ends retail clinic relationship
Is this a sign that the retail clinic model has flaws, or just one company's struggles to establish its footprint? Retail clinic operator Take Care Health Systems recently pulled out of Portland, OR, breaking away from its relationship there with partner RiteAid. This week SSM Healthcare, a St. Louis-area health system, has announced that it will be severing its partnership with Take Care. …
... Read more...Editor's Corner
Yesterday, we noted that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts was introducing a new product which established tiered co-pays for hospitals and MDs based on price and quality measures. Providers that charge more--or don't seem to perform well--cost consumers more out of pocket …
End-of-life care drains healthcare spending
A new study from the Mayo Clinic reports that intensive care accounts for 30 to 40 percent of hospital spending, with the majority of care given to elderly patients with chronic conditions. In Olmsted County, NY, where the Mayo Clinic is based, patients in the last year of life accounted for one of every four days spent in the ICU. Treatment in this expensive setting contributes to the overall rise in healthcare costs. In another recent conducted study by the Center for the Evaluative …
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