quality care news from FierceHealthcare
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Candidates focus on change, but not cost and quality
Voters in the U.S. are very concerned about the cost of healthcare, and eager to hear about government actions that might give them more access. Of course, this cycle's presidential candidates have... Read more...
VA issues 'report card' touting hospital quality
Lately, the VA has taken a pounding over its handling of mentally-ill soldiers, not to mention the conditions under which physically-injured veterans have been treated at its facilities. Now, the... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Broader health coverage could reduce disparities, lawmakers say
SPOTLIGHT... Broader health coverage could reduce disparities, lawmakers sayWhile it wouldn't eliminate health disparities entirely, proposals to expand health insurance to all U.S. residents could... Read more...
Hospital night shifts severely lacking
The differences between being treated at a hospital at night and during the day often can be daunting, the Wall Street Journal's health blog points out. Not only is the quality care not as high... Read more...
Bundled payments to be tested by CMS
CMS will run a project to determine if using bundled payments--payments for episodic treatments shared by both the hospitals and the doctors delivering care--can improve efficiency and quality... Read more...
Study challenges volume-based quality goals
To date, industry leaders like the Leapfrog Group have assumed that hospitals performing higher volumes of coronary artery bypass grafting were likely to offer better quality care for these... Read more...
Study: Hispanics get lower-quality medical care
It's more discouraging news from the health disparity front: A new study suggests that elderly Hispanics tend to get inferior care. The study, which looked at Medicare data from 2004, found that... Read more...
Patients in top hospitals have 27% less death risk
A new study of U.S. hospitals has concluded that patients admitted to top-rated hospitals have a 27 percent lower risk of dying, and a 5 percent lower risk of complications during their stay,... Read more...
Leavitt: Medicare formula isn't working
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has come out and admitted that Medicare's "sustainable growth rate" formula used to determine physician compensation is more or less broken. In a recent meeting... Read more...
Trend: Donors want hospitals to justify costs
While not-for-profit hospitals are still managing to raise money, donors are increasingly asking them to justify their charges before they'll fork over funds, according a New York Times analysis. A... Read more...
