On December 20, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the roll out of the Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), the Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG), and the Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) incentive payment models. With these programs scheduled to go live in July 2017, they will join expanded Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement […]
Opposition to Medicare Bundles is Growing Read More »
In December 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized regulations regarding the Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) Incentive Payment Model. This new bundled payment program affects over 1,100 hospitals nationwide and how they are paid for their heart attack and bypass surgery cases. The goal of this program, which has joined the orthopedic bundling
How Hospitals Can Prepare For The Coming Wave Of Bundled Payments Read More »
Geisinger Health System, a leading health system in Eastern Pennsylvania, has begun realizing tremendous benefits from a data analytics program established in 2015. The hospital’s Unified Data Architecture (UDA) collects and stores data from electronic medical records and other data sources to provide a holistic view of a patient’s health. Benefits of the UDA so
How One Hospital Uses Advanced Analytics to Drive Savings and Improve Outcomes Read More »
Putting surgeons in the know regarding their OR spend can help hospitals reduce costs drastically. This is the main finding from a study published in JAMA Surgery by a study team at the University of California, San Francisco. A test group of surgeons who received monthly feedback on their OR costs reduced their spend by
How Physician Feedback Can Save Millions In Your OR Read More »
Disposable medical supplies are responsible for over 2,000 tons of physical waste per day, and they are making a huge impact on OR profits. A recent study by University of California, San Francisco noted that an average of nearly $1,000 of disposable medical supplies per procedure were wasted in their neurosurgical department. This equated to
How Operating Rooms Are Throwing Millions of Dollars Away Each Year Read More »
Moving to buying medical devices direct from manufacturers can yield huge financial benefits for hospitals. Loma Linda University Medical Center in California drastically eliminated reps in orthopedics after a long internal struggle to do so. They reported savings of about $1 million annually, or 50 percent on the cost of the devices, without affecting outcomes.
Moving to the ‘Rep-Less’ Model For Medical Devices to Save Money and Reduce Risk Read More »
What is Case Mix Index (CMI)? Medicare and Medicaid created a CMI score to help properly reimburse hospitals for services provided to inpatients (CMI doesn’t apply to outpatients). The CMI is an attempt to measure the resources needed to provide proper care for patients. An article from Health Leaders Media titled CDI Programs Drive Up Case
Increase Surgical Revenue – Part 3 of 3 (Case Mix Index) Read More »
Why is documentation so important for proper reimbursement for surgical procedures? In order to get properly reimbursed for a surgical procedure, you must be able to prove through documentation what you’re are trying to get reimbursedfor. If you can’t prove it, then you will not get paid for it. Government programs such as Medicare and
Increase Surgical Revenue – Part 2 of 3 (Documentation Improvement) Read More »
In the past and for most of healthcare today, inventory has been managed independently from the rest of the business of providing healthcare. Recent articles ( 7 Reasons to Merge Revenue Cycle and Supply Chain Management ) have suggested the benefits of combining supply chain and revenue cycle. When you step back and look at
Increase Surgical Revenue – Part 1 of 3 (Charge Capture) Read More »
What is a Medical Device Recall? A recall is an action taken to address a problem with a medical device that violates FDA law. Recalls occur when a medical device is defective, when it could be a risk to health, or when it is both defective and a risk to health. A medical device recall
Patient Safety Impact of Medical Device Recalls Read More »