February 6, 2013 Mark Hagland
blog
When Carolyn Clancy, M.D., announced on Jan. 31 that she was leaving the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which she had headed for almost exactly 10 years (she became that agency’s director on Feb. 5, 2003, after previously working at the agency as director of its Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research), it signaled the end of an era.
February 5, 2013 Mark Hagland
blog
I was fascinated last month by a New York Times article I read about an initiative tying physician pay in New York City’s public hospitals to the outcomes measures those hospitals will be paid against under healthcare reform.
January 30, 2013 Gabriel Perna
blog
In the process of conducting research for my most recent feature, I came to realize one thing about how hospitals across this country are trying to improve the patient-centered culture. It’s not about high-definition TVs, better food, temperature-controlled rooms, and a quiet night’s rest. It’s about better communication.
January 28, 2013 Gabriel Perna
article
Whether it’s through better communication or simple amenities, even the most optimistic leader at a hospital will tell you there is no perfect path to perfect patient satisfaction. However, thanks to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) mandatory Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) initiative, hospitals across the country are certainly going to try to achieve that formula.
December 12, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
As the healthcare industry moves forward to meet the demands of purchasers and payers for higher-quality, more effective, more cost-effective patient care with fewer errors and better care coordination, it is sobering to read the results of recent studies that show that improving clinical performance does not necessarily lead to the prevention of avoidable readmissions.
December 11, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
According to a recent research study from Press Ganey Associates, a South Bend, Ind.-based provider of in-house insight surveys, hospitals that have done better on patient experience of care measures, such as the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) value-based purchasing metrics, have lower patient readmission rates. The study’s authors say there is a strong link between low rates of readmissions and high HCAHPS scores.
October 2, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
In contrast to what happened on November 1, 1999, when the Institute of Medicine released its industry-shaking report, "To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System," what happened on September 6, 2012, caused barely a ripple. That was the release of the IOM's third report in a series, this one called "Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America," which builds on the thinking presented in its two predecessor reports, and envisions the entire healthcare system continuously learning.
September 24, 2012 Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
The Bipartisan Policy Center this week laid the groundwork for a new initiative this week, identifying 15 primary drivers of health costs in the US. BPC's Health Care Cost Containment Initiative, is led by former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and former Congressional Budget Office Director Alice Rivlin.
September 10, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
The Institute of Medicine’s new comprehensive report, “Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health care in America,” advocates a healthcare system of continuous performance improvement—and healthcare IT leaders will be at the center of the action
September 4, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
Jane Metzger, research principal in the Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practices at CSC, has authored a report that looks at the current push to reduce avoidable readmissions, in the broader context of continuity of care efforts in patient care organizations
August 14, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
An initiative led by a group of healthcare leaders in Michigan illustrates what’s possible when the smartest kinds of utilization management, physician education, clinical decision support, and utilization analytics elements are brought together in the same program.
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