1. Healthcare reform. A pitched political battle over passage of healthcare reform dominated the first quarter of 2010. Even after passage, Barack Obama and Democratic leaders have had to keep struggling for public acceptance.
Click to continue »
Healthcare reform has created an impetus for hospitals and other healthcare providers to work together to provide more efficient, higher quality care.
Click to continue »
Hospitals and health systems are constantly refining their strategies based on changes in market dynamics. While these dynamics can include varying factors from changes in market competition to introduction of new medical technologies, perhaps nothing impacts the need for a hospital to reassess its market strategy more than changes in legislation.
Click to continue »
Accountable Care Organizations – 8 Observations; Increased Integration Efforts; Increased Merger and Acquisition Efforts; Call for Speakers 9th Annual Orthopedic, Spine and Pain Management Driven ASC Conference, 2nd Annual Hospital Conference – Improving Profits, ACOs, Physician Hospital Integration and Key Specialties
Click to continue »
As hospitals and health systems prepare for changes brought on by healthcare reform, these providers are examining how they can approach and build new models of care, whether they involve ACOs, bundled payments or medical homes.
Click to continue »
Here are 256 of some of the most influential leaders in the healthcare industry.
Click to continue »
The government's encouragement of coordinated care is leading many hospitals to consider developing or joining accountable care organizations, and healthcare futurist Joe Flower, who works with clients ranging from World Health Organization to Global Business Network, says the move is good business practice.
Click to continue »
Many healthcare leaders are strategizing to meet the requirements of section3022 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Click to continue »
Hospitals looking to develop accountable care organizations face the same regulatory concerns and hurdles that hospitals have long grappled with in their physician integration efforts.
Click to continue »
Hospitals looking to run accountable care organizations will have to change their business model from admitting as many patients as possible to learning how to reduce expenses, says Donald H. Crane, president and CEO, California Association of Physician Groups.
Click to continue »
Rather than save money, some experts argue accountable care organizations will further inflate prices, as hospitals unite with physicians and other providers against private insurers, according to a report by the Washington Post.
Click to continue »
Advocate Physician Partners has already stepped into the brave new world of integrated care, signing managed care contracts that assume risk.
Click to continue »
Hospitals today are increasingly employing physicians for a variety of reasons, including the desire to gain more control over referrals and to be prepared for movement towards the accountable care model.
Click to continue »
Todd Sagin, MD-JD, national medical director of HG Healthcare Consultants in Laverock, Pa., is coauthor of the book, "Creating the Hospital Group Practice: The Advantages of Employing or Affiliating with Physicians."
Click to continue »
As hospital employment of physicians continue to increase due to uncertainties surrounding reimbursement and healthcare reform puts increasing emphasis on quality over quantity of care, it is becoming increasingly important for hospitals to create effective contracts for employed physicians that will not only result in maintained profitability but also quality care.
Click to continue »
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, with the Office of the Inspector General of HHS, to establish a protocol for healthcare providers and suppliers to disclose actual or potential violations of Section 1877 of the Social Security Act (the "Stark Act").
Click to continue »
In the past two years, the federal government has greatly increased its efforts to combat Medicare and Medicaid false claims and fraud by healthcare providers.
Click to continue »
The Department of Justice will be joining a lawsuit against Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minn., which has been accused of submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for pathology tests that were never performed, according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report.
Click to continue »
El Centro Regional Medical Center, located in Imperial County, Calif., has agreed to pay $2.2 million to the government to settle Medicare fraud allegations, according to a DOJ news release.
Click to continue »
Florida Attorney General Bill McCullom is investigating 18 hospitals throughout the state for improper Medicaid billing of emergency services, according to a Miami Herald report.
Click to continue »
Marietta, Ga.-based WellStar Health Systems has agreed to pay the state of Georgia nearly $2.4 million to settle a Medicaid billing investigation for both inpatient and outpatient services at five WellStar hospitals — Cobb Memorial Hospital, WellStar Kennestone Hospital, WellStar Windy Hill Hospital, WellStar Douglas Hospital and WellStar Paulding Hospital, according to a news release by Georgia Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker.
Click to continue »
New York's North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System has agreed to pay $2.95 million to settle an investigation following a civil claim alleging the hospital submitted fraudulent bills to Medicare, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Click to continue »
Here are 10 of the biggest hospital and health system transactions in the United States so far in 2010.
Click to continue »
The regulatory status of a statutory merger between hospitals can have significant financial ramifications. The Code of Federal Regulations (42 C.F.R. § 413.134(f )) allows realization of gains or losses from the disposition of depreciable assets on a merged entity only if the merger qualifies as bona fide sale.
Click to continue »
For about eight years, Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Mich., has led a loose regional network of 21 community hospitals. The stated purpose of the organization is to preserve the independence and economic strength of community hospitals in the region.
Click to continue »
Executives from Boston-based Caritas Christi Health Care have said the system will close two hospitals — St. Elizabeth's Medical Center and Carney Hospital, both in Boston — if its deal to be acquired by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management is not completed, according to a Boston Globe report.
Click to continue »
The board of commissioners of the North Broward Hospital District has voted to authorize Broward Health President and CEO Frank Nask to coordinate the transition of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based healthcare system to a new community not-for-profit corporation, according to a Broward Health news release.
Click to continue »
Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Metro Health, Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health and University of Michigan Health System, based in Ann Arbor, have joined together to launch Pennant Health Alliance, according to a U of M Health news release.
Click to continue »
Here are eight ways hospital executives can advance their careers and increase their earning power.
Click to continue »
Annual performance-based incentive plans are on the rise for physicians in both presence and scale, according to Hay Group's recently released 2010 Physician Compensation Survey.
Click to continue »
Every week, the healthcare industry sees headlines about hospital executive compensation controversy — how much CEOs are making, who decides it and whether the pay is reasonable.
Click to continue »
Here are 10 statistics about compensation of physician executives based on management experience in 2007 and 2009, according to the 2009 Physician Executive Compensation Survey by Cejka Search and the American College of Physician Executives.
Click to continue »
As the healthcare industry enters a period of major change, hospital administrators must prepare for a number of major challenges — including reimbursement cuts, EMR implementation, stricter compliance measures, new models of care, an influx of insured patients and more — while trying to keep their hospitals financially viable.
Click to continue »
In the race to put together integrated networks, hospitals and large multi-specialty groups are acquiring small medical practices and turning physicians into employees.
Click to continue »
With 30,000 hospitalists in the United States, hospital medicine is the fastest growing medical specialty and it is expected to play an important role in healthcare reform, according to a report by the New York Times.
Click to continue »
New data suggests the lower the proportion of total compensation paid as base salary to hospitalists, the higher productivity tends to be, according to the State of Hospital Medicine: 2010 Report Based on 2009 Data and an MGMA news release.
Click to continue »
An increasing number of surgery patients are being co-managed by a surgeon and another clinician, such as a hospitalist or internal medicine subspecialist, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Click to continue »
As patient loads and provider shortages increase, many hospitals are implementing surgicalist programs to accompany the hospitalist programs that came into vogue several years ago.
Click to continue »
As the field of hospital medicine grows and more hospitals implement hospitalist programs, critics wonder whether hospital medicine will hurt quality of care or draw medical students away from primary care.
Click to continue »
When it comes to building efficient revenue cycles, some of the most common challenges facing hospitals today are filing claims to payors without having them denied and collecting bills in a timely manner.
Click to continue »
Hospitals are constantly faced with the challenge of negotiating contracts with insurers. The challenge primary lies in finalizing a payor contract that is cost-effective for both the hospital, its patients and the insurer.
Click to continue »
NorthShore University HealthSystem, based in Evanston, Ill., launched an initiative seven months ago to improve collections of outstanding balances from patients who come in for more services.
Click to continue »
New billing clinics at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Southeast Wisconsin have been extremely popular with patients and ease collections, says Coreen Dicus-Johnson, senior vice president of physician and revenue operations at Wheaton Franciscan.
Click to continue »
Ray Chicoine, COO of Monarch Healthcare, a 2,500-physician independent practice organization (IPA) in Orange County, Calif., discusses Monarch's efforts to develop an accountable care organization in Orange County as part of the ACO pilot project spearheaded by the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Click to continue »
You can't manage what you don't measure: that seems to be the mantra of every hospital executive, as electronic data systems increasingly help hospitals track data on quality measures, patient satisfaction and revenue.
Click to continue »
Although healthcare providers are just starting to take on the challenge of meeting the 2011 first stage requirements of the meaningful use incentive program, the Department of Health & Human Services has already started talks over second stage measures of the incentive program, according to a Government Health IT report.
Click to continue »
National Health IT Coordinator David Blumenthal, MD, is signaling to healthcare providers and vendors that requirements for the 2013 stage two of meaningful use will be more complex and robust, according to a Government Health IT news report.
Click to continue »
HIMSS has launched a State HIT Dashboard, which is designed to help healthcare providers access credible and comprehensive information about relevant health IT programs and initiatives across the country, according to an HIMSS news release.
Click to continue »
A new government health IT advisory panel is working toward establishing road rules for the nationwide health information network, according to a Government Health IT report.
Click to continue »
House Republicans' newly released legislative agenda, "A Pledge to America," includes a call to cancel any unspent money from the economic stimulus program, according to a report by the New York Times.
Click to continue »
As increasing patient volume becomes tantamount to staying financially viable, hospitals must think about how they market their services to potential referring physicians and patients.
Click to continue »
Even as hospitals across the country increase their focus on reducing costs through job cuts and other efforts, they may be losing money in unexpected places.
Click to continue »
Healthcare organizations have to become increasingly effective and efficient not only to thrive, but just to survive, under healthcare reform.
Click to continue »
Here are the 25 largest hospitals in the United States listed by number of beds. These facilities include for-profit and nonprofit hospitals, with some hospitals being part of a larger health system.
Click to continue »
Here are the 25 top grossing short term acute-care hospitals in the United States listed by gross revenue, according to CMS cost report data analyzed by American Hospital Directory.
Click to continue »
Here is a list of 30 hospital, health system and health organization executive moves that took place during the second half of Sept. 2010.
Click to continue »
Winter Park, Fla.-based Adventist Health System has officially merged with the Tampa, Fla.- based network University Community Health to form the Tampa Bay region of the healthcare network.
Click to continue » 
