Hospital employment of physicians has become increasingly popular in recent years and is only expected to continue. Most industry leaders predict that reimbursement will increasingly favor quality over quantity, and organizations most poised to profit under this type of system are those that are part of integrated delivery systems or other similar arrangements.
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From medical directors to department chairs and vice presidents of medical affairs, physicians who have leadership roles within hospitals are being asked to do more, and their levels of compensation are rising along with those demands, say executive and physician compensation experts.
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As health reform law shapes policy and inspires heated debate, 2010 continues to be a remarkable year for healthcare. Here are 30 people who have played a major role in the healthcare industry this year.
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Harold Dash, MD, a cardiologist, is president of the Everett (Wash.) Clinic, a group practice with more than 300 physicians. Here Dr. Dash discusses Everett's participation in the Medicare Physician Group Practice Demonstration Project, the model for the accountable care organization, a new system that bundles charges for hospitals, physician and other providers.
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Edward D. Miller, MD, has led John Hopkins Medicine, the $5 billion enterprise that unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with Johns Hopkins Health System, since 1997.
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Here are 40 leading non-profit health systems in the United States, by the number of hospitals in the system.
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Here are the top 20 largest non-profit, acute-care hospitals in the United States, in order of number of beds, according to data from the American Hospital Directory.
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Here are the 15 leading acute-care, for-profit hospital companies operating in the United States. Note: Companies are listed in order of the number of hospitals, according to the company’s website.
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Here are the 20 largest for-profit hospitals in the United States listed by their number of beds.
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Here are the top 20 largest non-profit, acute-care hospitals in the United States, in order of number of beds, according to data from the American Hospital Directory.
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Here are the top 20 grossing for-profit, acute-care hospitals in the United States, in order of annual gross patient revenue, according to CMS cost report data from the American Hospital Directory.
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Declining reimbursements, uncertainties about the future and the hassles and costs of running a practice have all combined to make many of today's physicians yearn for some sense of security.
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This is a great time for hospital leadership and boards to reevaluate their strategies. This article contains eight core thoughts and concepts on strategic planning for hospitals.
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While the care and feeding of hospital-based physicians is not a new topic, there are some new trends and strategies for this group, which includes anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists, emergency physicians and hospitalists. Here are six of those trends.
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As more hospitals are being sold, top hospital executives need to make sure they have "change of control" agreements in place, says Paul Creasy, a partner in Organizational Consulting Group in Avon, Ohio.
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Cardiology practices are facing increased pressure on revenues due largely to significant cuts in the Medicare fee schedule for these services.
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A study by the Hay Group revealed turnover of hospital executives in healthcare institutions has decreased dramatically, despite salary growth continuing to slow, according to a Hay Group news release.
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A glance at the headlines shows how badly healthcare needs to become more efficient. Healthcare spending in the United States rose 5.7 percent in 2009, to $2.5 trillion. It now commands 17.3 percent of the gross domestic product, up from 16.2 percent in 2008. That's the fastest one-year increase since 1960.
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The beginning of 2010 has been marked by numerous fraud and abuse investigations, cases and settlements. Here are 15 notable cases from the last six months.
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Automated systems can give a hospital a great deal of insight into many aspects of the revenue cycle by providing metrics to monitor the performance of the entire cycle, from beginning to end.
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Suzanne Lestina, director of revenue cycle at the Healthcare Financial Management Association, discusses four trends in revenue cycle management.
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Abbeville (S.C.) Area Medical Center recently underwent a revenue cycle review that identified inefficiencies that, if addressed, would increase revenues by $200,000 a year, a big improvement for this 25-bed critical access hospital.
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After the July 13 release of the final rules of meaningful use, providers all over the country are examining the 15 core regulations and 14 "a la carte" regulations to determine how and when they will quality for incentive payments. Here are five tips from three experts in meaningful use for preparing to meet these regulations.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched the official website for the Medicare & Medicaid electronic health record incentive programs.
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Eight in 10 hospital CIOs surveyed said they are concerned or very concerned that they will not be able to demonstrate "meaningful use" of electronic health records before the federal deadline in 2015, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers titled Ready or not: On the road to meaningful use of EHRs and health IT.
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Allscripts and Eclipsys, two major providers of electronic health records and other healthcare IT, announced plans to merge and create a universal EHR, according to a release from both companies.
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1. Leading is not the same as managing. There is a huge difference between managing and leading. "Leaders do the right thing and managers do things right," it has been said. While managers focus on working toward the organization's goals, orchestrating resources in an effective and efficient manner, leaders need to engage in strategic thinking. They need to pay less attention to details and focus on the big picture.
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Reported cases of hospital-acquired infections have been increasing, moving from ICUs to general beds, and these infections are causing more deaths, higher costs of care and more litigation against hospitals.
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The increasing rate of hospital-acquired infections costs U.S. hospitals up to $45 billion annually, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the average cost per infection case is $15,275.
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Research conducted by the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology has found that hospitals that use advanced technology for healthcare-associated infection surveillance are more likely to put in place best-practices for infection prevention than those hospitals that do not, according to an APIC news release.
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Healthcare-associated infections continue to be an obstacle that hospitals struggle to overcome, according to a study by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
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A Michigan program to reduce hospital-associated infections is catching on nationwide as the Obama administration offers $50 million to states to promote quality initiatives and will begin penalizing hospitals with high infection rates beginning in 2015, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.
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Following the March 2010 passing of the health reform bill, the future of physician-owned hospitals is uncertain. Starting in 2011, the law prohibits existing physician-owned hospitals from expanding and prevents new ones from being built.
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An article appearing in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that more than a third of physicians may fail to report an impaired or incompetent colleague.
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Research done by Cleveland Clinic shows that, contrary to popular belief, high readmission rates may not necessarily equate to substandard hospital care, according to a report published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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One-quarter of all hospital patients were readmitted one or more times for the same condition within a two-year period, according to a release by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
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The Department of Health and Human Services will now include quality information about outpatient and emergency department care at hospitals across the United States on its HealthCare.gov website as well as CMS' Hospital Compare website, according to an HHS news release.
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The Society of Actuaries' Health Section has published a research report measuring the annual frequency of medical errors in the United States and the total measurable cost to the United States economy because of these errors, according to a news release by SOA.
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A recent study by RAND Corp. found that performance-based accountability systems do indeed increase performance throughout the public sector, including healthcare.
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This article briefly addresses six key issues impacting outpatient services and physician-owned facilities.
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When $7 million of Eau Claire, Wis.-based Sacred Heart Hospital's revenue was threatened by the opening of a competing outpatient facility, its leaders devised a plan to recoup $5 million of the lost revenue by reducing expenses — the remainder could be made up through increased volumes.
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Bob Allen, CFO of 350-bed Valley Presbyterian Hospital, is leaving the Van Nuys, Calif.-based hospital to take up a new job as CFO of Catholic Healthcare West’s California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles and Glendale (Calif.) Memorial Hospital.
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All Children’s Hospital and Health System of St. Petersburg, Fla., has signed a letter of intent to integrate with Johns Hopkins Medicine.
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