Health systems are ramping up the urgency in their pursuit of operational enhancements and cost-cutting measures. 

Hospitals are facing unparalleled financial challenges.

At Becker's 14th Annual Meeting, two leaders from Zotec Partners — David J. Law, chief client officer, and Joe McMurray, senior vice president of patient experience — facilitated an interactive discussion on patient trends and "gold standards" in healthcare billing.

The health system revenue cycle only continues to grow more complex, time-consuming, and demanding. With evolving regulations, changing payer policies, and the intricacies of medical billing, healthcare organizations face mounting challenges in managing their revenue effectively. 

On-Demand marketplace platform acquires CareerStaff Unlimited from Genesis HealthCare and executes a seven-year exclusive staffing and workforce agreement

The importance of patient and employee experience in healthcare has never been greater.

Although the United States has 5.6 million actively licensed nurses — an all-time record number — many hospitals and health systems are still struggling to recruit and retain staff. Nationwide, the RN vacancy rate is 9.9%, while the average time to recruit an experienced RN ranges between 59 and 109 days.

Hospitals serving patients requiring inpatient psychiatric treatment often must rely on community-based clinicians for care. This frequently results in fragmented clinical programs with challenges to consistent physician availability and scheduling. Call coverage is also frequently affected, and hospitals are often forced to cap census or rely on expensive locum clinicians to provide care.

Healthcare organizations are awash in data. But not every health system is able to utilize its data in ways that yield actionable insights or opportunities for performance improvement. Without a clear data plan and a standards-based approach to technology, it can be difficult for hospitals and health systems to generate value from their information assets.

From lowering overall costs to potentially increased reimbursements and revenues due to greater patient satisfaction and value-based programs, putting patients at the center of care is essential for improving health outcomes and ensuring financial sustainability.

Now more than ever, the healthcare industry is experiencing vulnerabilities with traditional security and identity verification methods. Most recently, hospitals and health systems are up against sophisticated social engineering schemes targeting IT help desks. The healthcare sector, historically lagging in technological innovation and automation, has become a prime target for bad actors exploiting weaknesses in security protocols.

Four out of 10 physician practice leaders say finance and revenue cycle projects will be their top area of focus in 2024, an MGMA survey found.1 But for managed services organizations (MSOs), the key to financial improvement lies in an area that falls lower on leaders’ list of priorities: technology investment—and specifically for MSOs, tech standardization. 

symplr hosted a rousing executive roundtable discussion at the recent Becker’s 14th Annual Meeting  in Chicago. I had the opportunity to lead a discussion on how health systems are innovating to achieve better healthcare operations in 2024 and beyond, in which two dozen clinical and operations leaders participated.

There’s a problem with modern healthcare marketing. It can’t function without data, but this data leads to HIPAA violations, FTC enforcement, and class action lawsuits.

Generative AI has the potential to transform healthcare delivery and quality, but only when it’s done right. With hundreds of startups emerging in the healthcare AI market, here are the five factors every clinical and business leader should consider when assessing a generative AI solution and vendor.

Up to 80% of health outcomes are influenced by factors beyond clinical care such as economic wellbeing, housing, food insecurity, and other community and social factors.1 These social drivers can create gaps in care.2 

Last month, four Hackensack Meridian Health hospitals became the first in the nation to earn a sustainable healthcare certification from The Joint Commission. Now, the Edison, N.J.-based health system is set to own the largest solar and battery energy storage system of any nonprofit provider in the country. 

Hospitals and health systems don't just compete with one another to attract patients; they also compete to attract surgeons to perform procedures at their facilities. Based on the competitiveness in this environment, it comes as no surprise that the operating room is a key area where healthcare leaders are focusing to achieve differentiation and to drive efficiencies and cost savings.

Critiques of out-of-pocket spending in healthcare have long centered on the erratic nature of prices, with comparisons resting on sticker stability in other industries — a reference point that may not be as valid today as it once was. 

Tower Health and Ensemble Health Partners (Ensemble), the market leader in end-to-end revenue cycle outsourcing for mid-sized to large healthcare organizations, announced that they will enter into a strategic partnership for the management of all revenue cycle operations.