Whitepapers & E-Books

To better understand the priorities of healthcare organizations when adopting new technologies, Becker's Healthcare and NextGen Healthcare surveyed 158 leaders from ASCs and specialty care practices.

This white paper summarizes key findings and insights from the survey, such as:

• Staffing remains a major issue and a big driver for technology investments.
• Opportunities exist for technology to improve efficiency before, during and after a visit.
• Adoption of innovative technologies can help improve both the patient and provider experience.
• Adopting cutting-edge technology requires a mindset of experimentation and improvement.

Patient financial care is more important than ever. Healthcare organizations are on the hook for collecting a growing share of patient payments, amid competing priorities like staffing challenges and rising costs.

Whether spoken or not, patients need organizations to do more, from helping them maximize their coverage to providing accurate estimates upfront. This guide explains how clearer billing processes can drive patient loyalty while building organizations' financial health.

Learning points:

• 4 steps to enhance patient financial processes while strengthening revenue
• Real-life examples of how healthcare organizations put these strategies into play and get results
• Tips for assessing automation solutions to support team productivity and less burnout

Revenue cycle leaders know the staffing crisis in healthcare is not limited to clinical functions; there’s also a revenue cycle staffing crisis.

Based on increasing revenue cycle work and a shortage of skilled workers, it is impossible to hire enough people or ask current employees to work harder.

It’s time to work smarter, not harder. What does working smarter in the revenue cycle mean? It means finding innovative ways to do more with less.

Download for best practices on:

 

• Developing a smarter revenue cycle and administrative strategy
• Cutting down on outdated manual processes
• Streamlining existing processes with intelligent automation

  Learn more about what intelligent automation is, how it works, which revenue cycle tasks are best automated and what the benefits are

Many experts agree the nation is facing a mental health crisis, with 1 in 5 adults affected. Yet, many patients struggle to access care due to long wait times, complex referral processes and behavioral health clinician shortages.

This whitepaper explores practical solutions for integrating behavioral health into primary and specialty care with no contracts or upfront costs, offering a seamless approach that improves patient outcomes and reduces healthcare costs.

Key learning points:

• Effective strategies to streamline behavioral health referrals and care coordination
• Best practices for integrating behavioral health into your existing care model with minimal disruption
• How early intervention in mental health can lower overall healthcare expenses

Addressing workforce challenges and improving staff well-being is top of mind for many healthcare leaders. One innovative model that's emerging as a possible solution is the focus on contingent staffing.

Contingent staffing helps healthcare organizations fill specialized positions faster and can also help in filling gaps in overall staffing to alleviate pressure on existing teams, which can ultimately help improve access to care and clinical outcomes.

Download this resource to understand where contingent staffing can help your organization and learn:

• Strategies to make staffing decisions in real-time
• Why mastering credentialing is critical and how to do it
• How to establish a float-pool and blueprints to make it work

Vendor management systems can have a positive impact on hospitals and clinics across the country. At a time when facilities everywhere are facing physician shortages and burnout, these systems help connect vulnerable patients to quality care with ease. Through a partnership, Nashville, Tenn.-based Ardent Health improved its workflow efficiency, boosted patient satisfaction, gained valuable operational insights and increased revenue from its contract physician program.

Learnings in this report include:

• How a successful partnership of people and technology generated millions of dollars in revenue from contract provider care.
• How contract physicians can integrate into a seamless workflow.
• How better vendor management ultimately yields benefits for patients.

Today’s healthcare workers are dealing with increased financial strain. This economic pressure isn't just affecting individual workers—it's impacting the entire healthcare system, potentially compromising patient care and community health. That's why financial wellness benefits powered by earned wage access are needed now more than ever to support healthcare workers on their path to success.

New research conducted by the Harris Poll and DailyPay uncover the financial stresses impacting your frontline workers. Inform your strategy, improve patient outcomes and support the backbone of our healthcare system.

Learnings include:

• Top financial concerns affecting healthcare workers
• How these financial challenges can have a long-term impact on healthcare workers' future
• The simple change that could improve employee financial wellness

Over 90% of healthcare employees are saving for retirement; however, one-third are not confident they are saving an adequate amount, according to the TIAA Institute's new report, Retirement Readiness in the Healthcare Sector. The report surveyed full-time registered nurses, physicians, surgeons and other medical and nonmedical professionals.

Retirement income security depends upon a series of decisions and actions over time — most fundamentally, the amount being saved, the investment allocation of savings, and then how to manage savings for income during retirement.

A few of the factors affecting retirement readiness are:

• Debt, particularly student loan debt
• Retirement plan leakage
• Retirement planning advice

The importance for brand strategies to prioritize digital advertising can no longer be ignored. With an expected global spend of nearly $1 trillion on digital advertising by the end of this decade, healthcare leaders need to consider its impact on profitability, patient satisfaction and recruiting.

While it can be overwhelming, focusing on key elements like audience segmentation, ad visibility and leveraging a growing social influencer market can lead to measurable results.

Download "The Future of Digital Advertising: 2024 and Beyond" report today to simplify digital ads and learn:

• The top 3 ways to reach your audience
• How to capitalize on the growing on-demand streaming market
• Why digital can help you maximize your ad ROI

Healthcare consolidations bring a host of challenges, from integrating IT systems and software to aligning HR policies. Navigating these hurdles through a smooth, strategic integration is critical to ensuring the long-term success of any merger.

In a recent advisory call, health system executives from across the country shared their most pressing post-merger integration challenges and discussed best practices for overcoming them. This whitepaper offers key takeaways from the conversation and features insights from the following health systems:

• HonorHealth (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
• Allina Health (Minneapolis)
• University of Michigan Health (Ann Arbor)
• Rochester (N.Y.) Regional Health
• University Hospitals (Cleveland)

New policies are driving a shift toward using patient-reported outcome data as a standard for performance measurement by federal and commercial insurers. With reimbursement increasingly tied to value-based models, a sustainable system for gathering patient-reported outcomes is now essential.

Beginning in 2024, CMS began requiring hospitals and surgery centers to report patient-reported outcomes for hip and knee replacements as part of a new performance measure. Download this guide to understand the new requirements and learn best practices for compliance.

Key learning points:

• Understand CMS's hip and knee replacement reporting requirements
• Examine the impact of reporting failures on your Annual Payment Update
• Develop a strategy for effective patient-reported outcome data collection

The Direct-to-Employer (DTE) model is in greater demand as self-funded employers seek solutions to address the rising costs of cardiovascular disease (CVD) while enhancing employee health outcomes. Healthcare providers who capitalize on this growing opportunity can differentiate themselves, diversify revenue streams, and build long-term partnerships with employers. The DTE model presents a win-win-win approach: it enables self-funded employers to reduce high-cost claims, offers employees greater access to preventive and specialized cardiovascular care, and allows healthcare providers to expand their impact. This paper outlines actionable strategies for healthcare providers to build and scale DTE cardiovascular health programs, driving measurable value and ROI.

Key learnings:

• Why the Direct-to-Employer (DTE) model is increasingly valuable for self-funded employers in managing cardiovascular disease (CVD) costs and improving employee health outcomes.
• How to build and scale DTE cardiovascular health programs using advanced diagnostics, real-time health data, and targeted interventions to drive impactful, measurable outcomes for self-funded employers and employees alike.
• Discover how leveraging advanced diagnostics capable of providing real-time insights into employee cardiovascular health can help optimize cardiovascular health programs, enabling proactive intervention without relying solely on retrospective claims data.

Gastrointestinal issues now rank among the top five chronic conditions driving medical and pharmacy costs. Consequently, these conditions — including irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease — contribute to an enormous cost for health plans and their members.

This whitepaper closely examines digestive diseases' financial and clinical impact, including high claim volumes and delayed diagnoses, and why it's critical for payers to develop targeted interventions to manage these challenges now.

Key learnings:

• The broader implications of poor gut health, including mental health and immune function
• Actionable strategies to reduce costs and improve outcomes with early detection, enhanced access to care and integrated care models
• Interventions saving some payers up to $2,000 per member annually

Healthcare organizations face the challenge of building customer loyalty by providing the best possible experience for their patients. At the center of this issue is an organization's contact center — often the starting point for a patient's journey.

To improve this crucial first contact, organizations need to look beyond traditional approaches and embrace a data-led effort to modernize their contact centers.

This whitepaper will:

• Examine the call center of today and tomorrow
• Look at three key AI technologies that will drive future call center operations
• Explore the best way to implement changes

Healthcare organizations have access to more data than ever before. While that data is valuable, it can only make a difference if correctly processed and analyzed.

New developments in AI are enabling health systems to improve operations by identifying the right treatments faster, reducing cumbersome administrative tasks and streamlining research and development to innovate for the future.

Download this report produced by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services to understand how these efforts drive greater business value and outcomes and learn:

• Insights into Northwell Health's AI-driven digital transformation
• How AI is driving increased annual returns for healthcare companies
• What factors to consider when building an enterprise AI strategy

Payers face a number of challenges in their risk adjustment programs, from data quality and availability to compliance issues and the complex, time-consuming task of analyzing retrospective data to calculate risk.

While retrospective review is a key part of risk adjustment, some organizations are seeing benefits in emphasizing prospective risk adjustment as part of a holistic strategy. This e-book explores how prospective strategies can streamline care gap closures, reduce administrative burdens and drive cost savings for payers.

Insights include:

• Using prospective risk adjustment to make better predictions
• Technology that proactively identifies care gaps
• How digital integration enables more efficient care gap closures

Nearly 40% of Medicaid beneficiaries say they "sometimes, rarely or never" understand communications from their health plan. Recognizing the barriers they face is critical to improving their care experiences, as well as ensuring payers and providers meet business objectives, mandates and benchmarks.

Addressing care experiences and beneficiaries' perceptions is not simple, however. This guide outlines key obstacles in educating, communicating and connecting with Medicaid beneficiaries and strategies organizations can use to overcome these challenges.

Learnings include:

• Perceptions that Medicaid beneficiaries have toward their healthcare providers and health plan
• How factors like limited English proficiency and cultural norms impact engagement with healthcare
• Strategies and tips to address whole-person health through empathetic digital communication

Health plans now have unprecedented opportunities to scale care management (CM) initiatives to improve outcomes and drive return on investment, but most are not yet integrating all their data types to transform CM.

To realize CM's full potential, health plans need technologies to reach members in a variety of ways when health events happen — with contextual awareness and personalization, as well as the ability to adapt as new information becomes available. New research also shows that health plan leaders expect CM transformation to empower their organizations to build guided health journeys, engage more members, improve efficiencies and reduce the burden on CM teams.

Read this white paper to learn more about:

• Why health plans need timely, data-driven, multi-channel engagement
• The building blocks currently available for transforming CM
• The critical next steps to starting CM transformation

The life sciences industry is facing increased competition, evolving patient expectations and heightened demands to bring devices and drugs to market faster.

Artificial intelligence offers life sciences companies a transformative advantage, enabling them to reimagine operations, streamline research and development, expand patient access to clinical trials and accelerate time-to-therapy.

This whitepaper explores the key challenges and opportunities for healthcare organizations entering the new era of AI. Learn practical steps for building a robust AI strategy that unlocks lasting benefits — from improving patient experience to driving significant cost savings through intelligent automation.

Learn how AI can help life sciences organizations:

• Harmonize information from the EHR, claims databases and social platforms
• Automate manual tasks such as answering questions around efficacy and indications
• Auto-match eligible participants with trials

In a recent survey, 97% of pharmacy leaders said their human resources team reaches out for feedback on everything from formulary design to pharmacogenetics coverage.*

Partnerships between HR and pharmacy are mutually beneficial. They can increase employee understanding and engagement in pharmacy programs.

Download the report to learn:

• Five best practices for pharmacy leaders to collaborate with HR for program adoption and employee wellness.
• How a large, nonprofit health system partnered pharmacy and HR for improved pharmacy utilization and increased plan savings.

*Internal RxBenefits hospital survey, 2024. Sample size of 101 respondents.

Healthcare leaders are reimagining traditional primary care models to meet two growing demands: improved patient access and more personalized care experiences.

From creating dedicated teams for virtual care and e-visits, to automated administrative processes and more — exploring new strategies is crucial for top patient outcomes and financial success.

Download this report to see how health system leaders from across the U.S. are reimagining primary care, and learn:

• What strategies are working for large and small health systems
• How to identify technology that will drive results
• Tips for reducing administrative burdens for your staff

Tanner Health System, a billion-dollar health system based in Carrollton, Ga., faced challenges with patient flow, departmental silos, and system-wide inefficiencies, hindering coordination and efficiency.

To address these issues, Tanner implemented a healthcare operational improvement framework that combined people, processes and technology to drive systemwide alignment. This initiative resulted in significant operational and financial improvements — including $5.2 million in savings within the first six months.

In this case study, you'll learn:

• Practical strategies Tanner Health System used to enhance coordination and improve efficiency across all areas of the organization
• How this framework drove measurable operational and financial gains
• What key drivers leaders can leverage to kickstart performance improvement and achieve sustainable results

For healthcare organizations nationwide, the pressure of tight margins and workforce challenges is driving innovation.

From how clinicians feel about using AI to how health systems across the country measure the value of digital tech, this collection of reporting from Becker's Hospital Review elevates the trends today's healthcare leaders need to know to innovate with purpose.

Articles include:

• Why CIOs can't be the 'senator from IT' anymore
• Clinicians want more influence in software decisions: 7 survey findings
• A 'multibillion-dollar bottleneck': 3 top AI issues for health systems

As health system consolidation continues to accelerate, nurse leaders are uniquely positioned to drive successful integration by leaning on their interpersonal skills and expertise in operations.

This brief but detailed report explores how nurse executives can guide their organizations through mergers and acquisitions.

Key insights:

• Learn how to guide organizations through mergers, aligning staff and improving care quality.
• Discover the role of technology in streamlining procedures and achieving clinical excellence.
• Explore strategies to foster staff development, enhance communication and ensure high performance post-merger.

Managing patient access, appointment volume and operational workflows can be overwhelming with the sheer volume and complexity of healthcare data.

This e-book explores how healthcare practices can turn these challenges into opportunities for growth by focusing on the data that matters the most. It outlines how specific metrics reveal scheduling gaps, reduce patient wait times, and ultimately boost both revenue and patient satisfaction.

By optimizing provider schedules and enhancing patient experiences, this guide provides a clear approach to making data work more effectively for healthcare operations.

Health systems are increasingly turning to remote patient monitoring systems to enhance patient outcomes, close health disparities and lower costs.

While healthcare organizations have been using RPM for some time, there is a plethora of new opportunities to better engage patients and drive improvements in care. This exclusive report offers fresh insights on how RPM technology can reduce hospital readmissions, boost patient satisfaction and deliver measurable cost savings. Learn from real-world case studies of health systems that have successfully deployed RPM to improve care and scale solutions.

Key learning points:

• The latest advancements in RPM technology and tips to find the right solution
• Best practices for successful deployment and patient engagement strategies
• How two health systems reduced readmission rates and achieved substantial savings

Healthcare providers and payers are awash in vast amounts of data, making it challenging to determine which insights truly matter.

When organizations can leverage the data that directly affects them, they can advance patient care, optimize resources and positively influence their bottom line. Download this report to learn how to navigate the healthcare data ecosystem for healthcare performance improvement.

Insights include:

• How to identify data that can help your organization
• How AI can support speed-to-value improvement
• How to transform data into actionable insights

Facing frequent no-shows, high staff turnover and resource draining, paper-based processes in patient access, Wayne HealthCare was due for a digital upgrade.

Read the case study to learn how using EngageCare self-service technology to transition administrative and financial tasks to patients helped Wayne improve patient safety, reduce no-shows and increase staff efficiency.

Download a copy of the case study to learn how Wayne:

• Reduced denials 80 percent
• Decreased no-shows and cancellations, saving revenue
• Reallocated staff and eliminated need to fill 5 vacant positions

Supply chain inefficiencies cost hospitals $25.7 billion annually. With the right strategies, however, supply chain teams can not only lower supply chain and healthcare costs but also serve as a direct bridge to improved care quality.

At the Becker's Supply Chain Leadership Virtual Forum, six healthcare supply chain experts discussed their systems' supply chain transformation efforts and shared how supply chains can become a strategic asset when bolstered by the power of data, standardization and process efficiency. This report offers seven takeaways from the discussion.

Key learnings:

• How labor challenges are affecting supply chain teams
• Top priorities for healthcare supply chain leaders in 2022
• The key to successful supply chain transformations
  
  

Learn how we worked with this fully-integrated healthcare system to deliver a whole-person approach to care for its employees and spouses with chronic conditions.

Results include:

• A coordinated experience across conditions for people living with both diabetes and hypertension Multiyear impact on clinical diabetes measures, including reduced HbA1c levels and a fewer hypoglycemic readings
• Measurable impact on systolic and diastolic blood pressure rates among those with uncontrolled hypertension
• Reduced spending incurred through medical care, emergency room visits and pharmacy costs associated with managing chronic conditions, resulting in a positive ROI

Before COVID-19, the opioid epidemic was the nation's most consequential public health threat. The pandemic has magnified the impact of the opioid crisis on communities as unemployment, homelessness and behavioral health disorder rates soar.

Learn how eight organizations across the country have used technology and collaboration to achieve the following:

• 61 percent reduction in opioid prescriptions
• 32 percent reduction in opioid deaths
• 50 percent decrease in emergency department visits for patients with high utilization patterns
• $34 million in cost savings

This downloadable whitepaper will cover:

• Four proven strategies for addressing the opioid epidemic on an organizational and community level
• Statewide efforts to reduce opioid prescribing and use, including implementation of seven best practices for prescription opioids
• How collaboration helped achieve measurable results outside opioids — including decreased ED visits and significant cost savings

Healthcare infrastructure is at a critical inflection point. Outdated systems burden patients and administrators with fragmented authentication processes, which manifest in healthcare as redundant patient verification forms, manually intensive paper trails for office staff, and limited access to trustworthy authentication processes for call centers.

In some ways, healthcare is experiencing an "identity crisis" that's leaving crucial information vulnerable to cyberattacks — and leaving patients confused, tired and frustrated. This report explores how an interoperable identity solution can effectively address these challenges.

Key learnings:

• How to simplify the patient experience with secure identity verification
• How modern identity verification safeguards against social engineering attacks and data breaches
• How automation can cut administrative costs, improve resource allocation and free up healthcare staff to focus on patient care

Patient-centered communication tools and remote patient monitoring are essential for delivering timely information and improving health outcomes. These services also require healthcare organizations to focus on patient privacy, HIPAA compliance and cybersecurity.

As hospitals and health systems adopt more internet-connected medical devices and tools, the attack surface for cybercriminals grows. Without leading-edge security in place, every device on a healthcare organization's network becomes a potential threat.

Becker's Healthcare and T-Mobile recently surveyed more than 125 healthcare leaders to learn about the communication tools they use, as well as their cybersecurity and compliance challenges.

Insights from this whitepaper include:

• Why healthcare organizations are struggling with persistent cybersecurity attacks, and the cybersecurity measures that can protect patient-centered communications
• The greatest barriers to improving compliance and cybersecurity, including patient-centered communications and internet-connected devices
• Best practices to bolster the security of patient-centered communication and technologies, and the top priorities for enhancing applications

Healthcare organizations are committed to delivering patient-focused care but face mounting challenges associated with administrative tasks that can increase costs, negatively affect outcomes and lead to provider burnout.

AI-powered technology is showing potential to address these challenges and transform the daily workflows that underpin healthcare delivery today.

Get the report that shares how one New Jersey health system successfully reduced clinician's administrative burdens while bolstering communication.

Key takeaways from the report:

• AI-based technology can enhance workflows.
• Ambient charting reduces post-visit documentation time.
• How a streamlined workflow creates a better experience for clinicians and patients.

Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health operates over 1,200 locations and has more than 3,000 providers in the U.S., along with a significant presence in Ireland. For a system this expansive, the ability to scale high-quality, innovative services — such as patient monitoring — is critical.

In this whitepaper, Bon Secours Mercy Health's CFO of markets and chief nursing officer share their integrated approach to patient monitoring across the system's delivery network. They describe how they've navigated financial barriers, the logistics and impact of standardizing patient monitoring with technology and results they've seen systemwide.

Learning points:

• How Bon Secours Mercy Health is driving technology adoption across sites
• Best practices for evaluating IT infrastructure and partnerships
• Clinical and administrative benefits of integrated patient monitoring tools

 

As health systems face rising labor costs and high workforce turnover, many are turning to AI solutions to keep pace. Community Health Network (CHN) in Indianapolis is among those leading the way, using intelligent automation to optimize staff performance, streamline workflows, and improve patient care without adding to labor costs.

In this guide, learn how CHN leverages Notable’s AI-powered agents to:

• Save up to $1.7 million annually by automating pre-visit chart summaries and freeing up staff
• Boost scheduled visits by 300% and reconnect with 10% of patients overdue for visits
• Close care gaps and reduce delays with automated follow-ups and real-time scheduling

According to Philips' Future Health Index 2024, 85% of healthcare leaders are either investing in or planning to invest in generative AI. But where do you start? And how do you ensure AI isn’t just hype but a real solution?

This guide shares what’s working in healthcare today and how to make AI genuinely actionable, with five practical steps.

Inside, you’ll find:

• Real examples of how health systems use AI to save on costs and improve patient outcomes
• Clear first steps to build an AI strategy that aligns with your goals and needs
• Practical methods to automate workflows, reduce administrative burden, and boost productivity

Healthcare organizations are prioritizing care model redesign to meet demand and provide high-quality care while managing financial challenges. This was the focus of a roundtable conversation with 28 healthcare executives at Becker's 9th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference.

This report is based on that conversation and explores how organizations can transform care delivery through strategic portfolio management and digital innovation.

Learning points:

• Key trends driving healthcare transformation and top organizational growth priorities
• Essential elements of innovative care models that increase operational efficiency without compromising quality
• Strategic approaches to digital health implementation that expand access while addressing staffing shortages
• Real-world insights from healthcare leaders on restructuring care teams and resource allocation
• Practical guidance for balancing patient care excellence with financial sustainability

Operating rooms drive up to 70% of a hospital's revenue — and up to 40% of its expenses. The potential to increase efficiency and drive further revenue is great, but too often efforts fail because they only address isolated problems. Optimizing the OR requires a holistic approach that includes consistent and structural block management changes, proactive case coordination, and streamlined staff planning.

This whitepaper explores how four health systems overcame OR inefficiencies through AI-powered software, change management, and tailored strategies that go beyond quick fixes. Each case study showcases specific approaches and technologies that health systems used to optimize workflows and staffing, addressing long-term structural needs and capturing new revenue.

Featured health systems:

• The University of Kansas Health System (Kansas City)
• Cone Health (Greensboro, N.C.)
• OhioHealth (Columbus)
• Oregon Health & Science University (Portland)

Gain actionable insights to help your organization boost OR potential, enhance clinical outcomes and achieve sustainable financial growth.

A top priority for healthcare leaders is to find cost-saving opportunities and improve operating efficiency. One area ripe for improvement that's often overlooked is cardiac telemetry monitoring.

Cardiac telemetry has a significant influence on patient care and financial performance. Telemetry overutilization can result in longer hospital stays, unnecessary testing and increased costs.

Download this whitepaper to learn how adjusting cardiac telemetry workflows can help enhance patient safety and operational efficiency.

Learnings include:

• How to reduce non-actionable alarms and alarm fatigue
• How to streamline communication and create integrated telemetry workflows
• How to decrease patients' time on telemetry and free up resources

Compliance with information security standards doesn't guarantee that your systems are secure. Without proactive measures, hospitals and health systems remain vulnerable to evolving cyber threats that can disrupt operations and compromise patient care.

In this whitepaper, two cybersecurity experts discuss how health systems can take a more proactive approach to mitigate cyber threats and create a safer environment for clinicians and patients.

Key learnings:

• Why compliance alone isn't enough to protect your systems
• Actionable steps to strengthen your security and safeguard data
• How AI and partnerships enhance threat detection and response

This whitepaper explores the evolution of utilization management (UM) in healthcare, examining the mounting pressures faced by both payers and providers. It analyzes the impact of rising healthcare costs, increased regulatory requirements and evolving patient expectations in a value-based care landscape. The paper emphasizes the need for innovative solutions to balance patient care with the realities of a strained healthcare system.

Three key learning points from the white paper include:

• An overview of the challenges healthcare providers experience due to manual, time-consuming processes.
• Why integrating technology, such as AI and automation, can streamline UM workflows and enhance decision-making.
• Why collaboration between payers and providers is essential for successful UM implementation.

As healthcare professionals continue to face tight workflows and increasing demands, small changes in back-end systems can yield major gains.

However, most hospitals still overlook a critical aspect that can reduce the burden on both clinical staff and IT teams: the printing infrastructure within their EHR systems. This brief report offers leaders practical tips on how to address inefficiencies to improve resource management, enhance security and streamline workflows.

Key learning points:

• The value of reducing print-related tasks
• Enhance security and reduce risks of HIPAA violations
• Minimize wasted time and resources

Increasingly, healthcare leaders are recognizing better access to aggregated, integrated healthcare information has the power to transform the patient experience. This information can empower people to take charge of their well-being and enable providers to deliver higher-quality care with less administrative burden.

To learn more about the current state of healthcare interoperability and what the future holds, Becker's Healthcare recently spoke with two interoperability experts from Oracle Health. This report contains insights from those conversations.

Learnings include:

• What interoperability looks when 'built right'
• Opportunities to address clinician cognitive burden through improved interoperability
• Why patients need greater access to their health data

The rise of telehealth, healthcare-at home and other remote care options is bringing greater flexibility to health systems and patients, who often prefer to receive care outside of the hospital. However, home-based care that relies on various connected devices introduces increased cybersecurity threats.

Becker's Healthcare recently spoke with three network and security experts about how healthcare leaders can identify and address cybersecurity risks as the device and delivery ecosystem grows.

Key learnings include:

• How to counter cyber threats with a layered security approach
• The commons issues associated with bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies
• The security advantages of company-owned device programs

Healthcare organizations' data significantly influences decisions, procedures and revenue. While accurate clinical documentation and streamlined data transfer are crucial, they often go awry.

To minimize the impact on billing, reimbursement, quality reporting and patient care, payers must aim for greater specificity and exchange of healthcare data.

Download new research to discover:

• How precise documentation helps to improve the bottom line
• Why losing data specificity affects patients at individual and population levels
• The benefits of feedback loops between revenue teams and care providers

An overreliance on traditional programs is undermining payers' efforts to help members achieve their healthcare goals.

This new report, produced by IDC Custom Solutions, shows how to increase ROI with AI-powered care management:

Four key takeaways:

• Close care gaps: Make things smoother and cut out the inefficiencies.
• Adhere to quality measures: Enhance the quality of service for better results.
• Boost member engagement and retention: Create solid relationships to bolster loyalty.
• Get the risk scores right: Make informed decisions with precise data.

Strengthen your programs with a strategy that covers all bases.

The status quo call center heavily depends on labor-intensive processes, disjointed systems, and a phone call-based approach. These are all elements that collectively add to the already significant administrative strain on call center agents.

In response, many health systems and hospitals have turned to AI to fundamentally change how work gets done.

From scheduling to appointment reminders to registration, this guide shares how organizations are leveraging AI to personalize patient engagement at scale, automate manual workflows on behalf of staff, and empower caregivers to work at top-of-license.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• The hidden cost of call center inefficiencies
• Best practices for improving patient access that doesn’t require hiring more staff
• How North Kansas City Hospital & Meritas Health and MUSC Health use AI-powered automation to drive new patient appointments and close care gaps

Optimizing patient flow and staffing is challenging — patient needs vary, demand fluctuates and resources are constrained and hard to predict. As a result, hospitals are often in a reactive state, forced to resolve bottlenecks and patient flow issues as they arise.

Front-line teams are the ones that are forced to carry the burden by pulling off daily heroics to address the ever-changing demands, only to repeat the cycle again the next day. But health systems around the nation are breaking out of this cycle with AI-powered innovation that improves nursing coverage, patient access and EBITDA.

This whitepaper contains a number of real-world case studies, including:

• How UCHealth (Aurora, Colo.) decreased overall time to admit by 16%
• How a leading Florida health system reduced average length-of-stay by 13 hours
• Hendrick Health system reduced order to discharge time by 22% and ED boarding Time by 49%

Given the breadth and depth of potential use cases, one thing is clear – more and more people will find themselves working in environments where ML plays a critical role. And thanks to the emergence of low-code and no-code software, ML is no longer the exclusive preserve of programmers, data scientists, and people who paid attention in math class. More of us can – and will – be involved in developing and deploying practical ML solutions.

This eGuide will help you understand:

 

• The key concepts behind ML and common applications
• How it’s becoming more useful to people at all levels of organizations

 

At virtually every stage of a patient’s wellbeing, different forms of technology and software support the expansion of better healthcare. As the reliance on technology grows, ensuring that these lifesaving systems don’t break under the strain is imperative.

  To keep operations running smoothly, healthcare IT professionals must perform regular and exhaustive testing. Fortunately, the introduction of automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI) has made testing easier to deliver.

In this eBook from Keysight Technologies, you will discover  

• How automation can improve workflow management to help physicians and patients alike
• How AI-driven test automation helps your EMR become more interoperable and user-friendly
• Six critical tasks that can be optimized with robotic process automation
• The importance of testing both on-site and wearable medical devices

 

Please fill out the form to download the eBook.

The Definitive Guide to Policy & Regulatory Management for Healthcare from is a comprehensive resource designed to help healthcare organizations streamline policy, compliance, and regulatory practices.

With life-critical standards are at stake, this guide offers practical, scalable solutions for managing essential documents like employee handbooks, codes of conduct and operational policies. Divided into sections for visionaries, practitioners, and strategists, it equips readers at any level with tools for improving compliance, reducing risk, and maintaining clear, accessible records.

Whether building a new framework or refining an existing one, this guide provides actionable insights to strengthen compliance and governance across an organization.

Learning points:

• How to implement scalable and sustainable practices for managing healthcare policies, compliance, and regulatory documents.
• Ways to improve organizational compliance by organizing critical information, reducing risk, and maintaining clear, accessible records.
• Tips for applying tailored strategies for healthcare visionaries, practitioners, and strategists to enhance document governance and regulatory adherence.

As healthcare costs rise and reimbursement challenges grow, many hospitals and health systems are turning to an unconventional solution: legal finance.

By leveraging high-value legal claims like the BCBS antitrust litigation, finance leaders can create liquidity that strengthens their organizations' financial footing. This white paper reveals how healthcare CFOs, GCs, and other executives can strategically manage legal assets to reduce strain and support financial stability, offering a proactive approach to stay competitive.

Key learning points:

• Strategies for using legal finance to accelerate recoveries and unlock capital
• The financial impact of opting out of class action settlements
• How portfolio financing can help healthcare providers manage legal costs effectively

In response to payers' growing use of AI for claims processing and approvals, health systems are starting to strategize their own use of technology to keep up with the rapid pace of denials.

This whitepaper offers key insights from a leadership session at Becker's 9th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference, where executives discussed the potential for automation to draft claims appeals and ultimately improve denial rates and timely reimbursements.

Download to learn:

• The driving factors for significant increases in complex denials
• Best practices for streamlining the denial appeals workflow
• Real improvements in efficiency with AI in the revenue cycle

With healthcare leaders facing a long list of challenges that includes everything from economic pressures to overburdened clinical and nonclinical teams, prioritizing tools and strategies that can streamline operations and drive results is critical.

In the revenue cycle, AI and automation can make a significant difference. In a recent survey of hospital, health system and medical group leaders, 75% respondents who use AI in revenue cycle management see ROI.

Download this report to find:

• Real-world examples of AI applications in RCM
• Areas of focus for a successful AI strategy
• Which processes can benefit the most from AI and automation

Healthcare finance leaders continue to struggle with inefficient workflows and time-consuming processes. In a recent survey by Becker's Healthcare and Multiview, over two-thirds of survey respondents (68%) said that month-end takes their organization between six and 10 days to complete.

Reducing this time-consuming process is a key priority for finance leaders, with many of them looking to automation, analytics and digital tools to lighten the load on their staff.

Download this new resource to gain actionable insights into how some hospitals have reduced their three-month budget cycles down to one week, and learn:

• Strategies and tips to streamline financial planning and decision-making
• How to create organizational buy-in and what obstacles are most common
• What data you need to look for and reporting tools to leverage

The average cybersecurity breach in healthcare costs $11 million, and recent breaches have disrupted patient care and even led some physicians to close their practices.

Realizing the potentially devastating impacts of cyberattacks is the first step in being prepared to fend off threats that can affect healthcare providers big and small.

This new step-by-step guide puts you in the driver seat with actionable insights and tips on what your organization can do to stay safe.

You'll learn:

• How to assess and address vulnerabilities at your organization
• How to create an efficient and viable response plan
• How to identify next steps that will keep you safe in the future

From outdated systems to staffing and financial pressure, rural hospitals face many challenges.

Hospital finance teams often have to do more with less, dealing with less-than-ideal workflows and delays in reporting. Many technologies today can help overcome and even resolve long-standing problems for healthcare finance teams. Improving financial processes through automation, creating efficiencies in reporting and assessing key performance indicators can be part of a hospital’s improved financial operation.

Read this case study to learn how Windsor, Vt.-based Mt. Ascutney Hospital leveraged technology to improve their finance department processes.

Learnings include:

• How simplified cost reporting help support better problem solving
• What processes the hospital streamlined and how those changes affected revenue
• Why automated data tracking is the key to success for multiple departments

With more than 40% of hospitals still losing money, technology innovation booming and payment models shifting, healthcare CFOs are under complex pressures and have more visibility than ever.

This playbook outlines the key strategies finance leaders need to adapt to these changes. It details how to bring the necessary level of insight and analysis to this evolving role and drive business forward without sacrificing patient care and efficiency.

You'll learn:

• Key drivers of change in healthcare financial management
• Four considerations for financial leaders evaluating their readiness
• Why integrating clinical data into financial systems is no longer optional

This report, based on a survey of 210 healthcare employees responsible for claims management, assessed the extent of denied claims, the causes, and the efforts to mitigate denials.

The results indicate:

• Denials continue to increase.
• Providers say authorizations and incorrect information on claims are driving the rise in denials.
• Providers want to prevent denials versus just managing them.

Sample findings:

• 38% of respondents acknowledged that 10% or more of claims are denied.
• 46% of respondents say that missing or inaccurate data is one of the top three reasons for denials.
• 65% of respondents say that submitting "clean" claims is more challenging than before the pandemic.

Read the full report to see where the trends are leading.

The recent expansion of ASC-covered procedures presents a dual landscape of opportunities and challenges. As patient volume surges, so do billing complexities, audits and other revenue cycle management hurdles.

This guide offers three actionable strategies for ASC administrators and revenue cycle executives to proactively address these issues.

You will learn:

• Technologies ASCs can use to augment their existing RCM infrastructure
• Guidelines to address increased scrutiny and compliance requirements
• Three key steps ASCs can take now to navigate the evolving landscape effectively

Medicare and Medicaid administration can be nightmarishly complicated with interconnected programs and requirements. Even for those well-versed in the fundamental rules, hidden pitfalls can lead to significant financial gains or losses, often in the millions.

The silver lining is that proactive steps can be taken to safeguard revenue and optimize reimbursement. This tip sheet presents healthcare finance leaders with five practical strategies to attain excellence in government reimbursement, encompassing: 

• Fundamental pathways to follow for financial success
• Tactical approaches to ensure ongoing compliance
• Proven methods to maximize reimbursement potential

Selling a medical practice can be a difficult process to navigate. Without the right strategies and team in place, owners will likely leave substantial money on the table. This whitepaper outlines how owners can avoid this common mistake and highlights considerations when evaluating potential buyers. These concepts are brought to life in a two-part case study that showcases how an owner was able to increase a physician’s post-sale, after-tax net worth by 77%.

Key learnings:  

• How practice owners can best position themselves in the market with a strategic buyer or private equity (PE) platform
• The value that an investment banker-led marketed process brings vs a non-marketed process
• Strategies to maximize personal wealth for physician owners through pre-sale and post-sale wealth planning

 

Beyond clinical staff, labor shortages are putting significant pressure on the revenue cycle function at hospitals and health systems, leading to negative consequences on the bottom line and for patient engagement. 

This report uncovers findings from a survey of 200 employees responsible for staffing the revenue cycle function at provider organizations, demonstrating how chronic staff shortages of non-clinical staff affect the revenue cycle at their organization. Before the pandemic, the situation was concerning. Now, it's unsustainable.

Download the report to learn where there are opportunities to address top challenges and position your organization for long-term stability.

Sample findings: 

• 96% of respondents indicated that payer reimbursements, patient collections -- or both -- were affected by staff shortages
• More than 8 out of 10 respondents say the patient experience is worse due to staffing shortages 
• 92% of respondents say new staff members make errors that negatively affect claims

Health systems are painfully aware of the complexities of revenue cycle management and understand the need for RCM partners. In fact, 93% of health systems rely on at least one RCM partner.

But there are different reasons for pursuing RCM partnerships and very different approaches to partnership. Which approach and partners are best for your organization?

Here are insights from new research conducted with the Health Management Academy:

• 4 key reasons health systems pursue RCM partnerships
• 2 primary approaches to RCM partnership, and the key differences between them
• Factors to consider when vetting and evaluating RCM partnerships
• Why so many leading health systems are considering enterprise RCM partnerships

The key takeaway: RCM partnerships are necessary but they're not all alike. Understand the differences to make the best RCM decision for your health system.

High deductible health plans (HDHPs) have shifted the already-complex payer reimbursement burden onto the shoulders of consumers who are unprepared to bear it.

Consumers, on the one hand, need increased support to understand their bills and figure out how to pay them. On the other hand, patients with more skin in the game are becoming more demanding about the quality of their customer experience.

These changes necessitate a new patient payment model that focuses on delivering convenience and clear communication to patients, driving both quicker payments and increased patient satisfaction.

Download this whitepaper to learn:

• The current state of patient collections, with data
• How to help patients take charge of their new responsibility
• How to identify hidden coverage
• How to increase the likelihood of quick, easy payment

The economic landscape of the healthcare market has been forever altered by the COVID-19 crisis. Existing challenges have intensified, and the pace of change is accelerating, raising the bar for organizations to adapt strategically and quickly.

Download the e-book to learn more about how health leaders can ready their organization for growth with forward-thinking strategies that include:

• Meeting the consumer on their terms
• Adapting to new competition
• The growing role of strategic partnerships
• Mastering the new indicators of growth
• Tracking the spend of the health care dollar

Operating health systems and physician practices has always been hard, but COVID-19 has created extraordinary profitability challenges in 2020. Lower volumes, changing case and payer mixes and greater operating margin anxiety make revenue optimization more essential than ever.

We asked physician management and healthcare organization leaders to share their strategies for overcoming the considerable challenges of this altered landscape. They offer 10 strategies for using data and analytics to better manage capacity, coordinate care and optimize revenues, including:

• Tracking real-time practice COVID-19 volumes
• Managing productivity and modifying physician incentive compensation
• Capturing charges efficiently and accurately at the point of care
• Improving throughput across the continuum

The white paper features expert views from:

• Dennis Deruelle, MD – Executive Director of Hospital Medicine, American Physician Partners
• Andrea Funk, RN, MEd, CPHQ – Vice President of Integrated Acute Care Operations, US Acute Care Solutions
• Derick D. Perkins – Founder and Managing Partner, Metis Advisors LLC

COVID-19 has pushed healthcare delivery beyond its breaking point, heightening the urgent need for accelerated patient care, improved clinical efficiencies and secure clinical communication with real-time critical patient updates.

Before the arrival of COVID-19, specific environmental trends were challenging the healthcare industry, such as acquisitions of smaller health systems by larger health systems, clinician shortages and burnout. These trends had already created an urgent demand for clinical communication platforms (CCP) that would work securely across growing networks of diverse care provider organizations. The arrival of COVID-19 has applied untold new pressures to already strained systems.

In this white paper, you will learn about:

• The impact and cost of COVID-19 on healthcare
• How clinical collaboration platforms improved communication during COVID-19
• Where you will see cost savings from leveraging clinical collaboration platforms
• What to look for in a clinical collaboration platform in order to achieve savings
• How clinical collaboration platforms can help your organization increase efficiency and achieve return on investment

Healthcare organizations are increasingly embracing a simple, yet effective change to improve diagnostic accuracy, avoid antibiotic misuse and drive better outcomes: in-house PCR testing.

First popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology now plays a crucial role in detecting a variety of infections with greater accuracy than traditional antigen tests. As more healthcare providers integrate the technology, they are seeing enhanced patient satisfaction, better clinical outcomes and reduced staff burden.

Becker's Healthcare recently spoke with clinical leaders to learn more about the value in-house PCR testing is bringing to their organizations.

Key learning points:

• How PCR testing enhances diagnostic accuracy and accelerates treatment
• The cost-saving and operational benefits
• Real-world success stories from providers integrating PCR testing

Primary care is at a critical juncture. As patient demands and administrative pressures rise, health systems have an opportunity to lead a transformation.

This white paper explores a modern framework to improve the quality and accessibility of primary care. By placing intentional focus on key components like care continuity, targeted patient engagement and omnichannel access, health systems can address primary care's most pressing challenges and pave the way for better outcomes and efficiency.

Key learning points:

• Principles for engineering a cohesive, high-performing primary care system
• Practical steps to leverage AI for primary care's most valuable tasks
• Strategies to create consistent patient experiences through unified data

Documenting a patient's turn schedule can serve a vital function in preventing pressure injuries as well as impacting institutional risk management. A recent study which sought to understand the difference between manually documenting turns and the automatic documentation of a wearable, wireless found wireless documentation had a 165% relative increase in documentation adherence for repositioning events than traditional flowsheets.

This quick read breaks down the study's findings into digestible takeaways. Read to get insights on:

• The challenges of nursing documentation
• The power of automated documentation
• How to document a more complete history of patient mobility in the EHR

Each year, nearly 800,000 Americans die or suffer significant harm due to diagnostic errors.

This whitepaper equips healthcare leaders with insights into the key risk factors, settings most prone to diagnostic mistakes and actionable strategies to mitigate these risks. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of why emergency departments are especially vulnerable and find practical tools for self-assessment and prevention.

Key learning points:

• Overview of the prevalence and drivers of diagnostic errors
• Top categories of diagnostic errors in the ED
• Best practices and tools to reduce diagnostic errors in the ED

From risk assessment to diagnosis and treatment, several crucial factors can determine the best possible outcome for prostate cancer patients.

Three key considerations should be top of mind for physicians as they rank risk factors and determine what treatment might be suitable: How severely is cancer affecting the patient? What is the patient's life expectancy? How does the patient feel about treatment?

This new research uncovers the importance of patient preference in treatment and what treatment options align best with different risk factors.

You'll learn:

• How to create a risk hierarchy to determine the best treatment
• New treatment options and their impact on patients
• The involvement of the patient in treatment

Women today have enough to juggle without spending time in the hospital recovering from a surgical procedure. That's why outpatient providers are increasingly tapping multimodal pain management protocols and non-opioid medications to enable same-day discharges for a wide range of women’s health procedures.

Becker's ASC Review recently spoke with three experts about women's health procedures in the ASC and how innovative pain management products are transforming the patient experience. This whitepaper offers a summary of the conversation.

Key learnings:

• ERAS protocols for women's health procedures
• The benefits of same-day discharges for patients and providers
• Upcoming reimbursement changes for non-opioids like EXPAREL

Hospitals are fighting an ongoing battle against unrecognized patient deterioration, alarm fatigue, opioid-induced respiratory depression, sepsis, unplanned extubation and other preventable conditions. In this whitepaper, we will review the scope of these patient safety matters, inadequacies of current practices, the emergence of clinical surveillance and a strategy to implement continuous clinical surveillance that helps enhance patient safety and outcomes.

Key points that readers will learn include:

• The clinical and financial impact of alarm fatigue and these adverse patient conditions
• How continuous clinical surveillance is different from patient monitoring and alarm management and focuses on mitigating non-clinically actionable alerts and notifications
• Published results that hospitals have achieved with continuous clinical surveillance

DSO leaders are facing a myriad of challenges from staffing to evolving technological needs and economic hurdles. Providing a patient experience that's engaging, personalized and efficient is crucial to overcoming them.

By streamlining operations and leveraging data-driven insights, healthcare leaders can simultaneously reduce administrative strain and enhance revenue — all while delivering a superior patient experience.

This guide explains:

• How to develop more comprehensive and transparent treatment plans
• Why many dentists cite patient payments as their most significant concern
• What factor is most important for leaders to grow their business

Studies show that patient satisfaction and quality of care are directly linked to the long-term success of healthcare providers.

Dental practices need to collect pertinent patient data, analyze it and determine what satisfaction looks like for their patients. Next, dental practice leaders must act on this information to drive measurable improvements in the patient experience, which will ultimately support faster growth and higher revenues.

Download this exclusive four-step guide to learn how to use patient feedback to your advantage.

Insights include:

• How one large European dental group leverages patient feedback to deliver personalized coaching for dentists
• How to involve your staff in the process and improve the patient experience
• How to choose what surveys and feedback tools work for you
• How to advance your insights and create actionable items for growth

To be successful, every DSO must strive for a strong and dynamic procurement strategy. Large rapidly growing specialty DSOs are no exception.

One multispecialty DSO with more than 180 locations was able to save about $3 million annually by executing a strategic procurement initiative that drove savings towards their bottom line and increased ordering efficiencies among their practices in the process. This was all done while maintaining physicians' and clinicians' autonomy regarding clinically sensitive items they have access to.

Download the case study below to learn how SourceClub helped this multispecialty DSO save millions and achieve success

Today's most significant business operation problem in dental offices is repetitive, consistent, and boring manual processes and tasks. DentalRobot solves this problem with its proprietary automation platform specially designed for dental practices, and its unique approach of Pre-Built Robots and Automated Workflows.

Regardless of how you built the processes in your DSO, MSO, or Group, DentalRobot provides a custom-fit automation solution that matches your current context and vision for operations and growth. We understand each specialty and its journey. We impact your organization's outcomes by rapidly automating every process from insurance verification or EOB posting to Accelerated Patient Scheduling or Customized Treatment Plan Follow-Ups.