News
Consider ACO Participation As Medicare Weighs Changes to Shared Savings Program
June 1, 2015
In December 2014, nearly three years since its launch, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the first proposed rule changes to the Shared Savings Program.
News
Hospitals’ Uncompensated Costs Estimated at $27.3 Billion in 2014
June 1, 2015
The estimated total amount of uncompensated costs incurred by hospitals in 2014 was $27.3 billion, which is $7.4 billion, or 21 percent, less than uncompensated hospital care would have been in 2014 at 2013 levels, before Accountable Care Act Medicaid coverage provisions took effect.
News
Quality Data Dashboards Provide Performance Feedback to Physicians
June 1, 2015
A best-of-research plenary presentation at HM15 in National Harbor, Md., described a project to link physicians’ schedules to the electronic health record (EHR) in order to provide real-time, individualized performance feedback on key quality improvement and value metrics. The abstract’s lead aut
News
Why Physicians Override Best Practice Alerts
June 1, 2015
Research published earlier this year in the Journal of Hospital Medicine finds that rationales offered by physicians for overriding interruptive, computerized best practice alerts (BPAs) regarding whether or not to give blood transfusions vary widely, including specialty service protocolized behavio
News
Hospitals with Hotel-Like Amenities Don’t Improve Satisfaction Scores
June 1, 2015
Hospital design may not contribute to patients’ satisfaction with the care given by their hospital professionals, according to new research from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
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News
Hospitalists Should Make Commitment to Improve Healthcare Safety
June 1, 2015
[caption id="attachment_9884" align="alignright" width="250"] "Checklist Doctor" Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, FCCM, speaks to thousands of hospitalists at HM15. Image Credit: Manuel Noguera[/caption] Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, FCCM, knows how to deliver a great talk.
News
How Should a Patient with Pulmonary Hypertension Be Evaluated, Managed?
June 1, 2015
Case A 62-year-old female with no significant past medical history presents with three weeks of progressive dyspnea on exertion and bilateral lower extremity edema. Family members report that the patient often snores and “gasps for air” during sleep.
News
Hospitalist Consults on Psychiatric Patients Concern Nurses
June 1, 2015
I am a psychiatric nurse and am concerned about the new group of hospitalists who are taking over all the new ED patients: Are signing off to the nursing staff or in the electronic health record (EHR); they do not speak with the attending psychiatrist; Are not monitoring their own medications,
News
Physician Culture, Beliefs Drive Variation in Healthcare Spending
June 1, 2015
The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and other institutions have long tried to quantify the prevalence and geographic variation of low-value care.
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News
Many Physicians Unaware of Costs for Lab Tests, Procedures
June 1, 2015
Sometimes, simply knowing what a test costs can make all the difference. Many physicians have sheepishly admitted that they know little about the price tags attached to the procedures and tests they order on a routine basis—or how that might impact their patients financially.
