Specialty Telehealth Expands the Value of Medicare Advantage
Telemedicine has become routine both for primary and specialty care, from rural hospitals to tertiary care university hospitals. Moreover, digital devices and monitoring modalities are more commonplace. Not only are individuals utilizing cloud-based telehealth patient platforms, but they are also commonly being linked to clinical remote monitoring programs, which are now reimbursable by CMS.
Sensor Solutions Gather Data to Support Telehealth
The platform has been adapted both to track viral load (in order to predict, with approximately 93% accuracy, when a person should pursue a PCR swab test to confirm COVID-19) and to alert a provider of the need for interventions around 21 hours in advance of a critical complication due to COVID-19.
Q&A: Supporting the Survivors of Sepsis
Sepsis is the number one driver of hospital costs in the United States and—according to the CDC—accounts for more than one-third of hospital deaths and more than $24 billion in hospital expenses. Sepsis is the most expensive all-payer condition in the United States.
The Age of Hand Sanitizers
A hygienic workplace provides many benefits, including boosted productivity, a safe working environment, and reduced employee absenteeism due to illness. Here’s a rundown of the ways to improve workplace hygiene and provide an ideal working environment that is safe, healthy, and secure.
Designing Reliability Into Evidence-Based Practice
On the sound foundation of evidence-based practice, healthcare providers rely on the most current and credible evidence to guide decisions; make diagnostic recommendations based on test results; prescribe effective medications; determine optimal care plans; and apply the best and safest practices for all manner of diseases and illnesses. However, EBP fidelity houses a set of glitches in an otherwise sound approach to qualitative practice.
Needle Phobia: An Underappreciated Threat
Citing a number of previous studies, researchers estimated that fear of needles affects 33%–63% of children and 14%–38% of adults, contributing to “negative experiences” with needle procedures (and healthcare as a whole) for patients, caregivers, and medical providers.
Smart Beds Show Promise for COVID Patients
This Q&A resulted from a conversation PSQH had with Nancy Riffel, MSA, BSN, RN, the patient services manager for Covenant HealthCare, a 643-bed hospital in Saginaw, Michigan, that is the largest healthcare provider in the Great Lakes Bay Region.
The Importance of Sustaining Quality Initiatives in Times of Crisis
Some of the quality measures driving the VBP calculations and determining reimbursement payments are hospital-acquired infection rates, patient experience scores, readmissions, mortality and complication rates, and efficiency. Although CMS’ actions reduced the burden on hospitals by offering a suspension of reporting while lessening the impact of the VBP program, this did not lessen the expectation for hospitals to provide quality care.
Game Planning Your Return to Elective Surgeries
According to the Medical Group Management Association, 97% of medical group practices have experienced a negative financial impact directly or indirectly related to COVID-19. On average, these practices report a 55% decrease in revenue and a 60% decrease in patient volume since the start of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Road to Recovery
During Phase 1 of recovery, provider organizations will focus on the following broad areas to begin to revive their revenue streams: elective procedures and surgeries, diagnostic imaging, oncology, population health, ambulatory care, and telemedicine.