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.
A Winning Strategy to Improve Hand Hygiene
By: Megan J. DiGiorgio & Lori Moore With all of the emphasis on hand hygiene and HAI reduction, it would seem that healthcare workers (HCW) would know how and when they should perform hand hygiene. But, this assumption couldn’t be farther from the truth. HCWs can probably list a few or most of the indications … Continued
Coronavirus Pandemic Bares U.S. Healthcare Flaws, Points to Improvements
The COVID-19 pandemic poses the greatest public health threat in the United States since the Spanish flu outbreak a century ago. As of Aug. 4, more than 4.8 million Americans had been infected with the novel coronavirus and 159,000 had died, according to worldometer.
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.
Not Every Summer Illness Is COVID-19: Decision Support Tools Can Play Key Role in Diagnosis
With the help of decision support tools, clinicians can differentiate between vector-borne diseases during a season where more people are at risk. A decision support system uses two or more items of patient data to generate case-specific advice. In practical terms, the output of such systems is used to arrive at a specific diagnosis.
How Remote Patient Monitoring Can Protect Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
With healthcare workers and their loved ones at risk, provider organizations are looking for ways to leverage technology to keep their workers healthy while continuing to deliver essential healthcare services in their communities. Increasingly, they are looking in a familiar place—remote patient monitoring—but with a twist. Now, in some cases, those patients are also employees.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 8 – Drug Diversion in Healthcare
On episode 8 of PSQH: The Podcast, host Jay Kumar talks to Tom Knight, CEO of Invistics, about drug diversion and the impact it has on hospitals.
CMS, CDC Create Provider Payment for COVID-19 Counseling
CMS said it will use existing evaluation and management payment codes to reimburse providers who are eligible to bill CMS for counseling services regardless of the testing venue, including doctors’ offices, urgent care clinics, hospitals and community drive-thru or pharmacy testing sites.
PHE is Extended: Blanket Waivers Continue for Now
The waivers modify or temporarily suspend certain CMS and HHS regulatory requirements as long as the PHE is ongoing. Hospitals, for instance, have used the blanket waivers to expand the use of telehealth, delay some testing and maintenance of non-critical systems, and use temporary facilities as ways to ease the financial and daily burden of meeting the surge of COVID-19 patients.