Archive for the ‘Avoidable ER Use’ Category

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Health Insurers Must Provide “Plain English” Summaries of Benefits, Coverage

February 13th, 2012 by Cheryl Miller

Transparency and clarity are the objectives in HHS’s “Plain English” ruling on health plan benefits and coverage. Under the rule, health insurers must provide consumers with simple, understandable summaries about their plans. Roughly 150 million Americans have private health insurance today, and should benefit from the ruling. More on this in our feature story.

Transparency is also a key objective in CMS’s new data for its Hospital Compare Web site consumers can now access hospital infection rates at the more than 4700 hospitals listed. According to the CMS, hospital-acquired infections result in thousands of deaths each year and nearly $700 million in added costs to the U.S. healthcare system.

Healthcare costs are key to a recent study from Virginia Commonwealth University, which finds that the managed care medical home for the uninsured will help curb costs and reduce ER visits for the uninsured. The study, which focused on nearly 27,000 uninsured adults over a seven-year period, found that when they had access to regular healthcare their ED visits and inpatient admissions declined, while their primary care visits increased. Researchers concluded that savings in healthcare costs were cut by nearly half.

And lastly, costs are also key to a recent Rand Corporation study on declining prescription drug costs. While costs on brand name drugs have decreased because of increased purchases of generic drugs, drug costs in general remain a hardship for many American families.

Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Avoidable ER Use, Behavioral Health, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Prescription Drugs, Reducing Readmissions | No Comments »

Snowboarder Video As Much About Miracles as Helmet Safety

January 24th, 2012 by Patricia Donovan

Spoiler: This video has a happy ending. But not all athletes participating in extreme sports are so lucky. Last week’s tragic death of Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke underscores the physical risks these athletes face each time they “strap in.”

The fact remains that in 2009, hospital emergency rooms, doctors’ offices, and clinics treated 353,346 injuries related to these winter sports activities, according to a position paper by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS). The medical, legal, work loss and pain and suffering costs were more than $9.28 billion.

Know any “shredders” who think helmets aren’t cool? You might want to share this video with them.

The newly released film Moving Forward chronicles the recovery to date of Danny Toumarkine, a professional snowboarder from New Hampshire who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) while snowboarding in Montana on a film trip in January 2011. (Full disclosure: My nephew Tom is the human greeting card in the video.) After a grueling year of multiple brain surgeries, physical rehabilitation and sheer determination, Danny was able to return to the slopes to “ride” this month.

Danny wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time he was injured, but this video is a convincing argument for the use of “brain buckets” in any type of riding. Sarah Burke was, and there is no indication at this time that equipment played any part in her injury and subsequent death. According to the AAOS position paper, the National Ski Patrol recommends wearing a helmet while skiing or snowboarding:

Studies show that helmets offer considerably less protection for serious head injury to snow riders traveling more than 12-14 mph. Safety and conscientious skiing and riding should be considered the most important factors to prevent injury, while helmets provide a second line of defense against head injuries.

Snowboarders face greater risks, the paper continues:

The 1999 CPSC evaluation of snow skiing and snowboarding-related head injuries found that snow boarders are 30 percent more likely to have a significant head injury than skiers. One of the most common causes of injury is collision with fixed objects, such as trees. More than 40 percent of the annually reported snow skiing and snowboarding-related head injuries could have been prevented or minimized with helmet use.

And even for helmet-wearing athletes, speed is a considerable factor in the severity of a head injury:

The purpose of the helmet is to partially absorb the force and dissipate the energy of blunt trauma in an effort to protect the head. While helmets do not decrease the risk of injury, they can decrease the severity. A study found 15 skull fractures among 27 fatal head injuries. Six of these fractures were depressed, suggesting that protective gear may be of benefit. Several studies in Sweden show that the use of helmets has reduced head injuries by approximately 50 percent.

More detail on Danny’s yearlong struggle is chronicled in the Danny is the Bomb blog created by his brother Conor to keep friends and family abreast of Danny’s condition, to accept donations for Danny’s medical expenses and to raise helmet and TBI awareness in action sports.

Posted in Avoidable ER Use, Healthcare Costs, Wellness/Prevention | No Comments »

Two Medical Home Approaches Behind $1 Billion in N.C. Medicaid Savings

January 9th, 2012 by Patricia Donovan

Aggressive care management and preventive care saved North Carolina Medicaid nearly $1 billion over four years, according to a new analysis by Milliman Inc., a national healthcare consulting firm.

This latest report of savings in the Tar Heel State from patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) links the cost reductions to reduced hospital admissions, readmissions and emergency room visits, many of which are avoided when patient care is managed more efficiently.

The savings update was announced in a press release this week by the office of the state’s office governor, Bev. Perdue.

To provide medical homes, the state continues to partner with the Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC), a nonprofit group of local healthcare provider networks that provide and coordinate care for Medicaid recipients. The 14 regional CCNC networks since 1998 have pooled their resources for technological and administrative purposes, which not only saves operational costs but also provides opportunities for cooperation and collaboration throughout the networks.

With financial support from The Commonwealth Fund, CCNC has created a 16-module toolkit on constructing a medical home approach for vulnerable and high-cost populations.

The modules span everything from program development and rollout to IT support and informatics to establishing a network pharmacist program. There are also modules dedicated to a pregnancy medical home, integration of behavioral health and other populations.

CCNC has also created a workbook and resources for organizations pursuing recognition as a patient-centered medical home.

The Milliman report found that the key to the success of medical homes approach is a strong emphasis on preventative care, and aggressive care management. Although the cost of frequent office visits and treatment of newly diagnosed conditions adds to program costs initially, the reduction of emergency room visits and hospital admissions, as well as capturing of efficiencies and improving quality of care, results in significant savings and better health for the recipient.

The report by the San Diego-based accounting firm examined the impact of the state’s support for primary care medical homes – a system to coordinate healthcare for Medicaid recipients. Milliman’s report, which was required by the General Assembly, found that recipients with a medical home get better care and consumed fewer Medicaid resources than those who lack a medical home. From fiscal year 2007-2010, N.C. Medicaid avoided spending $984 million by having 1.1 million of its members enrolled into medical homes. In just the last two fiscal years of the study – 2009 and 2010 – $677 million was saved.

As N.C. Medicaid enrolled higher numbers of its members into a CCNC medical home, Milliman found annual savings increased—$103 million in fiscal year 2007 (July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007); $204 million in FY 2008; $295 million in FY 2009; and $382 million in FY 2010.

Milliman also reported that N.C. Medicaid is on a successful path to decrease cost by enrolling aged, blind or disabled (ABD) members into a medical home. Those Medicaid populations are generally the least healthy overall and costliest to treat. Enrollment into medical homes initially would add to the cost of caring for them but pays off in the long term. Indeed, Milliman found that in FY 2006, medical home enrollment of ABD populations cost the state an additional $82 million. But by FY 2010, enrollment of ABD Medicaid recipients into medical homes had paid off with the state avoiding $53 million in costs.

Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Avoidable ER Use, Case Management, Disease Management, Healthcare Costs, Patient-Centered Medical Home | No Comments »

Hospital Initiative, GE-Microsoft Collaboration Target Healthcare-Acquired Conditions

December 19th, 2011 by Cheryl Miller

Hospitals are the targets of two of our stories this week: an initiative and collaboration both aimed at reducing the millions of preventable injuries and complications arising from hospital-acquired infections (HAI.) Ironically, this refuge for the sick is making people sicker; in the United States alone, an estimated 1.7 million HAIs occur annually, resulting in $35 billion in additional healthcare costs, and the loss of nearly 100,000 lives. As we reported in an earlier story this year, a University of Maryland report found that nearly half of the hospital rooms of patients who tested positive for a multi-drug resistant bacteria were contaminated with the bacteria.

In response to this, hospitals across the country will now have the resources and support to reduce HAIs: the HHS has launched a new initiative called the Hospital Engagement Network. Part of the Partnership for Patients initiative, a nationwide public-private collaboration to improve healthcare, $218 million will be awarded to 26 state, regional, national, and hospital system organizations to help develop learning collaboratives for hospitals and provide a wide array of initiatives and activities to improve patient safety.

And a new collaboration between GE Healthcare and Microsoft is tackling this problem by pulling together data from disparate IT systems and identifying those patients most at risk for a given HAI. Hopefully their solutions will enable healthcare organizations to more effectively deploy their resources and deliver better care at lower costs.

And on a local level, a new ER unit designed solely for seniors is in place in HIN’s backyard, at New Jersey’s Monmouth Medical Center. To ease the increasingly complex needs of those 65 and up, the unit has special age-related features like wall sconces with dimmers and floor lighting to prevent falls. More in this issue.

In other news, a new study shows that disease registries can improve health outcomes and save the United States billions of dollars. Research on 13 registries in five countries, including the United States and Sweden, shows that these tools are becoming even more important under healthcare reform as payments for care are linked to effective treatments. According to our 2011 Survey on patient registries, 68 percent of respondents are using registries to improve care quality.

And lastly, a new report from Deloitte reveals that the majority of physicians do not think that PPACA will reduce costs by increasing efficiency, and they are predicting a continued shortage in primary care physicians as they seek administrative roles in health plans, hospitals and other settings.

These stories and more, in this week’s issue of Healthcare Business Weekly Update.

Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Affordable Care Act, Avoidable ER Use, Disease Management, Health IT, Healthcare Administration, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Trends, Hospital Readmissions, Transitions in Care, Uncategorized | No Comments »

5 Key Trends for Physicians in 2012

December 12th, 2011 by Cheryl Miller

More than half of today’s physicians believe that healthcare reform will not improve patient care, according to a new trends report from the Physicians Foundation. The changing healthcare landscape is also pushing the majority of physicians to leave primary care practices for hospitals and group practices. These and other trends detailed in this issue.

Children with special healthcare needs are less likely to receive care that meets the criteria for having a medical home, according to a new national report from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the first such report on this segment of the population and its counterparts: children without special needs. These children are also being exposed to less than ideal conditions at home; secondhand smoke and poor nutrition are just two situations cited in the report, which based their data on a national survey of more than 90,000 children in the United States.

Depression and diabetes can trigger dementia within three to five years of diagnosis, say researchers from the University of Washington and Kaiser Permanente. Contributors to the study, among the first and largest to date to examine dementia in diabetes patients with and without depression, hope these findings will ultimately slow the advent of dementia.

The CMS has issued a final rule that will give qualified organizations access to health claims data that can help them identify high quality healthcare providers, or create online tools to help consumers make educated healthcare choices. The final rule makes a number of important changes from the original proposed rule, one of them being that data is less costly than previously thought for qualified entities.

And we wanted to make you aware of our new complimentary e-book on the use of embedded case managers in healthcare, a trend embraced by Geisinger, Aetna, CDPHP, Advocate Physician Partners, Marshfield Clinic, Bon Secours and others. This downloadable e-book provides some early metrics on the emerging trend of placing case managers alongside care teams in physician practices and describes some of the benefits that can result.

These stories and more in this week’s issue of Healthcare Business Weekly Update.

Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Affordable Care Act, Avoidable ER Use, Behavioral Health, Healthcare Trends, Patient-Centered Medical Home | No Comments »

Got an Idea? CMS Offers $1 Billion in Health Care Innovation Challenge

November 28th, 2011 by Cheryl Miller

The CMS continues to reward innovation in healthcare; the latest initiative, the New Health Care Innovation Challenge, plans to award up to $1 billion in grant money to organizations that come up with creative ways to deliver healthcare, improve care and lower costs. The agency will take notice of projects that can be up and running within six months and that can hire, train and deploy workers rapidly. Funded by the PPACA, it’s a push for both creative healthcare solutions and increased healthcare job opportunities in as short amount of time as possible, contrary to the Innovation Advisors initiative launched in October, which seeks healthcare solutions over a year long, labor intensive period. All segments of the healthcare industry are encouraged to apply for the Innovation Challenge; December 19th is the cut off date for LOIs.

A quick, innovative, effective solution is also needed to alter the latest statistics on diabetes furnished by the IDF on World Diabetes Day (November 14th): studies show that one adult in 10 will have diabetes by 2030. Far too many are already afflicted with the preventable disease, including 78,000 children suffering with type 1; this despite the fact that the greatest number of diabetics fall within 40 to 59 years of age. The IDF is hoping that continued international awareness of this problem will help; and the agency is in the midst of a five-year campaign to promote diabetes education and prevention programs. Ironically, the CMS cited one health system that worked with community partners to decrease the risk of diabetes with nutrition programs as inspiration for its Healthcare Challenge initiative. Food for thought.

Another area of concern is the number of seniors receiving the wrong medication during their home healthcare visits. The Journal of General Medicine recently published a study stating that nearly 40 percent of patients 65 and over are prescribed potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) at rates three times higher that patients who visit a medical office. Some of the blame can be placed on our fragmented healthcare system, researchers said: home health-based patients see multiple physicians who don’t communicate with each other, resulting in the wrong medication. Perhaps most troubling about this study is that the majority of these patients are taking 11 medications on average, and nearly half of them are taking at least one PIM, researchers say.

And lastly, one quick fix that should boost care access for patients: a new clinical affiliation between CVS Minute Clinics and Emory Healthcare. The stand alone clinics are open seven days a week in select areas throughout metropolitan Atlanta and have nurse practitioners on hand to administer wellness and preventive services and tend to common family illnesses. Patients who need care not provided at the clinics will be referred to Emory Healthcare. Both CVS and Emory hope to streamline the process with the use of EMR systems. These stories and more in this week’s issue of Healthcare Business Weekly Update.

Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Avoidable ER Use, Bundled Payments, Disease Management, Health IT, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Trends, Hospital Readmissions, Uncategorized, Wellness/Prevention | No Comments »

Mini Medical Homes Open Door to Disease-Based Patient-Centered Care

November 22nd, 2011 by Patricia Donovan

Call it Medical Homes 2.0: disease-specific ‘mini’ medical homes for high-risk, high cost patients with chronic diseases.

“We do see a trend right now with the medical home; especially in the Medicare area where the patient is assessed up front,” noted Steve T. Valentine during HIN’s eighth annual healthcare industry forecast. This approach generally focuses on but is not limited to the ‘big five’ chronic diseases: ischemic heart disease, diabetes, COPD, asthma and heart failure, Valentine said.

“For example, let’s just pick diabetics and move them into their own mini medical home. They would have a multidisciplinary team focused around those complex patients,” said the president of The Camden Group. “We see that as a bigger change that’s beginning to come. This model does help with throughput in terms of primary care in the medical home.

“A focus on population management and delivering superior value become critical strategies as we begin to move forward,” Valentine predicted during the healthcare publisher’s annual industry forecast.

The disease-specific approach is gaining followers as the industry navigates away from a fee-for-service environment toward a more evidence-based, protocol-driven approach that rewards not only clinical outcomes but an organization’s ability to deliver value-based healthcare.

HealthCare Partners Medical Group of California, which is experiencing its lowest hospital readmission rates in its history, uses a predictive modeling tool, a dollar tool predictor, and a hierarchical condition categories (HCC) or HCC-like modeling tool to risk-stratify their patients before placing them in the medical home that best suits their needs, explains Dr. Stuart Levine, corporate medical director.

This could be hospice and palliative care, or a home care program where teams of physicians, nurse practitioners, case managers and social workers take care of chronically frail patients at home, meeting all of their needs, Dr. Levine said.

HealthCarePartners also has a medical home program for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). “All patients are seen at the dialysis center, and that’s where their medical home is. They no longer come into offices. They are seen by nurse practitioners with backup nephrologists.

“They’re not only getting their renal disease managed, but way more importantly, they’re getting all their primary care needs met.”

Some diabetes-focused medical homes are being constructed with a little help from corporate sponsors. The GE Foundation recently awarded a $3M grant to establish a Care Management Medical Home Center for 10,000 Miami Dade patients suffering from chronic diabetes and its costly and debilitating side effects. The grant is part of the GE Foundation’s Developing Health initiative.

The grant will enable Health Choice Network of Florida and its seven participating health centers to provide a centralized model staffed with medical professionals who will assist the health center teams in providing high quality, effective and efficient care management services that will decrease costly hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

In addition to the new jobs the funding will add, the center will leverage existing data warehouse infrastructure and electronic medical records to deploy real-time disease-specific patient panels, identify health trends and expects to improve diabetic patient outcomes by 10 to 20 percent in the first year.

The Camden (N.J.) Coalition of Healthcare Providers and the Cooper Foundation will receive $3.45 million over five years from the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Foundation to strengthen community-based components of its Camden Citywide Diabetes Collaborative care model by focusing on patient self-management, education and support, care coordination, food access and physical activity programs, and behavioral health and community engagement activities in order to bend the curve of the diabetes burden and healthcare costs in the city.

One of the goals of the diabetes collaborative is to Increase the capacity of community-based, primary care practices to provide comprehensive, proactive care to their patients with diabetes.

The Camden collaborative was one of eight organizations to receive grants from the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Foundation grants.

The mini medical home approach is not limited to the big five chronic diseases. Last week, Priority Health and Cancer and Hematology Centers of West Michigan (CHCWM) announced their intention to jointly explore an innovative oncology patient-centered medical home. The goal of the oncology medical home is to integrate and coordinate the many office visits, medical professionals, high-tech services and care decisions encountered by cancer patients to help streamline their care while ensuring better outcomes, Priority Health said in a press release.

“This project is a natural evolution of our extensive experience with medical homes,” said John Fox, M.D., Priority Health’s associate vice president of medical affairs. “Cancer patients experience complex medical needs and rely on an extensive network of interdisciplinary healthcare specialists. Having a medical home can ensure cancer patients receive optimal care.”

Both organizations have agreed to payment reforms and care enhancements. Under this new model, oncologists will be paid a care management fee and will share in savings resulting from reductions in emergency room visits, imaging and hospitalizations. Current fee structures pay physicians based on the costs of drugs administered, which results in higher payments for more costly drugs, not necessarily the physician’s time, expertise or resource utilization.

The care management fee will go directly for patient support services, such as end-of-life and financial counseling, case management, medication therapy management, survivorship programs and social work services.

Posted in Avoidable ER Use, Bundled Payments, Disease Management, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Physician Practices, Reducing Readmissions | No Comments »

NCQA Launches ACO Accreditation Program

November 21st, 2011 by Cheryl Miller

Following a period of public comment, the NCQA launches its ACO accreditation program today. According to the NCQA, ACO accreditation is an independent evaluation of healthcare delivery organizations’ ability to coordinate the high-quality, efficient, patient-centered care expected of ACOs. The program provides a roadmap for provider-led organizations to demonstrate their ability to reach the triple aim: reduce cost, improve quality and enhance the patient experience.

According to PwC’s recent annual report on the top issues facing the health industry in 2012, healthcare and the national deficit rank equally as the second most pressing election concern after job creation on the minds of the American public.

The economy made a major impact on the minds of respondents to our own ongoing survey, Healthcare Trends for 2012, with one respondent stating that “Businesses still faced major economic issues and as a result either closed their doors, downsized their staff or significantly reduced benefits.” You can still voice your opinion on the state of the healthcare industry in our survey; all participants receive a free, downloadable copy of the executive summary once our responses are compiled.

CMS continues its Million Hearts initiative with expanded coverage for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Medicare will now cover one face-to-face visit each year to allow patients and their providers to determine the best way to prevent cardiovascular disease, according to the CMS. The initiative aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in the United States by 2017.

Effective October 13, 2013, healthcare entities must have updated the codes they use regarding diseases and conditions from ICD-9 to ICD-10. It’s a long, involved process, which is why Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) has developed an ICD-10 transitional roadmap, in order to help other organizations reduce the time and effort of implementation. But it’s a necessary process: organizations not ready by the transition date will not be reimbursed for claims. More in this issue of the Healthcare Business Weekly Update.

The mHealth revolution continues, with two out of three healthcare providers saying they will continue to embrace mobile technology, in particular, EMR/EHR systems. Future uses for telemedicine, which garnered only lukewarm interest from survey respondents, include videoconferencing for patient interaction.

Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Affordable Care Act, Avoidable ER Use, Hospital Readmissions, Medication Management, Reducing Readmissions, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Q&A: How Ohio Reduces Avoidable ER Visits by Medicaid Beneficiaries

November 10th, 2011 by Jessica Papay

An Ohio collaborative of Medicaid plans uses a rapid cycle quality improvement approach to reduce avoidable ER visits by its Medicaid population. In an interview prior to her presentation on Reducing Avoidable ER Visits by Medicaid Patients Through Quality-Based Interventions, Mina Chang, PH.D., provided details on the effort. Dr. Chang works for the Bureau of Health Services Research for the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.

HIN: Why were these particular regions of Ohio chosen for the study?

(Dr. Mina Chang): The reason we focused on urban centers is that that’s where the hospital system is located. It’s high volume. We work with each of the regions and with about 30-40 healthcare leaders. It’s a local driven initiative. This group of participants would help us identify key populations that are unique, or a priority population that potentially can benefit from reducing avoidable visits. This group would also help Ohio Medicaid develop and test prevention or quality interventions that are meaningful for those populations that would be identified.

HIN: One of the five regions in the collaborative is Toledo, Ohio, which has the highest emergency department utilization in the nation. What methodology is used to reverse this trend?

(Dr. Mina Chang): We follow a methodology developed by the Institute for Health Care Improvement. It’s population-based and patient-centered. What is attractive about this methodology is that it adopted a rapid cycle, quality improvement approach that typically is focused on a very small subset of a population. With this methodology, you develop a quality improvement strategy and test it out until something is found to be effective. Then, you can in turn extend it to a larger population. It’s very different from a traditional research approach, where as you have to wait four to five years to find out that your investment has not worked.

HIN: How did you identify the priority populations for these interventions?

(Dr. Mina Chang): State Medicaid data has confirmed with what our practitioners see day in and day out in their practice. Medicaid populations predominantly are children. Many high-utilizers are upper respiratory tract infections and otitis media types of issues.

Posted in Avoidable ER Use, Healthcare Administration, Healthcare Trends, Hospital Readmissions, Physician Practices, Reducing Readmissions, Uncategorized | No Comments »

ACO Final Rule Accompanied by Advance Payments for Care Coordination Tools

October 24th, 2011 by Cheryl Miller

The anxiously awaited final rule on accountable care organizations (ACOs) for Medicare beneficiaries is finally out. Based on the more than 1300 comments CMS received on its proposed ACO ruling first released in March, this new rule will make it easier to establish ACOs by providing organizations with additional funding for support tools, such as new staff or information technology systems. Under this new initiative, the Advanced Payment Model, these payments would be recovered from any future shared savings.

The second initiative, the Medicare Shared Savings Program, will provide incentives for healthcare providers who agree to work together and become accountable for coordinating care for patients. Participants who meet certain quality standards based upon, among other measures, patient outcomes and care coordination among the provider team, may share in savings they achieve for the Medicare program. Both initiatives launched on October 20th.

The United States earned low marks in healthcare access and affordability in the Commonwealth Fund’s third annual scorecard report. According to the report, the nation received a 64 out of a possible 100 when compared to best performers. Among the findings that contributed to the score were the percentage of overweight or obese children (32 percent), the number of prescription errors among elderly Medicare beneficiaries (one out of four) and the percentage of adults that reported not having a primary care provider in 2008 (44 percent).

Despite the low scores in key quality indicators, the United States is doing something right in the area of heart failure (HF) care. New research from the Yale School of Medicine shows that hospitalization rates for HF dropped by 30 percent from 1998 to 2008. One year mortality rates also dropped slightly during this period. HF ranks as the most frequent cause of hospitalization and re-hospitalization among older Americans, with related costs estimated at $39.2 billion in 2010.

In other news, 46 percent of physician practices do not meet NCQA standards for medical homes. The news, from a recent University of Michigan-led study, found that while larger, multi-specialty practice groups can more easily meet the standards, one in nine Americans receive healthcare from smaller, often solo practices. Researchers recommend initiatives to help these smaller practices team up with larger organizations to establish more medical homes.

More than 50 percent of physicians and hospitals are looking at ways to team up, a trend that is causing medical malpractice concerns. Aon’s 12th annual Hospital and Physician Professional Liability Benchmark Analysis states that healthcare systems will face significant risk management challenges associated with integrated physician-hospital arrangements. The study details the growth of integrated self-insurance strategies and highlights the challenges faced by systems as they pursue the cost of risk savings.

And lastly, what are you doing to staunch the flow and expense of avoidable emergency department use? Describe your efforts in this area by October 31 and you will receive a free executive summary of results from this second annual survey. These stories and more in this week’s issue of Healthcare Business Weekly Update.

Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Affordable Care Act, Avoidable ER Use, Health IT, Healthcare Administration, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Quality Ratings, Healthcare Trends, Hospital Readmissions, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Physician Practices, Reducing Readmissions, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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