To an onlooker, it's easy to mistake a robust, high-tech hospital as a stable entity; however, hospitals face a myriad of high-pressure challenges. From juggling the changing healthcare system to the source of hospital funding, the obstacles faced by hospitals can be daunting.
Do physicians make the best hospital CEOs? Should hospital CEOs come from a business background? It's a debate that has been brewing in the healthcare industry for years and it doesn't have one answer. In 2014, only 5% of hospitals were run by doctors, while the majority of hospital administrators came from outside the healthcare profession.
One of the biggest misconceptions in medicine right now, which also happens to be one of the most costly, is that the patient’s care ends when they are discharged. The truth is, often times it’s what happens (or doesn’t happen) when a patient goes home that determines their outcome. Whether they end up readmitted or not, the key metric of 2015 is one that you might not even be aware you’ve been missing.
It's easy to hear the word 'merger' and think of negative associations. We think of the big, bad companies swooping in and buying out the helpless little guy who didn't stand a chance. Right? But when it comes to hospital mergers in 2015, it doesn't always mean bad news. Mergers offer their fair share of benefits to both smaller organizations and the communities they serve. In this post, we'll examine a few ways they do just that.
Here at BHM we are predicting that 2015 will be a year of change for many healthcare systems. With this change, healthcare leaders will be faced with many challenges, including complying with new federal regulations and making strategic moves towards better care. We've compiled a list of the five biggest challenges we foresee healthcare leaders facing this year.
If you think young people are the only ones ready to embrace telemed technology and healthcare social media, think again! It might surprise you to know that the 60 + demographic of patients in the U.S. are quickly becoming the most eager to embrace the technology. With good reason: many of these patients may be housebound as a result of their chronic conditions or, at the very least, are unable to drive to the office. This group of patients is quite eager to embrace remote technology, like Skype and email, as a means of communication to their healthcare providers. It’s not uncommon for these patients to have many doctors, sometimes across several states, and having the ability to communicate effectively without necessarily having to travel is a huge draw.
A recent study showed that for the 10th year in a row, financial challenges are #1 on hospital CEO's list of concerns. More than healthcare reform, government mandates, and patient safety, the constant battle to be financially stable is the what keeps the healthcare C-suite up at night. So what factors are contributing the the financial worries? Let's take a look.
In order for hospitals to be successful in 2015, there are a few very important issues that need to be addressed. Today, we'll address 5 of the most pressing issues that will help hospitals overcome the obstacles to success.
The results are in from the early HIPAA audits by Health and Human Services (HHS). Want to know what was the major weakness found by the government’s auditors? The compliance deficiency all-to-common among healthcare practices? It was, according to HHS, “the lack of a thorough risk analysis.” Time after time, auditors would ask to see evidence that the covered entity had performed a risk analysis. And time after time, much to their dismay, the answer they heard was, “A what?”
It’s unclear whether President Obama’s request for funding to combat HAIs will be met by Congress, but regardless of whether or not the funding comes from the federal government, hospitals will need to find the money somewhere to continue investing in HAI prevention, especially as it becomes more inextricably linked with reimbursement as we march forward this year.