Since 2010 there have been 47 rural hospital closures. The reasons behind the closures vary but the message rings true, rural hospitals are struggling. With difficulties from implanting EHR to the re-evaluation of Medicare reimbursements, rural hospitals are looking for new ways to stay afloat. Here are the top 4 trends we see effecting rural hospitals in 2015.
As payment continues to become more closely linked with patient experience and patient reported outcomes, the information gleaned from assessments such as the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) will be a major area of focus for hospitals and providers in 2015. One area that has not previously been included within the HCAHPS, or any federal or statewide assessments, is the perspective of parents of pediatric patients.
For the third year in a row, Medicare will be increasing the percent penalty for hospitals who have high readmission rates: up now to 3% in 2015. Despite efforts through the ACA and readmission reductions programs, the rate of readmissions continues to rise. Initially, Medicare attempted to stifle this by forcing hospitals to be transparent about their numbers. By making the number of readmissions public, the hope was that there would be a certain accountability and hospitals would then attempt to discern why their rates were so high. When this didn’t prove to drop the rates as much as Medicare would have hoped, they tacked on a financial penalty that hospitals would need to pay if their rates continued to rise.
Many hospitals are currently asking themselves, "How can we improve our revenue cycle in 2015?" This topic is also one many C-suite executives are facing in 2015, which is proving to be another year of vast changes. Financial departments will have to stay on top of contract management, as well as planning for shifts in how payments are received. Today, we've put together a list of 5 ways healthcare providers can reboot their revenue cycles and stay ahead of those changes that impact the bottom line.
With the new roll out date of ICD-10 finally on the calendar, healthcare providers and payers alike have been preparing for the change.
In the ever-changing healthcare industry, the C-suite executives always have to be on their toes. But the best leaders are making some smart, calculated moves to stay on top of their game in 2015. These moves are not always executed easily, but those who make them help their organizations perform better and provide a higher level of patient care.
Starting October 1st, there will be a year long reporting cycle implemented for those healthcare organizations that still need to attest to Meaningful Use Stage 2. One reason for this change in the reporting timeline was simply that the vast majority of providers just aren’t ready.
Hospital mergers and acquisitions [M&A] aren’t a new concept, but in the post-Affordable Care Act world they have become a popular solution for yielding to ACA regulations. According to the American Hospital Association’s 2015 Environmental Scan “mergers, consolidations and other partnerships” will increase due to the pressures on hospitals to lower costs and achieve economic goals. Here at BHM we also think that this healthcare trend is one to watch for 2015, so we’ve pulled together some key insights for you to consider.
For quite a while now, news that a wave of HIPAA audits are on the horizon has been circulating in the healthcare scene. But this time, these audits are likely to include financial penalties for violations--new in 2015. So what areas should you be scouring to ensure you're not accidentally committing any violations? In this post, we'll take a look at what HIPAA audits could mean for your organization.
A month into 2015 and it’s already become apparent that it’s going to be a big year for healthcare IT. In the aftermath of the Ebola Outbreak — which made several touchdowns on U.S. soil— there has been an intense focus on how electronic medical records can prevent similar events from happening in the future. EMRs have consistently been tapped as hospitals work to avoid sentinel events (sometimes called “never-events” as in, they should never happen) and the prevention of an outbreak certainly qualifies as such.