Clinical Analysis Archives - Page 10 of 12 - BHM Healthcare Solutions Experts in Clinical Data Management

3 Steps for Successful EHR Implementation

2017-04-02T13:28:34-04:00By BHM Marketing|Clinical Analysis, Clinical Operations Improvement, Compliance|

Lately there have been a number of changes in the healthcare industry that are targeted to provide quality healthcare to patients. Adapting to these changes is critical to the viability and profitability of your medical practice. 1. Implement Electronic Health Record (EHR) system If you haven’t adopted the electronic health record system, then now is the final call to do it. The government has announced July 1, 2014 deadline for physicians to implement EHR system or they will penalized beginning in 2015. Through implementation of electronic health records, physicians will be able to have complete access to comprehensive and accurate information, which will enable them to provide improved and quality medical care to patients. According to government statistics, providers using the EHR system have reported: •94% physicians said with EHR patient records are available every time •88% report EHR benefits clinical procedures of practice •75% providers reported improved patient care

Good Medicine Is More Than an HCAHPS Score

2017-04-02T13:28:34-04:00By BHM Marketing|Clinical Analysis, Clinical Operations Improvement, Quality Improvement Programs, Services|

Improving patient satisfaction is a laudable and necessary goal for any hospital, particularly when revenue is at risk based on patients’ opinions regarding quality of care. But patient satisfaction measures should not be confused with good medicine – a nobler objective that delivers richer results. Scores on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) can bring bonuses to hospitals that do well on the survey. Those that don’t may risk losing some Medicare funding under the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program. So it’s understandable that hospitals care a great deal about HCAHPS. But the survey scores should not be seen as a proxy for good medicine.

8 Healthcare Provider Pain Points | What Are Your Pain Points?

2017-04-02T13:28:36-04:00By BHM Marketing|Clinical Analysis, Financial Analysis, Operational Analysis, Services|

What are your healthcare provider pain points? What are you doing to overcome them? What advice can you offer your colleagues? From a provider perspective, healthcare, as we know it, is changing rapidly. At times your head might be spinning when you think about the impacts of the Affordable Care Act as well as other healthcare legislation. How can you be sure the priorities you have established will help you comply and meet all established deadlines? What do you feel are the most critical pain points you are facing? You may be a physician’s office, you may be a hospital or healthcare system, you may be a rehab facility. All of these providers are experiencing similar issues, which vary from one degree to another. Let’s delve into a few of these.

6 Healthcare IT Pain Points | What Are Your Pain Points?

2017-04-02T13:28:37-04:00By BHM Marketing|Big Data, Clinical Analysis, Financial Analysis, Health Care Reform, Operational Analysis, Services, Telehealth and Telemedicine|

Healthcare technology is changing faster than most organizations can keep up. What are you doing to comply? Healthcare technology is a rapidly changing field. Some of the changes are required to comply with current regulations while others are to gain a competitive advantage. Lets’ delve into a few of these areas.

5 Healthcare Payer Pain Points | What Are Your Pain Points?

2017-04-02T13:28:37-04:00By BHM Marketing|Clinical Analysis, Financial Analysis, Organizational Analysis, Services|

As a payer, what type of pain points are you facing? How are you overcoming these challenges? With the onset of the ACA and other healthcare regulation, payers are experiencing many issues. Complying with these regulations is both cumbersome and costly. What pain points are you experiencing as a payer? Exchanges Healthcare exchanges became effective October 1, 2013. These exchanges are basically marketplaces where individuals can shop for insurance in one place - comparing plans, costs, and benefits. Many payers jumped on the bandwagon and joined the exchanges.

7 Ways to Improve Your Readmission Rates

2017-04-02T13:28:37-04:00By BHM Marketing|Care Coordination, Clinical Analysis, Health Care Reform, Readmissions, Services|

As most of us are aware, readmissions is a hot topic, especially in terms of the penalties assessed for readmission rates which are excessive. What can you do to reduce or eliminate your readmission rates? There has been a lot of talk about readmissions (avoidable), specifically the healthcare costs associated with them and the effects on the quality of patient care being provided. In order to crack down on these avoidable readmissions, CMS created the Readmissions Reduction Program. The premise of the program is to ding hospitals, with higher than average readmissions (readmitted within 30 days of discharge), by assessing penalties against overall Medicare payments. There has been a lot of hoopla surrounding the program, with many criticisms being cited, such as treating all hospitals alike, not accounting for socioeconomic factors, and the way the penalty is calculated.

Are You Ready for 2015 Readmission Penalties?

2017-04-02T13:28:37-04:00By BHM Marketing|Clinical Analysis, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, Readmissions, Services|

What are you doing to make sure you are not one of the 66% of hospitals who will be assessed readmission penalties in the next round? Can you afford the penalties which are increasing again in 2015? Are you aware of the proposed conditions to be added in 2015? What do you get when you combine Medicare, high readmissions, within a 30 day window, for specific conditions? A reduction in Medicare spending to the tune of about $280 million annually. Of interest is that penalties were assessed in 49 states, all with the exception of Maryland, who has a unique reimbursement payment system.

9 Criticisms to the Readmission Reduction Program

2017-04-02T13:28:37-04:00By BHM Marketing|Clinical Analysis, Compliance, Financial Analysis, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, Quality Improvement Programs, Readmissions, Services|

The Readmission Reduction Program is designed to reduce healthcare spending while improving quality. There are both proponents and opponents of the program. Let’s delve into the improvements that could be made to the current system. So, as most of you are aware, CMS under the direction of HHS created the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program in order to reduce healthcare spending while improving the quality of care. The program is being phased in beginning with a 3 year baseline period in which hospitals were required to report all readmissions (within 30 days). CMS assessed and analyzed all of the available readmission data to determine how penalties should be assessed, for which conditions, and excluding certain circumstances. Beginning in October 2012, penalties were assessed to over 2,200 hospitals, equating to about $280 million. The phase in included an increase in penalties from 2013 to 2015 from 1% to 3%, where it is currently capped. Initially, there were 3 conditions included: Acute Myocardial Infarction, Heart Failure, and Pneumonia. For 2015, CMS is proposing 2 additional conditions: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Elective Hip and Knee Replacements.

Reducing Overcrowding in Emergency Rooms

2017-04-02T13:28:38-04:00By BHM Marketing|Care Coordination, Clinical Analysis, Services|

Overcrowding in Emergency Rooms (ERs) has been an issue of great concern as of recent years. There are a myriad of reasons why the ERs are overcrowded and ways to overcome. Let’s have a look at them. Expand Hospital Capacity By increasing the bed capacity, overcrowding can drastically go down. When there are more beds, more emergency patients can be admitted. When the population of a country grows, then obviously the number of bed capacity should be increased to avoid overcrowding. Many times, hospitals are perpetually full with admitted patients boarded inReducing overcrowding the ERs. Boarding of inpatients in the ERs is unquestionably the leading cause of overcrowding. While this seems like a simple option, there are infrastructure, costs, and the redesign of processes, to name a few, which need to occur in order to successfully add bed capacity.

4 Level of Care Tools | Comparing Level of Care Assessment

2017-06-26T16:14:20-04:00By BHM Marketing|Clinical Analysis, Services|

What do ASAM®, LOCUS®, CALOCUS®, and InterQual® all have in common? They are all level of care assessment tools, each with a different perspective. Level of care isn’t a new concept, but has gained in popularity in recent years. A level of care is used to indicate a level of intensity or severity and determine in what type of facility specific care should be performed. It is used to make sure the patient receives the right care in the right facility at the right time.

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