Readmissions Management Experts

Pharmacy May Be The Answer To Reducing Healthcare Costs

2017-04-02T13:28:16-04:00By |Financial, Financial Analysis, Readmissions, Revenue Cycle Improvement|

Back in March, we talked about how the role of the pharmacist in the healthcare ecosystem has been expanding over the past decade. In addition to simple medication fulfillment, pharmacist now complete crucial patient aftercare, education, and vaccination administration. Many believe as the role of the pharmacist expands, they could become the key to reducing all kinds of healthcare costs. Here are three ways pharmacy is helping save costs for healthcare.

5 Ways The Expanding Role of the Pharmacist Is Changing Healthcare

2023-08-12T16:43:24-04:00By |Accreditation, Financial, Readmissions, Revenue Cycle Improvement, Strategic Planning|

The role of the pharmacist in the healthcare industry has been expanding over the past decade, from simple medication fulfillment to crucial patient aftercare, education, and administering vaccinations. 2015 has already seen big changes within the healthcare industry and we predict that the role of the pharmacist will only expand more.

Hospital Acquired Infections are Down–But Is It Enough?

2017-04-02T13:28:22-04:00By |Healthcare Preventitive Care, Readmissions, Strategic Planning|

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.

2015 Means an Increase in Medicare Penalties for Readmissions

2017-04-02T13:28:22-04:00By |Readmissions, Uncategorized|

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.

Hospital Readmissions Are Costing Us $26 Billion Annually

2017-04-02T13:28:26-04:00By |Clinical Analysis, Health Care Reform, Readmissions, Services|

Healthcare has become something of a hard science, if the focus on data and numbers is any indication. It would seem that the research, the endless reporting and spreadsheets of healthcare administration, has served to at least shed light on the problems healthcare is currently facing as an industry - but the fix isn’t likely to be in black and white.

Why is Behavioral Health Integration so Rare?

2017-04-02T13:28:28-04:00By |Behavioral Health Integration, Readmissions, Services|

When we think of costly health conditions, the first that comes to mind for many is cancer. Treatment costs alone can bottom out even the best insurance plans. But did you know that behavior health conditions cost just as much per year as cancer? At a whopping $57 million per year, behavioral health conditions are one of the most costly health conditions in the United States today. While behavioral health conditions are rampant, they often don’t get as much attention as their more physical counterparts. Research tells us that mental health woes like anxiety and depression can greatly worsen, or at the very least contribute to, chronic pain conditions and even affect the length of our lives - but these conditions are often not diagnosed and treated effectively, or, in conjunction with the other comorbidities of a particular patient with complex health needs.

A Three Pronged Approach to Organizational Analysis

2017-04-02T13:28:30-04:00By |Accountable Care Organizations, Clinical Analysis, Financial Analysis, Managed Care, Medicare and Medicaid, Operational Analysis, Organizational Analysis, Readmissions, Services|

When was the last time your organization performed a SWOT analysis? If you aren’t familiar with SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) it’s a widely used strategy in many industries, not just healthcare, for identifying areas for improvement. You can break SWOT down even further: Strengths: What sets your hospital apart from all the rest? What can you offer that makes you competitive? Weaknesses: What puts your hospital and employees at a disadvantage compared to other hospitals? What of these factors can you change? Opportunities: How can you show your strengths to others? Threats: What could cause big trouble for your hospital or employees?

One Year Since CMS Cracked Down on Readmissions | Where Are We Now?

2017-04-02T13:28:31-04:00By |Care Coordination, Clinical Analysis, Health Care Reform, Physician Compensation, Quality Improvement Programs, Readmissions, Services, Telehealth and Telemedicine|

October 1st of last year, CMS cracked down on readmission rates for hospitals nationwide, handing out millions of dollars in penalties. The Affordable Care Act put these measures into place in order to curb the problem of readmissions, which are not only costly, but reflect an overall poor population health in the U.S. - especially for those patients with chronic conditions. For FY ‘14, 2% was withheld from payments per the guidelines for penalties. By 2015, the rate of withholding for penalties is expected to top 3%. In addition to the higher payments, there will also be additional diagnoses included in the readmission criteria list - it began with heart attacks, pneumonia and heart failure and will now expand to include COPD and complications from chronic lung conditions.

7 Ways to Reduce ER Admissions / Re-admissions

2017-04-02T13:28:33-04:00By |Clinical Analysis, Operational Analysis, Readmissions, Services|

For many hospitals, the emergency room is the busiest place for both staff and patients. Overcrowding, long wait times and inefficient care plague a lot of U.S. hospitals and there is a growing need for solutions. Not only is the overutilization costing money, but it is affecting patient satisfaction scores, meaning that hospitals aren’t meeting their annual measures. Of course, there are times in the life of any emergency room, when it’s unavoidably busy: during summer months, hospitals that are in prime vacation areas need to plan for an influx of one-time patients. In the event of a disaster or outbreak of communicable illnesses in a community, utilization of emergency room services are certain to skyrocket. But what about in general, when physicians find that they are treating patients who, ultimately, do not need emergency services - meaning that patients who do are left in a lurch?

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