When common medical procedures are performed in a hospital outpatient department (HOPD) rather than a doctor’s office, costs are substantially higher, according to a national analysis of tens of millions of claims.
Social isolation and loneliness among seniors has become a prevalent issue, so much so that the Elevance Health Public Policy Institute has issued a white paper showing that this trend can have negative impacts on seniors’ health, such as increasing the likelihood of depression, dementia, heart disease, stroke and even death.
Despite being able to be reimbursed for telehealth services at the higher facility rate for another year, providers are frequently billing for these virtual visits at a lower level-of-service code, Epic Research has found.
Security education and auditing can help healthcare organizations defend against insider data breaches, according to Dr. Eric Liederman, director of medical informatics at Kaiser Permanente.
Technology and IT has emerged as an important strategic priority for healthcare institutions, with a new Bain and Company report showing that providers are increasingly accelerating their spending on IT and software.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston have announced plans to collaborate on cancer care and build an independent, free-standing inpatient hospital for adult cancer patients.
Hospitals in California are being warned not to violate state law on staffing levels or face fines. New state policy narrows the circumstances under which hospitals can claim “unpredictable circumstances” for violating the mandate.
Dr. Benoit Desjardins, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, discusses ways hackers can access medical records from understaffed healthcare organizations – and how those organizations can best mitigate their cyber risk.
Burnout among doctors and nurses has been well documented in recent years, but physician assistants are also susceptible to this trend, with a National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants survey showing that 30% have at least one symptom of burnout, while almost 8% say they plan to leave the profession within the next year.
The biggest factors influencing retention in the fast-moving, competitive Medicare Advantage market are trust and the ability to resolve problems or complaints, according to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Medicare Advantage Study.