In today’s healthcare ecosystem, every health system, hospital and physician is being asked to do more with less. Healthcare providers face increasing pressure to manage revenue, optimize utilization and reduce costs. At the same time, they must also fulfill their primary duties: preventing illness, optimizing care and improving patient outcomes. From clinical decision support systems […]
Hospitals are ramping up recruitment and retention strategies as they navigate ongoing workforce shortages and rising expenses. A majority of hospital leaders have increased starting salaries and introduced signing bonuses to attract new employees. The 2022 Healthcare Performance Improvement Report, based on responses from 86 hospital and health system leaders across the U.S., highlights the […]
Digital transformation accelerated in the last few years and CIOs have elevated responsibility as strategic business leaders for their organizations. Learn how CIOs are thinking about their role, and building teams, at the Becker’s 7th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM event in Chicago, Oct. 4 to 7. The event brought together thousands […]
The ED-ICU model has the potential to improve the value of healthcare delivery, as it has been shown to improve care quality and have little impact on emergency department costs. Total cost per emergency department (ED) patient encounter remained unchanged at an academic medical center after it implemented an emergency department-based intensive care unit (ED-ICU), […]
Healthcare policies and rules are continuously changing, and it’s important to stay on top of what all insurance carriers are doing and how their changes impact your practice’s revenue cycle. This, as well as managing your accounts receivable (A/R), is the best way to ensure your cash flow does not bottleneck and cause damage to […]
Medicare overpayments totaled $39.3 million between September 2016 and December 2021, but most of those improper payments occurred before CMS corrected its system edits error in May 2019. CMS system edits helped reduce Medicare overpayments to acute care hospitals for outpatient services provided to beneficiaries who were inpatients of other facilities, a report from the […]
The potential Medicare payment cuts for 2023 reflect the proposed 4.5 percent decrease in the Medicare conversion factor and the 4 percent PAYGO sequester. As medical groups expect to see Medicare payment cuts in 2023, practices are considering limiting the number of new Medicare patients and reducing clinical staff to ensure financial stability, according to […]
An 8.5% cut to Medicare payments could affect patient care in medical practices across the country. Reducing charity care, new Medicare patients, staff, and locations all are among the effects projected if Congress does not act on 2023 reimbursement levels, according to a new study by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). The findings came […]
Health systems that used automation for revenue cycle operations had an average cost-to-collect of 3.51 percent compared to 3.74 percent for those that did not use automation. Using automation for revenue cycle operations could lower hospital and health systems’ cost-to-collect by 0.25 percent, according to a survey from the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). The […]
The proposed outpatient payment updates for 2023, including the 2.7 percent reimbursement increase, do not reflect the inflationary environment in which hospitals are operating. When commenting on the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System proposed rule for calendar year (CY) 2023, the American Hospital Association (AHA) supported […]