Larry Beresford
News
Hospital Readmissions Rates, Medicare Penalty Analysis
April 3, 2015
A widely cited statistic in the national readmissions debate holds that one in five acute hospital discharges will lead to a readmission within 30 days.1 Associated costs are estimated at $17.5 billion, although that figure encapsulates significant variation across diagnoses, regions, and hospital m
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Technology May Offer Solutions to Hospitalists’ Readmissions Exposure
April 3, 2015
Almost weekly, a white paper, report, journal article, or press release touts a new program, software, or technology system offering to help hospitals improve their readmissions avoidance processes and penalty exposure.
News
Vermont Hospital Honored for Reducing Healthcare-Associated Infections
February 2, 2015
The University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMC), a 562-bed academic facility in Burlington, has been honored with a Partnership in Prevention award for sustainable improvements to eliminate healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The award, sponsored by the U.S.
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Hospitals Preparing for Climate Change Win Support from White House
February 2, 2015
On Dec. 15 at a White House Roundtable, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) unveiled its Sustainable and Climate Resilient Health Care Facilities Initiative [PDF], with a new guide to help health facilities enhance their resilience to extreme weather events.
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Pediatric Hospitals Identify Patient Care Benchmarks
February 2, 2015
Citing a lack of accepted benchmarks for quality improvement in pediatric hospital care, researchers described in Pediatrics their process of establishing benchmarks for the treatment of asthma, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia, three common conditions treated by pediatric hospitalists that together amo
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Fewer Hospital-Acquired Conditions Saves Estimated 50,000 Lives
February 2, 2015
Estimated total number of saved lives from 2011 to 2013 as a result of reductions in the incidence of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) in U.S. hospitals, compared with HAC rates in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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Oncology, Surgical Hospitalists Most Common as Subspecialties Gain Followers
December 16, 2014
The recent rise of specialty hospitalists, particularly in the surgery and oncology fields, has benefitted hospitals and patients alike.
Audio
LISTEN NOW: Bob Wachter discusses ACOs, managed care, and his new book
December 4, 2014
Bob Wachter, MD, MHM, chief of the division of hospital medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, talks about Accountable Care Organizations, trends in managed care, his new book, and why hospitalists need to think, at times, like Machiavelli. [audio mp3="http://www.the-hospitali
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69%: hospitals with perfect hand-hygiene compliance
December 3, 2014
69%: the percentage of hospitals that had perfect compliance with the Leapfrog Group employer coalition’s safe practices for hand hygiene in its 2013 annual quality survey of 1,437 U.S.
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$167 billion: hospital payments forfeited for choosing not to expand Medicaid
December 3, 2014
$167 billion: Amount of federal Medicaid reimbursement payments that hospitals will forego between 2013 and 2022 in states that have opted not to expand their state programs under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. For every $1 a state spends on expanding Medicaid, $13.41 in federal funding flows into