Study: Hospital M&A doesn’t improve patient care
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed a decline in patient experience after hospitals had merged.
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New Medicare whole-hospital quality ratings contain some surprises
Hospitals argue the ratings will make places that treat the toughest cases look bad, but Medicare has held firm, saying that consumers need a simple way to objectively gauge quality.
Joint Commission report: U.S. hospitals are getting better, but there is still room for improvement
If the Joint Commission‘s assessment of a hospital is any indication – and by just about all accounts, it’s the indication – hospitals across the U.S. are improving, with more than 1,200 having achieved “top performer” status. A total of 1,224 made that cut, an increase of 11 percent from last year. The top performers […]
With multiple companies rating hospital quality, how do consumers pick the ‘best’?
What is the best hospital in Washington, D.C.? It’s not as easy to figure out as you might think. Over the past two decades, a cottage industry of nonprofits and companies has sprung up that offers grades and rankings on the quality of hospitals. Because of the proliferation in ratings, two-thirds of the hospitals in […]
Medicare considers star ratings for hospitals to make quality comparisons easier for patients
Star wars may be coming to a hospital near you. Medicare is considering assigning stars or some other easily understood symbol to hospitals so patients can more easily compare the quality of care at various institutions. The ratings would appear on Med...
New paper crunches “likes,” mortality rates, patient recommendations to assess hospital quality
Healthcare consumers’ rapidly growing use of social media platforms has transformed the way hospitals and their communities interact. According to a new hypothesis-generating HIT Lab study published online in the American Journal of Medical Quality, abundant data from social media activity may serve as tool for public health researchers to evaluate traditional measures of hospital quality. […]
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.