If blogger Dr. Kevin Pho had his way, more doctors would be like Malcolm Gladwell, author of (most recently) David and Goliath. Why? “We need more storytellers,” Pho writes. If doctors and the healthcare industry were better at communicating, I’m inclined to agree. In a past life, I taught engineers, pharmacy students and budding young […]
St. Jude Medical (STJ) announced FDA approval of its ILUMIEN OPTIS PCI Optimization System, and the product’s U.S. launch. The device gives physicians a real-time, 360-degree panoramic view of the arteries, to help with stent placement and to guide treatment for patients with coronary artery disease. But what’s the true value proposition between this new […]
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
For many patients with complex conditions, the main problem is not medicines or even access to healthcare. It’s everything else: food, housing, transportation, money. One pilot project designed to help some of the most expensive patients in Camden, New Jersey, found that it was getting help to meet those basic needs that kept patients out […]
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have released the results of their study of Fitbit as a tool to predict how quickly older patients can start moving around again after surgery. The idea was to test how wireless monitoring devices could assess mobility. The research team worked with a group of patients who had elective surgery, […]
Some smart data crunching has led to the creation of a new calculator that surgeons and patients can use to assess a patient’s risk for surgery complications like an infection or heart failure. As part of its National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, the American College of Surgeons has developed a surgical risk calculator it says […]
When Medtronic announced its acquisition of Cardiocom earlier this week, it was a big (and loud) move in shaping the company’s “now we’re a healthcare service provider” strategy. But Cardiocom only makes $40 to $50 million in revenue, relatively small potatoes for a titan like Medtronic. What does this announcement mean, really, then? “The importance […]
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
SharedClarity has created an alliance of long-time healthcare frenemies (payers and providers) to test effectiveness of heart and orthopedic medical devices with the aim of lowering costs, reducing readmissions, allowing members to negotiate device pricing and getting patients effective implantable devices. For the study, United Healthcare will join forces with Baylor Healthcare System in Dallas, Dignity Health in […]
As the readmissions penalty bump to 2 percent is on the October horizon, Indiana’s ACOs and hospitals will soon be able to use predictive software to assist them in lowering those rates and determining what’s causing them in the first place – maybe as early as the end of Q3. The Indiana Health Information Exchange […]
The cost of healthcare is still growing, but it’s growing at a rate that Pricewaterhouse Coopers analysts say has slowed and will likely continue to do so. Healthcare organizations still seem to be nursing what PwC’s Health Research Institute calls a “recession hangover” but are also under the influenced of larger dynamics that are creating […]
Several dozen Minnesota hospitals and healthcare providers have focused efforts in five distinct areas to drive down avoidable readmissions by 20 percent over the past two years. In Minnesota, nearly one in five Medicare patients is readmitted to a hospital within 30 days. The goal of the Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively (RARE) Campaign was for […]
We will highlight Build My Health's revenue practice management tools, which could help physician practices add up to $250,000 to their practices.
Anne Weiss is Quality/Equality Health Care Team Director and Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explains the challenges of helping communities improve patient care and reduce readmissions.
A study published Tuesday finds that there's no significant link between hospitals with high readmissions and those with low mortality rates.
An analysis of patient readmissions in pediatric hospitals found than many of the trends seen in adult hospital readmissions hold true in children’s hospitals too. On average, the analysis found that 6.5 percent of patients discharged from children’s hospital were readmitted unexpectedly within 30 days. Among conditions with the highest readmission rates, though, the numbers […]
Starting in January, TriHealth doctors, nurses, diabetes educators and pharmacists will be working on a coordinated plan to reduce readmissions among people with diabetes.
Hospitals don’t try as hard as they should to reduce surgical complications because it tends to hurt them financially. In general, hospitals end up getting paid to treat complications –including preventable ones– while reducing complications takes time and effort while leaving empty beds that produce no revenue. In Health Affairs, Dan C. Crupka et al. [...]