Readmissions news and information

A growing number of senior citizens are ensnared in a Medicare crackdown on hospitals over costly inpatient admissions.
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Earlier this year, Allegiance Health in Jackson County, Mich., began investigating whether to join Medicare's shared-savings program after seeing it was losing patients to neighboring counties.
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Nursing unions wanting higher staffing ratios have more ammunition thanks to a new study concluding that increasing nurse staffing levels could help hospitals avoid Medicare penalties for avoidable readmissions.
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A Medicare test of accountable care in Wisconsin slowed cost growth last year for about 20,000 seniors. That's good news, of course, to economists and policymakers. But for hospitals, the news was not all good because most payers continue to reimburse on a fee-for-service basis rewarding more...
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What it does: It provides managed long-term care and support services to elderly, special needs and dual-eligible individuals, focused on keeping them out of hospitals and nursing homes.
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Spending on healthcare is expected to rise just 4.5% next year as employers and providers make a number of moves to bring down costs.
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The majority of hospitals in the U.S. are struggling to transition from fee-for-service to capitated reimbursement directly tied to results. The best way to bridge that chasm is to transform the highest profile and most expensive component of most...
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Political posturing related to the Independent Payment Advisory Board aside (Aug. 26 editorial, “The IPAB punching bag,” p. 20), one portion of the IPAB statute that requires examination is a provision...
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Larger independent physician groups with “strong primary-care orientations” and where doctors have accepted greater financial risk deliver better quality care for Medicare beneficiaries at lower cost, according to a report in JAMA Internal Medicine.
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A list of six major hospitalist service contractors in the nation, ranked by total revenue in 2012 where available. Also includes a list of 30-day readmissions penalties: most improved hospitals, which shows 15 organizations ranked by revenue gained by improved performance. Source: Modern...
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