Cloud Computing and Health Informatio - 0 views
Toward High Performance Accountable Care - The Commonwealth Fund - 0 views
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Karen Davis Stephen C. Schoenbaum Toward High-Performance Accountable Care: Promise and Pitfalls September 14, 2010 Authors: Karen Davis, Ph.D., Stephen C. Schoenbaum, M.D., M.P.H. Several lessons can be extracted from the managed care era: Public Backlash. Patients rebelled when they were not able to get the services their physicians recommended and they believed they needed.Excessive Provider Financial Risk. A number of providers in capitated (fixed per-patient fee) contracts with insurers were hurt financially as they assumed risk for services beyond those they provided directly.Incoherent Payment Methods Across Payers. As each major insurer developed its own payment methods, negotiations over payment rates, and systems of rewarding quality and efficiency, administrative burdens on providers escalated.Local Barriers. So-called "managed care organizations" in the 1990s were not successful in many parts of the country, particularly in areas that did not have large group practices, including some urban areas such as New York City and rural areas.Implementing Effective Practices Requires Assistance. The redesign of care to improve quality and efficiency is often a difficult and uncertain journey, requiring resources and expertise beyond most physician practices and hospitals.Public Preference for Smaller Physician Practices. Patients generally prefer small physician practices and their more personalized approach to care over larger groups with many part-time physicians and coverage arrangements in which they are less likely to see the same physicians over time.Market Power. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the insurance industry underwent substantial consolidation, increasing its ability to set the terms of provider payment. Providers began to push back by dropping out of networks or forming their own larger negotiating entities. Insurers responded by increasing provider payment rates and raising premiums. The consolidation of market power, whether by managed
CSC U.S. Healthcare Workforce Shortages: HIT - 0 views
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A challenge facing the health care industry today and in the near future is growing workforce shortages. A product of industry growth and demands for reform, it includes growing shortages of both caregivers (see "U.S. Health Care Workforce Shortages: Caregivers") and health care information technology workers.
A Progress Report On Electronic Health Records In U.S. Hospitals - 0 views
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"Using a recent survey of U.S. hospitals, we found that the share of hospitals that had adopted either basic or comprehensive electronic records has risen modestly, from 8.7 percent in 2008 to 11.9 percent in 2009. Small, public, and rural hospitals were less likely to embrace electronic records than their larger, private, and urban counterparts. Only 2 percent of U.S. hospitals reported having electronic health records that would allow them to meet the federal government's "meaningful use" criteria"
Mental Health Providers Excluded From Health IT Incentives Read more: http://www.iheal... - 0 views
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"The 2009 federal economic stimulus package excludes clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric hospitals, mental health treatment facilities and substance abuse treatment facilities from receiving incentive payments for the meaningful use of EHRs." Bill by Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Rep. Tim Murphy seeks to alleviate situation