Each day seems to bring new tasks for leaders of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), adding to their already overflowing plate. One task that can easily fall off that plate is collecting and analyzing metrics, yet failing to do so can have serious financial consequences. OR Manager recently asked ASC leaders…

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Editor's Note Low-cost, high-volume healthcare services account for a high percentage of unnecessary spending, adding strain to the healthcare system, this study finds. In this analysis of 5.5 million patients in Virginia, researchers found that services providing no net health benefits cost the state’s healthcare system more than $586 million…

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Editor's Note In a survey from the HealthCare Executive Group, clinical and data analytics was was the top of 10 challenges the healthcare industry will face in 2018, the October 9 Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review reports. Value-based payments was third, cybersecurity was sixth, and mobile health technology was…

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Editor's Note All-cause readmission is the only metric in widespread use, but it overlooks important information that enables readmission risk to be understood, this study finds. Of 514,455 patients in the UK analyzed over a 10-year period, there were 30,489 all-cause readmissions, 16,499 readmissions related to the surgical site, and…

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Editor's Note A lack of awareness of the financial burden of physician burnout and uncertainty about what can be done to reduce or prevent it have been barriers to organizations taking action to address the problem, finds this study. Reviewing available evidence and analyzing the financial costs of physician burnout…

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Editor's Note SERVICEguide is the ECRI Institute’s new membership-based advisory service that helps hospitals maintain and manage their outsourced services. SERVICEguide includes an interactive assessment dashboard with spend analytics that reveal the highest potential areas for savings. Recently, for example, ECRI Institute helped a large healthcare system save more than…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 20 announced the top five most challenging requirements for the first half of 2017. The top five requirements identified most frequently as “not compliant” during surveys and reviews for hospital accreditation were: 86%--LS.02.01.35: The hospital provides and maintains systems for extinguishing fires. 74%--LS.02.01.30:…

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Since July, when repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) stalled, healthcare reform has been somewhat overshadowed by events such as natural disasters and concerns about national security. Now, with insurers due to announce rates for the coming year, Congress is working on a bill to stabilize the…

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Editor's Note There are enough healthcare-associated infection (HAI) data reported on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website to meet minimal criteria for useful hospital comparisons in many geographic areas; however, it varies by type of HAI, this study finds. The analysis included data from 4,561…

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Editor's Note Offering a price transparency tool to California public employees and retirees that focused on services such as lab tests, office visits, and advanced imaging services did not lower spending, this study finds. Only 12% of employees used it in the first 15 months after it was introduced, and…

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