OR Business
Study: Healthcare costs plummet after bariatric surgery
Editor's Note Obese patients who had gastric bypass surgery cut their healthcare costs nearly 40% after 4 years and 80% if they had type 2 diabetes preoperatively, finds this study presented at Obesity Week 2015, which is hosted by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The main reduction…
CMS denies 10% of claims under new ICD-10 codes
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rejection rate of Medicare fee-for-service claims submitted with the new ICD-10 codes was 10.1% in October. Invalid use of ICD-9 codes resulted in the rejection of 0.11%, and 2% were not accepted because of invalid or incomplete information. More information…
Hospitals with high readmission rates penalized for the patients they serve
Clinical and social characteristics not included in Medicare’s current risk-adjustment methods explained much of the difference in readmission risk between patients admitted to hospitals with higher versus lower readmission rates, a study finds. The Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program penalizes hospitals with higher than expected 30-day readmission rates by reducing…
Business managers: A small population with a big impact on quality and efficiency
The role of business manager continues to grow in teaching, but not community, hospitals, according to the 2015 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. Fewer than a third (29%) of OR leaders report that their hospital has a business manager, and 70% of those managers work in teaching hospitals. Other highlights from…
Electronic tracking system reduces blood transfusions, infections
Editor's Note An electronic blood tracking system that monitors how physicians prescribe postoperative blood transfusions significantly reduced the amount of blood patients receive and cut infection rates in half, according to a study presented October 7 at the 2015 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons in Chicago. The…
Achieving quality improvement depends on the local culture
The key to sustaining quality outcomes is promoting confidence and engagement of surgical teams, says Clifford Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, director of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care, at the American College of Surgeons in Chicago. Dr Ko gave the keynote…
ICD-10 transition begins well, further tests coming
Editor's Note The ICD-10 transition began well last week because of the time and effort spent preparing the new codes, but claims rejections could cause further problems towards the end of the month, according to Modern Healthcare. Organizations most likely to have trouble will be the smaller providers and health…
ASCs reduce spine surgery costs, maintain quality
Editor's Note A study presented at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting found that performing spine procedures in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) can reduce costs while sustaining patient satisfaction scores, Spine Surgery Today reports. Of 1,000 spine procedures performed in an ASC, eight patients had to be transferred to…
GAO: Modest effects from Value-based Purchasing program
Editor's Note A new Government Accountability Office report shows that hospital performance on most quality measures was improving before the Affordable Care Act’s Hospital Value-based Purchasing (VBP) program began in 2012 and has not noticeably changed since then, according to the AHA News. Most inpatient prospective payment system hospitals eligible…
ICD-10 debuts October 1
Editor's Note The healthcare industry transitioned to the ICD-10 system October 1, expanding procedure codes from 14,000 to 70,000 for providers and from 44,000 to 72,000 for hospitals. Medicare officials say they won’t deny claims to providers solely for lack of specificity for the first 12 months, but that doesn’t…
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- Borescope inspections reveal widespread contamination in lumened surgical instruments
- Nursing workforce faces high turnover despite signs of recovery
- FDA issues early alerts for intravascular catheters
- Market volatility threatens hospitals’ liquidity as tariff-driven costs rise
- Study: CT scan radiation could drive 5% of future cancer cases
- New studies, surgical feats advance organ transplant medicine
- Commentary: Cyberattacks threaten financial survival of surgical practices
- Tariffs strain supply chains, split medical manufacturing community
- Study: Systemic gender bias embedded in surgical practice
- Literature review: Endoscope disinfection failures highlight need for stronger sterilization practices