CMS penalizes 2,545 hospitals for high readmissions
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will penalize and reduce a year’s worth of payments to nearly half of the nation’s hospitals because of 30-day readmission rates, the November 2 Kaiser Health News reports. The penalties are part of the ninth year of the Hospital Readmissions…
Most OR nurse leaders find jobs rewarding despite COVID-19
Results from the 2020 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey show that despite the turbulent times, most OR leaders view their work favorably; 77% are satisfied with their jobs, with nearly a third describing themselves as “completely satisfied.” This might seem surprising in light of COVID-19, but many nurse leaders are…
Editorial
Surveys this past year seem to have proliferated, many of them related to the COVID-19 pandemic. What has worked? What hasn’t? What are the next steps? Resuming surgical procedures after the springtime hiatus has helped regain some lost ground. Even as cases of the virus surged in many parts of…
Think 'outside the blocks' to shore up balance sheets
Editor’s Note: This article from Whitman Partners addresses some ways OR nurse leaders can help their health systems recover from the financial fallout and disruption in normal processes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitman Partners is a Portland, Oregon-based specialty search firm dedicated to placing directors of surgical services at…
Consider a PSH as a post-pandemic strategy
Across the US, surgical services are estimated to comprise around 20% of national health spending and typically generate up to 70% of total health system revenue.1, 2 That makes surgical services the largest revenue generator for a hospital, supporting access to numerous other healthcare services. Considering the average hospital has…
Survey: COVID-19 is a worry, but compensation remains stable
The COVID-19 pandemic is top of mind for ambulatory surgery center (ASC) leaders, finds the OR Manager 2020 Salary/Career Survey. Most of the 69 ASC leaders who completed the survey responded to an open-ended question about how the pandemic had affected their facility and staff, with the most frequent comments…
Increased unemployment linked to increased pediatric hospitalizations
Editor's Note This study by researchers from Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, and others found that for four economy-sensitive conditions, increased unemployment was associated with increased pediatric hospitalizations. A 1% increase in unemployment was associated with a: 5% increase in hospitalization for substance abuse 4% increase for diabetes 2%…
CMS threatens to withhold payments from hospitals not reporting COVID-19, flu data
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 6 released guidance on how it will implement an interim final rule that requires hospitals and critical access hospitals to report data on COVID-19 and flu patients. CMS says failure to report specified data may lead to termination…
Healthcare employment up in September
Editor's Note US healthcare added 52,800 jobs in September for a seasonally adjusted 15, 839,600, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on October 2. Hospitals lost 6,400 jobs, but nursing and residential care facilities added 1,600 jobs. Ambulatory healthcare services also added jobs, including physicians (18,200), dentists (3,900), and home…
ASCs reduce Medicare costs $4 billion annually
Editor's Note A new analysis of Medicare payment data by KNG Health Consulting shows that ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) reduced Medicare costs by $28.7 billion from 2011 to 2018, a savings of more than $4 billion each year. The analysis also shows that, without policy changes, performing procedures on Medicare…
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