Cybersecurity should be high on healthcare priority lists
No homeowners willingly allow a burglar to enter their home and steal their most valuable possessions. Instead, people put locks on doors, install alarm systems, build fences, or keep big dogs. The thieves may still get in, but deterrents like these will reduce the risk of a successful burglary. Ambulatory…
Effect of price transparency on ASCs
Editor's Note In this survey of six ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), Johns Hopkins researchers led by Martin Makary, MD, MPH, found that the majority increased patient satisfaction, volume, and revenue after publicly listing the prices of common surgical procedures. Five centers reported an increase in patient volume by a median…
Hospital employment up 0.16% in April
Editor's Note US hospitals added 8,000 jobs in April to a seasonally adjusted 5,159,800, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on May 4. That is 94,500 more employees than a year ago. The overall unemployment rate fell by 0.2% in April to 3.9%, the lowest rate since December 2000.
EHR capabilities influence patient satisfaction
Editor's Note A Black Book market survey found that 92% of patients younger than 40 expressed dissatisfaction if their providers did not offer them complete medical records, and 85% wanted more telehealth options, the April 23 Healthcare Informatics reports. A total of 88% of respondents blamed the hospital systems directly…
ECRI Institute announces new Culture of Safety Assessment for Health IT Companies
Editor's Note The ECRI Institute and the Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety (ie, a multistakeholder collaborative convened and operated by the ECRI Institute) announced April 10 the new INsight® Culture of Safety Assessment for Health IT Companies. The new program allows health IT developers to assess safety culture with…
Study provides first standardized estimates of OR costs
Editor's Note Using financial data from California’s short-term and specialty hospitals from FY 2005 to FY 2014, researchers from the UCLA School of Medicine provide the first standardized estimates of OR costs. The analysis, which focused on two revenue centers--surgery/recovery and ambulatory surgery--found that the mean cost of OR time…
Healthcare adds 21,500 jobs in October
Editor's Note Healthcare employment in the US rose in January to a seasonally adjusted 15,888,400 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on February 2. That’s 20,600 more workers than in December and 294,900 more than a year ago. ESTABLISHMENT DATA Table B-1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector…
Physicians negatively affected by EHRs
Editor's Note Physicians are more likely to leave the profession or reduce their hours if they are uncomfortable using electronic health records (EHRs), the January 24 Medical Economics reports. Although EHRs have the potential to enhance quality of care and clinical coordination, they also increase risk of physician burnout, reduce…
CMS updates Hospital Compare site
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced December 21 that it updated data on its Hospital Compare website and will update the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating using a new methodology that will give more hospitals one or five stars. CMS had postponed the release of…
Joint Commission chooses Apervita platform to ease eCQM submission
Editor's Note The Joint Commission has selected Chicago-based Apervita’s platform to enable thousands of hospitals with ORYX data reporting requirement to directly submit electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data in 2018, the November 14 Healthcare Informatics reports. Since the shift to eCQM data submission began 2 years ago, the Joint…
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