Costs & Cost Controls
Nurse staffing agencies allegedly inflating prices
Editor's Note In a probe led by House Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA), some 200 House members have asked the White House to investigate allegedly inflated costs being charged by nurse staffing agencies, according to the January 26 Becker’s Hospital CFO Report. In the investigation request, the…
Value-based enterprise poses big opportunity for ASCs
Editor's Note OR Manager’s November/December 2021 issue featured a deep-dive into the term value-based enterprise and how it is revolutionizing delivery of care (read full story here). In a value-based enterprise model, “providers are paid based on patient outcomes,” and outcomes are measured against the cost of care. Value-based enterprise,…
Integrated data, insights lead to cost, time savings for OR staff
In 2020, supply costs were once again reported as one of the greatest line-item expenses in a hospital, exceeding labor expenses. US hospitals have most recently reported a combined $36 billion in medical and surgical supply costs. These expenses account for more than half of a hospital’s total supply costs.…
Takeaways and lessons learned from OR Manager Conference
After more than a year in hiatus, OR Manager Conference was held in October 2021 in Chicago, bringing together hundreds of attendees, speakers, and exhibitors. After the live conference, OR Manager sat down with Cindy Kildgore, education coordinator for the OR Manager Conference; Amy Bethel, education coordinator for the OR…
Patient preferences for telehealth in post-COVID-19 healthcare
Editor's Note This survey study by the RAND Corporation finds that participants were willing to use telehealth for visits but preferred in-person care, and those who preferred telehealth were more sensitive to out-of-pocket costs. Of 2,080 survey participants, 66.5% preferred at least some telehealth visits in the future, but 53%…
New value-based models allow for surgeon buy-in, cost savings
The growth of value-based healthcare models is changing the way physicians and hospitals provide care. In value-based models, providers are paid based on patient outcomes. The “value” is derived from measuring health outcomes against the cost of delivering the outcomes. This balancing act has now become more achievable with new…
Lay groundwork for strong start to new year with quick win in OR efficiency
The new year is just around the corner, and it will bring new challenges for OR leaders as well as fresh opportunities to improve clinical, financial, and operational performance. The typical surgery department is a “target-rich environment”: low utilization, long turnover times, inefficient charge capture, poor documentation, high supply costs,…
ECRI announces winners of annual supply chain award
Editor's Note ECRI, on October 6, announced the winners of its tenth annual Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award. This year, ECRI recognizes 12 US healthcare systems for achieving excellence in overall spend management and adopting best practice solutions into their supply chain process. The winners are: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles…
Medicaid expansion reduces uninsured surgical hospitalizations, financial burden
Editor's Note This study from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, finds that Medicaid expansion was associated with a reduction in uninsured surgical hospitalizations. Researchers analyzed state-level data across 44 states and patient-level data across four states, and they compared hospitalizations in expansion and non-expansion states. Uninsured surgery patients…
ECRI chosen for data repository of promising medicines
Editor's Note ECRI announced June 30 that it had been chosen by the Belgium-based International Horizon Scanning Initiative (IHSI) to develop the first large-scale database of new and promising pharmaceutical products. ECRI will curate and maintain a database of pharmaceuticals expected to enter the European market within the next 2…
Free Daily News
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- Hospital-affiliated doctors drive highest costs by avoiding lower-cost sites
- Imposter syndrome widespread among surgical trainees, disproportionately affects women
- Global nursing workforce grows but inequities jeopardize health progress
- Largest US healthcare fraud case reveals billions in false Medicare, Medicaid claims and vast schemes nationwide
- Hospital margins improve as outpatient revenue accelerates, but costs loom
- Breast cancer surgery delays tied to higher upstaging, faster tumor growth
- Exercise programs ease stress and burnout for nurses, review finds
- WHO and robotic surgery society partner to expand global access to telesurgery
- Health systems lean toward established partners for AI adoption