DIGITAL Marketplace for Medical and Dental Classifieds
Volume 16 Edition 3
Circulated to over 6000 Medical & Dental Professionals
Health Care Quality Measurement for Doctors' Offices Needs Improvement In the Journal of the American Medical Association, Weill Cornell Researcher Suggests Ways to Improve Patient Safety and High-Level Care In its 2001 report Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Institute of Medicine outlined six domains of quality in medical care: safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency and equity. But, Dr. Tara Bishop writes in a new viewpoint article published online March 21, in the Journal of the American Medical Association ( JAMA), current quality measures for the outpatient setting do not include all of these domains. As a result, quality measurement and quality improvement efforts in the outpatient setting have neglected critical areas of high quality care. "The majority of outpatient quality measures focus on preventive care, chronic disease care and, to some extent, timeliness of care and patient centeredness," says Dr. Bishop, an assistant professor of public health and assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Bishop is also the Nanette Laitman Clinical Scholar in Public Health/Clinical Evaluation and an assistant attending physician at NewYorkContinued on page 2
Frost & Sullivan: Growing Reimbursement Challenges Force Hospitals to Reengineer Revenue Cycle Management Ensuring financial stability in an era of transformative change drives demand for next-generation RCM solutions Today, hospitals are facing the twin burdens of Medicare and Medicaid cuts stipulated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — estimated at more than $150 billion in reductions over the next 10 years — in addition to the specter of additional cuts from the Budget Control Act of 2011. Most hospitals have long deployed automated systems to address core processes around revenue cycle management (RCM). However, these legacy IT applications often have outmoded technology platforms that lack the advanced functionality needed to address new models of care delivery and reimbursement. In addition, the complexity of medical billing and collections has created fragmented workflows across the patient accounts pathway, resulting in gaps and inefficiencies that lead to lost revenue.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan's (http://connectedhealth.frost.com) U.S. Hospital Revenue Cycle Management: Overview and Outlook, 2012-2017 research finds the market for RCM applications and services in U.S. hospitals will grow significantly and steadily over the next five years. From the valuation of $1.90 billion in 2012, the total U.S. hospital RCM market is forecast to reach $3.07 billion in 2017, representing a 61.6 percent increase from 2012. The majority of revenues will come from replacements and/or updates of legacy RCM systems, in addition to an increased use of managed services and consultants that provide niche services around specific RCM pain points. For more information on this research, please email Britni Myers , Corporate
Communications, at britni.myers@frost. com with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company email address, company website, city, state and country. Revenue cycle processes and workflows are receiving unprecedented attention as hospitals seek to ensure maximum collections in the face of growing financial challenges. Healthcare reform and the push for deficit reduction is forcing hospitals to address long-standing inefficiencies and shortfalls around the RCM process, driving the market for a host of next-generation RCM solutions. Frost & Sullivan Connected Health Principal Analyst Nancy Fabozzi , author of the analysis, emphasizes the urgency hospiContinued on page 4
Physicians Unite with Solar Energy Companies to Form New Group: Californians Against Utilities Stopping Solar Energy Utilities' Plans to Stop Rooftop Solar Threaten Public Health, Say Group co-Chairs A coalition of public health leaders and solar energy companies has formed CAUSE (Californians Against Utilities Stopping solar Energy) to combat monopoly utility efforts to kill rooftop solar. CAUSE is dedicated to maintaining a thriving solar industry in California, and to promoting the health and economic benefits that solar delivers to all Californians. The state's investor-owned utilities— PG&E, SDG&E and SCE—are trying to end net energy metering (NEM), a successful policy in 43 states that gives consumers fair credit for the solar they deliver to the grid. In simple terms, it's like rollover minutes on your cell phone bill. The utilities have taken aim at net metering to keep customers from taking action that would save ratepayers and taxpayers money while protecting public health. A January study by Crossborder Energy found that net metering will provide more than $92 million in annual benefits to ratepayers of California's three investor-owned utilities. Los Angeles-area physicians Luis Pacheco and Deonza Thymes are serving as co-chairs of CAUSE to help preserve Californians' ability to switch to clean solar electricity. "Ending rooftop solar in California would be a disaster for local job growth and environmental sustainability," said CAUSE co-Chair Dr. Luis Pacheco . "It would mean more carbon-emitting power sources and more dirty air. That's not a path toward the long-term wellness and economic health that our state needs." Dr. Pacheco is currently Medical Director of the Transitional Care Unit at California Hospital Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles. He has also served as Director of Pre-Doctoral Education for the Department of Family Medicine at the USC-Keck School of Medicine. Pacheco has been recognized for his public health advocacy by the American Diabetes Association, the National Head Start Educational Program, and the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine's Family Medicine Teaching Program. "I grew up in a part of Los Angeles that is affected disproportionately by dirty air," added co-Chair Dr. Deonza Thymes . "I became a physician, in part, to help people with health conditions caused by pollutants. Now that we are making progress with solar, the utilities are trying to turn back the clock. They should be helping to give Californians the choice to go solar." Continued on page 4