Everything should have gone according to plan. Weeks before an expected surgery, the patient had taken the time to make sure that his hospital was in-network and that his out-of-pocket cost would be within his tight budget. He had set aside the money, taken off time for recovery, and prepared for his surgery. He felt [...]
Will value-based healthcare be the answer to America’s medical woes? A significant subset of providers seem to think so. According to a recent survey of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council, 42% of participants believe that value-based reimbursement models will one day supplant fee-for-service as the primary revenue model for healthcare in the United States. [...]
Positive change may be on the horizon for patients who use -- or even rely on -- telehealth services. Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced its intent to overhaul its method for distributing telemedicine-adjacent funds through the Rural Health Care Program in a way that eliminates any current wasteful practices or inefficiencies. [...]
When patients enter the dusk of their sunset years, they need peace, support, and care. It can be a trying time for patients and family alike -- but with hospice, the burden weighs a little easier. According to one report published in the BMJ’s Supportive and Palliative Care, patients who enroll in hospice during their [...]
Copay accumulators aren’t welcome in Virginia. As of this March, state legislators in both the state and its neighbor, West Virginia, passed legislation that requires insurers to count copay assistance cards and manufacturer-provided coupons towards patients’ out-of-pocket limits. This measure comes in direct response to insurers’ increased tendency to use the policies to prevent payment [...]
Emergency care centers are intended to handle crisis cases -- but in practice, more patients walk in with primary care concerns than critical conditions. According to statistics provided by the Center for Disease Control, a full 32% of ER consults last for less than 15 minutes, and only 7.9% result in hospital admission. These numbers [...]
Telemedicine is an inarguable boon to modern care. By complementing traditional in-practice services with telemedical offerings, healthcare providers can extend specialty consults into the most remote rural clinics, cut down on the time patients wait for care, and even reach those who might have otherwise foregone the time and expense of in-person care. The [...]
Hospitals might once have been the treatment hub for all of a communities’ aches, pains, and surgical procedures -- but that central status is becoming hazier by the day. In the last few years, increasing pressure to make health services more affordable, accessible, and effective has prompted many healthcare organizations to decompress their campuses and [...]
When it comes to healthcare delivery, our intent is to be ever quicker, more effective, and less expensive. We want to improve treatment experiences and patient outcomes without slipping on our efficiency scores; we aim to provide ever-soaring value for our providers, payers, and patients, but we don’t want to stop cutting costs. When those [...]
A physician's first priority is to help those they see in need of medical attention. So, when a doctor working the night shift sees a EMTs rolling a bloodied car accident victim into the emergency room on a gurney, she doesn't hesitate; she immediately crosses the room to treat her new patient. At that moment, [...]