The Number of American Deaths Due to Hospital Acquired Conditions

Since 2010, many improvements have been made to protect the safety of patients during their stay in hospitals. This has not only saved the healthcare industry billions of dollars but, more importantly, has saved the lives of over 50,000 people.

2015 Started Out With 89 New ACOs Joining the Medicare Shared Savings Program

89 new ACOs joined the Medicare Shared Savings Program starting January 2015, increasing the total participating ACOs to 424; including the Innovation Center’s 19 Pioneer ACOs. The 89 new Shared Services ACOs added 23,000 additional physicians and other providers to the Medicare Shared Savings Program’s provider network. The Share Services ACOs combined with the Innovation Center’s 19 Pioneer ACOs will serve over 7.8 million beneficiaries.

Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program to Give Incentive Payment Boost to 37% More Hospitals in 2015 Than 2014

in 2015, 463 more hospitals will be seeing a Medicare value-based purchasing program payment boost than 2014.

How will private ACOs impact your business?

As healthcare reform shifts from traditional fee-for-service to alternative provider compensation models, such as shared savings/risk-sharing arrangements, provider organizations that aren’t already on the ACO bandwagon are closely watching the performance of ACOs around the country to see if they should get in the game. Last week, a private California ACO reported early success.

Medicare’s Hospital Readmission Reduction Program – Increasing Penalties, Increasing Pressure

Medicare’s readmissions penalties increases pressure & spurs hospitals to action.