Dec 27, 2013 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Healthcare Experts Now Exploring New Care Coordination Strategies and Overcoming Gaps in Measuring Performance
For many healthcare professionals, the jury is still out as to whether accountable care organizations (ACOs) will prove effective at delivering the two important goals of improved patient outcomes at a lower overall cost of care over an extended period of time.
That is why close attention is being given to the experience of Medicare’s Pioneer ACOs, since they were among the first ACOs to begin delivering clinical services. In particular, physicians and hospital administrators want to learn useful lessons from the successes and setbacks of the different Pioneer ACOs.
By improving the coordination of care, accountable care organizations are expected to provide patients with better care while reducing healthcare costs. That’s why the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Shared Savings Program is structured to pay ACOs financial incentives or impose penalties, depending on whether performance quality measures and healthcare spending targets are met. (more…)
Nov 22, 2013 | Laboratory News
In Its Second Year, Medical Home Program of CareFirst BCBS Produced $98 Million in Savings, along with Significant Quality Improvements
One of the nation’s largest patient-centered medical home (PCMH) programs has reduced costs dramatically and improved care quality for the second consecutive year. It recently reported the achievements produced during its first two years of operation.
This accomplishment is more evidence for pathologists and clinical laboratory executives that a properly implemented medical home program can deliver measurable gains in patient outcomes and corresponding reductions in the overall cost of care. In January 2011, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield started a PCMH program for primary-care physicians (PCPs). It serves about 1 million members in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia.
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Jun 19, 2013 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Growth in the number of medical homes could make winners of those pathology groups and medical laboratories that learn how to best meet the needs of these providers
Physician executives at TransforMED, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians, are blogging with their opinions about which providers will be winners and losers in healthcare. Although most pathologists may not agree with these opinions, there are useful insights to be gleaned from the reasoning behind these opinions.
According to TransforMed’s physician-leaders, healthcare is not about to transform—it already has! The healthcare world is no longer changing, it has changed, and “there will be winners and losers,” stated Terry McGeeney, M.D., MBA, FAAFP, in a blog published on the TransforMed Website.
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