Care Delivery
Mortality and hospitalization rates and inpatient spending for Medicare patients 65 and older declined between 1999 and 2013. A Journal of the American Medical Association study found that the annual death rate from all causes declined to 4.5 percent from 5.3 percent, and the…
Snapshot A crucial part of population health is keeping patients healthy outside the hospital. But certain patients, due to their surroundings or their illnesses, often bounce back to the emergency department or to an inpatient stay after discharge. To get a handle on their most…
A recent survey from the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center found that fewer adults younger than 65 reported problems paying family medical bills than they did in September 2013. In 2013, just before the first health insurance marketplace open enrollment period under the…
Cases involving mental disorders and their associated expenditures increased more than those of heart disease, cancer or any of the other top five costliest conditions, according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report. The number of patients treated for mental disorders…
Florida's Lee Memorial Health System is using several strategies to connect emergency department patients with mental health and/or substance abuse problems to the outpatient care they need.
Snapshot
Years of deep cuts to mental health care services have left ill-equipped hospital emergency departments struggling to care for untreated patients. Three organizations confronted the problem head-on by integrating behavioral health into primary and specialty care, screening and supporting…
Participants in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid’s Independence at Home demonstration saved more than $25 million in the payment model’s first performance year while delivering high-quality patient care in the home, CMS recently announced.
Other organizations’ population health activities focus on individuals living in a specific geographic area or community (66 percent), those experiencing a certain disease or condition (57 percent) or individuals for whom the organization has a financial risk (46 percent),…
This was a classic case of staff-centered care. “Arrive 15 minutes early for your appointment,” the receptionist at my doctor’s office told me over the phone. “We have a new record system, so there’s some paperwork to fill out.” Well, finally, I…
SNAPSHOT Hospitals that strive for high reliability aim to drive out the possibility of error and reject incremental improvements. In 2006, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center became the first pediatric hospital to receive the American Hospital Association–…