ACE: Adventures in Bundled Payment

With a bundled-payment pilot program instituted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act set to begin in 2013, it is interesting (and perhaps instructive) to look at a three-year CMS project nearing its endpoint—the Acute Care Episode (ACE) Demonstration1 for orthopedic and cardiovascular surgery—through the eyes of...

Vertigo

No matter how good your service is or how expert and reliable the care, if someone isn’t taking care of the back of the house, health care is out of business. I learned that the hard way when my wonderful dentist (who used to tell her elderly clients...

Lean Targeting Efficiency in Radiology

Lean services, Six Sigma™, and continuous process improvement: Call them what you will, techniques derived from the now-famous Toyota Production System (TPS) are growing in popularity as a means for health-care providers (and radiology, in particular) to reduce costs and improve efficiency and care—with minimal capital outlay.

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How Radiology Volumes Impact Revenue

Four community hospitals, each located in a non-metropolitan area, sought to improve their radiology service. Each began to see improvements within about six months, and the gains were accomplished, for the most part, without adding new or better modalities.

The explanation, according to Clayton Larsen, senior vice...

A Hospital C-suite Reality Check

A few converging issues have recently revealed a fissure in the otherwise strengthening position of hospitals and health systems in the competition for outpatient-imaging supremacy. I have written volumes about the importance of building a two-way, give-and-take model in hospital–radiology group relationships so that both parties can thrive....

Physician Employment, the Second Time Around

A new round of physician–hospital alignment is underway—this time, with a broader sweep, according to Craig E. Holm, senior vice president, Health Strategies & Solutions, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and D. Louis Glaser, JD, partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman, LLP, Chicago, Illinois. They presented “Employed Physicians: Improving Performance and Avoiding...

How Hospitals Are Rethinking Imaging

Diagnostic imaging remains critically important to the bottom lines of individual hospitals and health systems alike, continuing to subsidize many less-profitable and unprofitable service lines while providing predictable growth. A rapidly changing imaging landscape, however, is spurring institutions to alter models for, and methods of, managing their imaging businesses...

Leading an HCO in an Era of Scarce Resources: Implications for Radiology

It’s no surprise that so many provider organizations threw their weight behind the recently passed health-reform bill. In 2009, 72% of hospitals reported increases in uncompensated care.¹ The vast majority also reported decreases in both elective procedures and inpatient admissions, difficulty acquiring capital, and moratoria on capital projects (both...