According to a survey conducted by Premier healthcare alliance’s spring 2013 Economic Outlook, 69% of healthcare leaders predict that outpatient volume will rise in 2013, and as outpatient admissions rise — inpatient volume will drop. With the impending reimbursement cuts and care delivery model changes, healthcare providers face a significant change as they transition toward [...]
Dr. Delos (Toby) Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, believes that new legislation, medical advances and a growing population plus the cost pressures of the ACA are pushing the healthcare industry towards consolidation. Many large industries have preceded healthcare in this path, including the airline industry and supermarkets. “Hospitals are coming together in systems and [...]
With the re-election of President Obama, it is clear that most provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will stand and will be set for implementation in 2014. The Act contains massive amounts of information in heavy legal lingo making certain sections difficult to understand. Whether a citizen, physician, hospital executive, or insurance company – it is important to [...]
Half of voters believe cutting payments to doctors and hospitals will reduce federal spending on healthcare, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey conducted just after the presedential election. Reimbursement cuts are already starting and many physicians are unhappy with lower reimbursement rates and are considering exiting Medicaid and/or Medicare. In tandem with the additional 30 millions [...]
With President Obama’s election victory and the Democratic Party’s control of the Senate, the government will proceed with health system reform. However, this means the physician community faces many new variables, especially when it comes to payment from both public and private payers. As the health care market transitions to new coverage options, some disruptions may [...]
The Physician Shortage Reduction and Graduate Medical Education Accountability and Transparency Act (HR 6352) would expand the number of Medicare-sponsored training slots for new doctors by 15,000. Worries of a physician shortage intensified with passage of the Affordable Care Act, which will increase the number of people seeking medical care by providing insurance to 32 [...]
Following the Supreme Court’s health law ruling, several industry members of LocumLife’s Editorial Advisory Board were asked to weigh in and share their views on the decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Board, ranging from physicians to staffing agency CEOs and Presidents, had vastly different opinions yet most agreed the ruling will increase the [...]
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act has refocused attention on the implementation of the law’s provisions. However, it has also created uncertainty about how to move forward with other provisions including the use of Medicaid to cover more uninsured patients. Next steps: For physicians the ruling means they can now [...]
I remember when the term “Hospitalist” was a new and emerging concept used for those physicians who treated acutely ill patients in the hospital. Fifteen years later, it has grown into a major part of the care a patient receives in nearly every hospital across the country. Over the next decade, Hospital Medicine will have to [...]
Medical boards are taking more disciplinary actions against doctors. According to an annual summary of board actions compiled by the FSMB, the number of board actions increased 6.8% from 5,652 in 2010 to 6,034 in 2011. This has been a result of states increasing their medical board staffs or expanded the boards’ abilities to investigate [...]
