Topic:

Care Delivery

Latest Headlines

Latest Headlines

Aging population: Hospitals must consider growing number of patients without advocates

As the population ages, the healthcare industry must step up its attention to geriatric and palliative care--and that includes preparing for patients who cannot voice their own wishes and have no family or advocates to do it for them.

PAs, advanced practice nurses key to population health management

Before Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago could fully leverage advanced practice nurses and physician assistants to improve care delivery, hospital leaders first had to educate their medical teams about the role APNs could play in their efforts to better manage population health. 

Pioneer ACOs reduced low-value services in year one of Medicare program

Medicare's Pioneer accountable care organizations led to a slight drop in "low-value" services their first year, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Improved doc-patient communication linked to reduced readmissions

Although many hospitals invest in hotel-like amenities to improve the patient experience, leaders would be better off spending more money on improving caregiver-patient communication, the number-one factor in preventable readmissions, according to research published in  Management Science.

Government shutdown fears: NIH would have to turn away critically ill patients

If the government shuts down Oct. 1, the National Institutes of Health will once again be forced to turn away new patients with critical illnesses, as it did in 2013 when the government closed for 16 days, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told  The Washington Post

More upfront payment needed to maintain PCMHs, study says

Despite the long-term cost savings that may be associated with providing care through a patient-centered medical home, payment systems aren't currently adequate to cover the upfront costs for small practices to transform, according to new research published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

Patient safety experts believe new IOM diagnostic error report will help save lives

Patient safety experts say the Institute of Medicine's new report on reducing diagnostic errors is a "major milestone" in the effort to improve diagnoses and will save lives and improve care.

IOM: Most patients will experience a misdiagnosis in their lifetime

Despite sparse data on the extent of misdiagnosis in the healthcare industry, best estimates indicate that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences, according to the long-awaited Institute of Medicine report, "Improving Diagnosis in Health Care."

Why the Affordable Care Act is not the new Y2K

Experts predicted a flood of patients to sweep over physician practice waiting rooms as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We recommended offices take every measure to expand access and...

Once-notorious hospital now leads the way on preventive care

When it was shut down in 2007, care at Los Angeles' King/Drew Medical Center had become so infamous it was colloquially known as "Killer King," due to incidents such the accidental slitting of a shooting victim's throat. Now the hospital, which reopened this summer, is blazing a trail on preventive care, according to the Los Angeles Times.