Click here to the issue (w link to pdf) Infection Rates Down Providers are making progress on reducing healthcare-associated infections PUBLISHER’S LETTER LIS and the Physician Office Lab Wholly MACRA! Contracting Executive Profile Justin Freed, Regional vice president of supply chain, California/Texas, Providence St. Joseph Health, … [Read more...]
Surgical Wound Monitoring from Home
Post Acute A smartphone app called WoundCare is successfully enabling patients to remotely send images of their surgical wounds for monitoring by nurses. The app was developed by researchers from the Wisconsin Institute of Surgical Outcomes Research (WiSOR), Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, Madison, with the goal of earlier detection of surgical site … [Read more...]
High-tech Home Care
Post Acute Catholic healthcare delivery system Trinity Health said it will test the efficacy of Internet and video technologies combined with home visits by secondary caregivers, to determine how the technologies may increase access to primary care physicians and advance people-centered care. Based in Livonia, Michigan, Trinity Health includes 93 hospitals as well as 120 … [Read more...]
Cracking the Code
Post Acute Bundled-payment programs are alive and well. The proof is a brand new program – Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced – which was introduced in January by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Repertoire readers may recall that neither former HHS Secretary Tom Price or Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma … [Read more...]
In the Dark
Post Acute State Medicaid agencies fail to report critical information about assisted living services State Medicaid agencies covering assisted living services are failing to report some critical information about beneficiaries’ health and welfare, according to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), which released a report in January. According to the … [Read more...]
Aging Population, Hospital Partnerships to Drive SNF Patient Growth
HIDA Post-Acute Insights Acute care providers face increasing pressure from payers to lower readmissions, and a rising number of patients require post-acute care. As a result, hospitals and acute care facilities are increasingly working together. These partnership have tremendous potential as the U.S. population ages, especially since the number of patients seeking acute … [Read more...]
Windshield Time
Heads-up Navdy has introduced a new portable head-up display (HUD) that can be added to almost any car, reports PC Magazine. The $299 Hudly is a solid way to safely display navigation directions and other information while you drive, according to the magazine. But for the time being, the device can only project content from your connected smartphone. Hudly measures 7 inches by … [Read more...]
Contact Precautions: When to Stop.
When is it safe for hospitals to discontinue contact precautions – gloves, gowns, masks, etc. – for patients with multidrug-resistant bacteria? The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America published new guidance on the topic in January, in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. "Because of the virulent nature of multidrug-resistant infections and C. difficile … [Read more...]
RepCorner: Sarah Alasya
Save a Victim Drunk-driving tragedy spurs Sarah Alasya to help others avoid making a fatal mistake Don’t drink and drive. It’s life-saving advice, which Sarah Alasya takes seriously. In fact, over the past four years, she has helped around 500 people avoid making that mistake. Alasya is Midwest division manager, physician office division, for Medline. For Alasya, it’s … [Read more...]
LIS and the Physician Office Lab
By Jim Poggi Wholly MACRA! In my experience working with highly skilled and professional distributor account managers, LIS systems remain one of the product lines they shy away from. In this article I intend to de-mystify LIS, make sense of it in light of MACRA requirements and give you confidence to hold discussions about this key connectivity tool. As the world … [Read more...]