Tag Archives: Health System

Ascension’s expansion efforts pay off as operating surplus swells to $753M

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http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/ascension-s-expansion-efforts-pay-off-as-operating-surplus-swells-to-753m.html

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Click to access ES819017-ES642670-.pdf

St. Louis-based Ascension reported $21.9 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2015, up 6.6 percent from revenue of $20.5 billion in the year prior, according to financial documents filed with bondholders.

The financial boost was partially attributable to an increase in patient volume due to Ascension’s expansion efforts in the past year. During the year ended June 30, 2016, Ascension acquired Glendale, Wis.-based Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and added hospitals in Michigan and Tennessee as well.

Including these recently acquired facilities, the nonprofit system said inpatient admissions and inpatient surgeries increased 3.2 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, as compared to the year prior. Ascension also said emergency room visits increased 3.7 percent year over year.

After accounting for a year-over-year increase in expenses of 6.1 percent, Ascension ended FY 2015 with an operating surplus of $753.2 million, up from $696.5 million in the year prior.

Medicare audits up 936% in last 5 years

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http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/medicare-audits-ups-936-in-last-five-years.html

OR Efficiencies

http://www.racmonitor.com/rac-enews/2150-medicare-audits-drg-downcoding-in-hospitals-algorithms-substituting-for-medical-judgment-part-i.html

Editor’s Corner: Geisinger’s new-school/old-school approach to retain, recruit staff

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http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/healthcare/editor-s-corner-geisinger-s-new-and-old-school-approach-to-retain-recruit-staff?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&mrkid=959610&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWlRGaU5HUXlNVEE0WlRoaSIsInQiOiJlZ3VzVW84VXRrZVQyZFhnQnZZZk1EN2s0cEQydG5GbU03bnRQT0FZS3orUllZT2FVTGo1S0Myc0FkK09cL2dXRWNzeFFUMkIrVWQzVE9qY2FvVTJrVDI2SjFWVDl5aGkwa01GZ2l3cjhDcmc9In0%3D

“You can give out bonuses, trinkets, t-shirts and keychains. But at the end of the day people want to be listened to and feel valued, respected and cared for by their colleagues and the leadership team.”

‘Bedless’ hospitals grow as industry moves toward outpatient care

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http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/healthcare/bedless-hospitals-telehealth-grow-as-hospitals-move-toward-outpatient-care?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&mrkid=959610&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWlRGaU5HUXlNVEE0WlRoaSIsInQiOiJlZ3VzVW84VXRrZVQyZFhnQnZZZk1EN2s0cEQydG5GbU03bnRQT0FZS3orUllZT2FVTGo1S0Myc0FkK09cL2dXRWNzeFFUMkIrVWQzVE9qY2FvVTJrVDI2SjFWVDl5aGkwa01GZ2l3cjhDcmc9In0%3D

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The changing nature of healthcare and patients’ desire for convenience have given rise to nontraditional care formats such as stand-alone emergency rooms and “micro-hospitals,” and now “bedless hospitals” are joining the push.

Such hospitals still have standard hospital features, including infusion suites, emergency rooms, helipads and operating areas, but no overnight space, according to STAT. For example, MetroHealth System recently opened a $48 million bedless facility in the Cleveland area. CEO Akram Boutros, M.D., said staff is expecting to serve around 3,000 patients during this first year.

“It reduces cost, and it reduces the risk of infection,” Boutros told the publication. “People go home to a less-risky environment, where they tend to get better faster.”

Rich hospital, poor hospital divided by politics and a river

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-health-states-972aeae8-7a71-11e6-8064-c1ddc8a724bb-20160914-story.html

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When hospital executive Jeanette Wojtalewicz visits CHI Health’s Mercy Council Bluffs facility across the Missouri River in Iowa, she sees the new clinics and doctors’ offices partly paid for by the state’s decision to expand Medicaid to thousands of residents.

Back on her side of the river is CHI Health’s Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, a state that opposed making more low-income people eligible for the government health-insurance program. While Mercy thrives about seven miles away, Creighton is cutting 250 beds to raise efficiency amid slumping financial results.

“There’s not a big geographical difference, but because of the regulations, there are big differences in the numbers,” said Wojtalewicz, chief financial officer at CHI Health, a 15-facility, nonprofit hospital system.

President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is as divisive as ever six years after its passage, with Republicans including presidential candidate Donald Trump vowing to repeal it. Yet as critics focus on the legislation’s insurance mandates and penalties, the biggest impact has come from Medicaid expansion, a decision made at state level.

Geisinger to add 1,500 new jobs

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http://www.dailyitem.com/news/local_news/geisinger-to-add-new-jobs/article_2109a3ec-7050-5062-adb7-4fdd6da657e9.html

Geisinger 100th a

Following a decade of unprecedented growth, Geisinger Health System has launched a nationwide recruitment effort to increase its workforce 5 percent, by hiring more than 1,500 physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses and support staff.

And that recruiting “will certainly continue to include many positions in the central Pennsylvania region, where Geisinger was founded and has its corporate headquarters,” according to an early evening statement released by Geisinger.

“Caring for more than 3 million patients every year takes a team,” said Julene Campion, vice president of talent management at Geisinger, in a prepared statement. “Every day, our 30,000 employees strive to improve that care. This responsibility has motivated Geisinger to push the boundaries of geography and healthcare innovation, grow its medical specialty and subspecialty offerings, and recruit the best and the brightest for more than 1,500 critical healthcare positions to better care for our patients in the communities we serve.”

Geisinger is seeking candidates for all levels of employment, including administration, clerical, environmental services, food services, laboratory services, information technology, marketing, occupational therapy, pharmacy and research.

In the past year, Geisinger President and CEO Dr. David Feinberg has also instituted a $10 minimum wage across the health system.

5 Reasons Nurses Want to Leave Your Hospital

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/nurse-leaders/5-reasons-nurses-want-leave-your-hospital?spMailingID=9509032&spUserID=MTMyMzQyMDQxMTkyS0&spJobID=1001087312&spReportId=MTAwMTA4NzMxMgS2

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Your nurses have one eye on the door if you do any of the following.

Are your nurses engaged, committed employees? Or are they biding their time until they can go somewhere better?  Job opportunities for RNs and APRNs abound, and even nurses who appear content may be planning their exit strategies.

To predict whether you face an exodus, take a look at the following five reasons why your nurses want out.

The Ultimate Battle Against MRSA

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-ultimate-battle-against-mrsa-1473699288

An electron micrograph image of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA (the purple spheres).

Hospitals give ICU patients germ-killing baths and antibiotic nose ointment upon admission

8 Things Providers Don’t Know About Debt Collection and Cell Phones

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/health-plans/8-things-providers-dont-know-about-debt-collection-and-cell-phones?spMailingID=9509032&spUserID=MTMyMzQyMDQxMTkyS0&spJobID=1001087312&spReportId=MTAwMTA4NzMxMgS2

8 Things Providers Don't Know About Debt Collection and Cell Phones

Now that the FCC has clarified rules for contacting patients about payments, hospitals and health systems are risking multi-million dollar settlements by failing to take the law seriously.

A California hospital chain is learning the hard way that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), clarified by federal authorities last year, creates new hurdles for health systems that want to use cell phones as part of their debt collection efforts.

CFOs and revenue cycle managers must now ensure that they are in strict compliance with the limitations on cell phone calls, or declare a moratorium on all such calls until they can be sure, experts say.

HR’s Emerging Role In Human Governance

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http://www.eremedia.com/tlnt/95903/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=34278179&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–4kR0_9LNZUyfAnl3JEkyOirR2gyTIZ49FO6QwxlVZ_6gvDMeGO4a20DVs7ToV-Att560N-6s0Kk1rvoPVZvVArH7R0w&_hsmi=34278179

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Investors are shifting the goalposts for business accountability beyond the traditional quarterly reports on revenue, profit and growth. As well as traditional reporting, forward-thinking investors now want to see how a business maximizes its human capital without creating any associated harm or risk within the organization or in the wider community.

This new focus is called human governance, and over the next few years it’s set to become as important a measure of corporate performance as traditional reporting has been over decades past.

Human governance manifests itself through ensuring the entire extended workforce can maximize its own personal value, and through this, a business is able to maximize its own value. This maximization of value comes about through the broader expectations the community has for business. While profit remains important, the community – and now investors – are also putting value on how sustainable an organization’s operations are, how well it treats its employees, and the broader contributions the business makes to society as a whole.

This new focus on maximizing human value also has significant ramifications for the HR operation within an organization. Gone are the days of HR being policy and governance police, the home of hiring, firing and vetting staff performance.