Counting the costs
of bad behavior
Experts say healthcare facilities
are prone to workplace bullying
INDUSTRY NEWS 3
PCMH project takes root
in Pacific Northwest
Washington project links state's
largest provider and insurer
A mobile platform for
pharmacy information
New app allows docs, patients to
access drug costs, history
SOLUTIONS & SERVICES 29
JUNE
2011
INDUSTRY NEWS
3
; Bullying: When doctors go bad
; Congress debates SGR's fate
; GOP, Dems spar over Medicare
COMMENTARY
8
; It's time to talk transformation
; Best practices for billing
; Keep an eye on investments
HOSPITALS & IDNs
11
; Providers team up in Chicago
; Uncompensated care trends up
; MAP Award winners announced
Putting a price on violence
Healthcare experts say
the consequences
are financial as well
as physical
COMMUNITY CARE
17
; The benefits of therapy gardens
; Retail healthcare takes root
; Going beyond clinical education
By Stephanie Bouchard, Associate Editor
THERE ARESOME who argue that human beings are vio- lent by nature. What can’t be argued is that violence
has costs – culturally, surely, but also
in dollars and cents, and one of the
industries where the cost impact is
huge is healthcare.
In 2005, an estimated $406 billion
in medical and work loss costs were
attributed to injury – classified as
stemming from violent and nonviolent incidences – according to the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Violence-related deaths cost
about $47 billion a year in medical
PAYERS
23
; Md. launches health plan website
; Talking about dual eligibles
; Washington PCMH project grows
SOLUTIONS & SERVICES 29
and work loss costs, with the average
medical costs per violence-related
death at $4,196 for men and $4,231
for women.
Firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of violence-related deaths, says
the CDC, representing 57 percent of all violent deaths and accounting for $27.7
billion in medical and work loss costs.
“What we’ve done is we’ve taken
an attitude as a society, and partic-
ularly in medicine, that violence is
inevitable and that we can’t do any-
thing about it. I think that is just as
lethal as the violent act itself,” said
Edward Barksdale Jr., MD, medical
director for trauma and chief of pedi-
atric surgery at University Hospitals
Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hos-
pital in Cleveland.
; Pharmacy data goes mobile
; Unveiling the 'ACO-in-a-box'
; Urgent care gets its own PM
PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY 34
HHS launches hospital value-based purchasing program
; Building the proper budget
TRENDS
36
P4P for hospitals will become the norm
; The provider-payer relationship
JOB SPOT
37
TAPPED OUT:
Medicare
Trust Fund
dry by 2024
; Good news on jobs, salaries
www.HealthcareFinanceNews.com
Med Tech Media/Vol. 6 No. 5
By Diana Manos, Senior Editor
WASHINGTON – The Department of Health and
Human Services has launched an initiative to
reward hospitals for the quality of care they provide to Medicare beneficiaries.
The program is the beginning of what HHS officials hope will make pay-for-performance (P4P)
the norm. HHS officials said the program would
also help reduce healthcare costs.
Authorized by the Affordable Care Act, the hospital value-based purchasing program marks the
beginning of a historic change in how Medicare
pays healthcare providers and facilities, according to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. For the
first time, she said, 3,500 hospitals across the
country will be paid for inpatient acute care services based on care quality, not just the quantity
of the services they provide.
“Changing the way we pay hospitals will
VBP SEE PAGE 26
"Medicare is in a unique position to reward hospitals for improving the quality of care they provide." – Donald Berwick, MD
By Chris Anderson, Senior Editor
WASHINGTON – A new Medicare Trustees
Report projects that Medicare’s Hospital
Insurance Fund will run dry in 2024, five years
earlier than projected in last year’s report.
The reasons for moving the target date
from 2029 to 2024, trustees said, are the
continuing weakness in the employment
market, which resulted in less income from
payroll deductions used to fund the program,
and a steady increase in healthcare costs.
But the report also noted a great deal
of uncertainty in the projections due to
