Quality

The focus of quality improvement in healthcare is to bolster performance and processes related to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Leaders in this space also ensure the proper selection of imaging exams and procedures, and monitor the safety of services, among other duties. Reimbursement programs such as the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) utilize financial incentives to improve quality. This also includes setting and maintaining care quality initiatives, such as the requirements set by the Joint Commission.

Anatomy

Free tuition for future physicians expands southward

Ochsner Health, the 41-hospital system serving Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South, is joining the ranks of academic medical institutions committed to paying the tuition of homegrown future physicians.

February 13, 2020
Emergency Patient

America’s 100 best hospitals, according to Healthgrades

Healthgrades says it arrives at its results after analyzing the performance of close to 4,500 hospitals treating patients for such conditions as heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke.

February 11, 2020
Flight Board

Transplant-ready organs are ‘frequent flyers’ with delay-prone commercial airlines

Scores of organs—mostly kidneys—are trashed each year and many more become critically delayed while being shipped on commercial airliners.

February 10, 2020
Keto diet may raise risk of cardiovascular issues

Another red meat study says heart health, death risks rise with consumption

Meat lovers beware: a new study gives a forkful of warnings about meat consumption and the associated risks of heart disease and death.

February 5, 2020

HIV vaccine fails trial in South Africa

An experimental vaccine to prevent HIV has proven ineffective in preventing the virus, according to a study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

February 4, 2020

Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay pelvic mesh settlement of $344M

Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $344 million to settle lawsuits that the pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods deceptively marketed its transvaginal mesh medical device product.

February 3, 2020
Laboratory

More than half of clinical studies fail to post results

Researchers conducting applicable clinical trials are required to post their study results within one year, but compliance with this requirement is very poor, according to a new study published in The Lancet.

January 31, 2020
Hospital staff walking through a medical facility, intentionally blurred to look artistic

Why hospitals mergers fail to improve care

Healthcare mergers and acquisition has been on a hot streak for a number of years, but not all hospital mergers end up achieving their stated goals. For instance, hospital mergers may actually increase prices rather than decrease them, according to some studies.

January 31, 2020

Around the web

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions and Society of Thoracic Surgeons have both shared statements in support of the ban, which is already being challenged in court. The American Hospital Association, meanwhile, opposes the policy shift, saying it “errs by seeking to create a one-size-fits-all rule”

Alison Bailey, MD, co-chair of the business of cardiology sessions at ACC.24, emphasized that reimbursement cuts can have a long-term negative impact on patient. 

In addition, cardiologists average an additional $75,000 per year in incentive-based bonuses. That number is only higher for two other specialties. 

Trimed Popup
Trimed Popup