The San Antonio (TX) organization builds a marketing campaign around its access to experts and range of care options.
University Health System in San Antonio, TX, is highlighting its quality of care in a 30-second television ad airing on broadcast and cable networks in Bexar County.
The ad, created by Richmond, VA-based ad agency ndp, tells the story of a patient who benefitted from the care she received at University Health System, the academic medical center partner for the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
The TV spot is part of a brand campaign that launched earlier this year and includes digital, print, and outdoor ads. The effort also includes large printed panels displayed in San Antonio International Airport corridors, and a 10-second video about the health system that is shown on screens throughout the terminal.
The message of the campaign, "Some See ... We See," is that University Health System can provide unique care options through its access to a range of experts.
"This advertising campaign is all about possibilities," said ndp Executive Creative Director Jimmy Ashworth. "We wanted to emphasize the importance and difference made by having a hospital that also has access to the expertise, knowledge, and research of a university."
To make that point, ndp and University Health System highlighted the experiences of patients who have benefitted from the health system's willingness to "think beyond" with regard to care and treatment.
The televsion ad features an avid gardener whose liver disease was treated with a living donor transplant. The headline reads: "Some see a failing liver. We see a life about to bloom."
"Increasing awareness for the unique value we provide as the region's academic medical center required a thorough approach in terms of research and creative development," said Leni Kirkman, University Health System's senior vice president of strategic communications and patient relations.
Lenox Hill will continue to be the official hospital of the New York Rangers under the expanded marketing deal.
Northwell Health has renewed and expanded a multi-year marketing partnership that designates Lenox Hill Hospital as the official hospital of the New York Rangers hockey team and an official partner of Madison Square Garden.
Lenox Hill Hospital and Northwell Health will receive premier brand integration and exposure across Madison Square Garden's assets, including venue signage, digital platforms, and a health and wellness platform called "Life Long Fans, Long Term Health."
"This sponsorship gives Lenox Hill Hospital and our health system great exposure throughout the metropolitan area," Ramon Soto, Northwell Health senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer, said in a media release.
"We are thrilled to be partnered with one of the city's premier sports franchises and a great entertainment venue like Madison Square Garden."
The partnership includes brand exposure during every Rangers home game, including branded dasher boards, home bench and penalty box signage, a feature on GardenVision (the center-hung scoreboard), and LED ribbons, the release states.
"We are proud that Northwell Health views this partnership so strongly that they not only renewed, but expanded their affiliation with Madison Square Garden," said Ron Skotarczak, executive vice president, marketing partnerships, for The Madison Square Garden Company.
"This partnership combines our world-class venue and iconic sports team in a customized marketing platform that provides Northwell Health with the unique brand exposure in New York that only MSG could provide."
Northwell Health will provide content on the official Rangers mobile app and throughout the Rangers social media platforms, including updates and video features throughout the season.
As part of the expanded partnership and "Life Long Fans, Long Term Health" platform, Northwell Health will be the presenting partner for the RangersTown 5K road race November 19 in Rye, NY.
The race is expected to draw about 1,200 participants. All net proceeds will go toward the Garden of Dreams Foundation and the Northwell Health Foundation.
An initiative led by the University of Michigan and the state's department of health aims to educate hospitals and surgical teams and to slash post-surgery prescriptions by half.
Surgeons prescribe nearly 40% of opioid painkillers in Michigan, and about one in 10 patients become dependent on them following surgery, University of Michigan researchers have determined.
To address both issues, the University of Michigan is working with the state to educate surgical teams about opioid use through the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network (Michigan-OPEN). The goal is to cut in half both the amount of opioids prescribed to Michigan surgical patients, and the number of patients who still use opioids many months after surgery.
Michigan-OPEN will be funded by a $1.4 million-per-year, five-year grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and equal funding from University of Michigan. The project will work with 12 Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan Collaborative Quality Initiatives (CQIs), which are networks of physicians, nurses, and hospitals across Michigan that collaborate to improve surgical care.
The CQIs will distribute information about how to understand and use best practices for pain control in their patients.
The team hopes that the information will help not only providers, but also state policymakers and insurance plans combat the opioid epidemic.
Chad Brummett, MD, director of the Division of Pain Research in the U-M Department of Anesthesiology, and surgeons Michael Englesbe, MD, and Jennifer Waljee, MD, MPH, MS will lead a team that will collect, analyze, and share information about opioid prescribing patterns in the state.
"Surgeons prescribe nearly 40% of opioid painkillers in Michigan, but have few resources to guide them on best use of the drugs by patients before and after surgery," Brummett said in a statement. "We hope that by working with surgical teams across the state, we can fill that gap for the benefit of individual patients and our state as a whole."
Michigan-OPEN will work with each CQI to create "bundles" of tactics targeted to both patients and healthcare providers, that each hospital can use to reduce opioid prescribing and dependence. This includes strategies geared toward not just surgeons, but also primary care and specialty physicians who care for surgical patients before and after their operations.
The Michigan-OPEN effort will put special focus on Medicaid patients, who account for 12% of surgical patients in the state but make up 30% of people who develop a dependence on opioids after surgery.
In addition to addiction prevention in patients whose first opioid experience happens with surgery, Michigan-OPEN will focus on patients who were taking prescription opioids before they had surgery.
The university has also created a guide to holding a take-back event as well as a map of all known drug take-back locations in the state, and will encourage hospitals to hold drug take-back events in their communities.
These efforts can be effective: A recent drug-return event in Ann Arbor collected approximately 89,500 pills, and most of those were prescribed following surgery. The oldest opioid pill turned in was prescribed in 1990.
The $9.5M, six-year initiative aims to get 90% of Vermont Medicare beneficiaries in an ACO by 2022.
In an effort to broaden accountable care organization (ACO) participation throughout Vermont, the state has teamed up with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop an All-Payer ACO Model, CMS announced this week.
Under the program, set to begin January 1, major payers throughout the state—Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial healthcare payers—will incentivize healthcare value and quality under the same payment structure for the majority of providers throughout the state's care delivery system.
In particular, Vermont has prioritized outcomes surrounding substance use disorder, suicides, chronic conditions, and access to care.
The voluntary program will provide Vermont clinicians startup funding of $9.5 million to help them bolster care coordination and collaboration. Meanwhile, CMS has approved a five-year extension of Vermont's section 1115(a) Medicaid demonstration, enabling Medicaid to be a full partner in the new ACO.
“This model is historic in terms of its scope, aiming to include almost all providers and people throughout the state in an all-payer ACO model to drive improved quality, better care coordination, healthier people, and smarter spending,” said Patrick Conway, MD, CMS principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer.
Vermont's ACO will build on a three-year-old all-payer model in Maryland. CMS officials expect to work closely with Vermont's Green Mountain Care Board to help providers, including physicians in small practices, to succeed under the value-based system.
Importantly, the Vermont Medicare ACO Initiative is considered a Medicare Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) for the providers in the two-sided risk Medicare ACO portion of the model within CMS's Quality Payment Program, meaning that participating clinicians may qualify for the advanced APM bonus payments starting in performance year 2018.
The program will end on December 31, 2022, by which the state aims to have 70% of all insured residents, including 90% of Vermont Medicare beneficiaries, attributed to an ACO.
The state is also planning to limit its annualized per capita healthcare expenditure growth for all major payers to 3.5%, and limit Medicare per capita healthcare expenditure growth for Vermont Medicare beneficiaries to at least 0.1–0.2 percentage points below that of projected national Medicare growth.
Hospital bedrails and the pockets and sleeves of healthcare workers' scrubs are the most likely sites for contamination in the ICU, research finds.
Nurses and other hospital direct care workers need to be aware of the "transmission triangle"—patients, the environment, and the provider, according to a new study from Duke University Hospital.
The study was presented at IDWeek, a joint meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society in New Orleans.
Any type of activity in patient care, including walking into a patient room where care is provided, "truly should be considered a chance for interacting with organisms that can cause disease," Deverick Anderson, MD, the study's lead author, said in a statement.
The researchers took cultures from the sleeves, pockets, and midriff area of surgical scrubs of 40 ICU nurses at Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC. The scrubs were new and the samples were collected at the start and end of each shift.
The researchers also sampled the nurses' patients and the patients' beds, bedrails, and supply carts. Samples were collected from 167 patients during 120 shifts of 12 hours each. The study collected 2,185 cultures from the nurses' clothing, 455 from patients, and 2,919 from patients' rooms.
Molecular analysis revealed organisms on the nurses' clothing at the end of shifts that were not present at the start. Reseachers looked for the same organisms in the rooms and on the patients, specifically pathogens that were known to cause difficult-to-treat infections including MRSA.
Pockets and sleeves of the scrubs and bed rails were the most likely sites for contamination, according to the research.
In 12 cases, at least one of the five pathogens were transmitted from the patient or the room to the scrubs. The study also identified six cases of transmission from patient-to-nurse and room-to-nurse, and 10 transmissions from the patient to the room.
However, researchers did not find any nurse-to-patient or nurse-to-room transmission.
In 2011, there were an estimated 722,000 healthcare-acquired infections in U.S. acute care hospitals, and about 75,000 patients with HAIs died during their hospitalizations. More than half of all HAIs occurred outside of the intensive care unit, the CDC stated.
Medicare Advantage health plans are leading the charge in adoption of alternative payment models in the healthcare industry, a report prepared for HHS says.
One of the most ambitious attempts so far to gauge adoption of alternative payment models in the healthcare industry shows significant uptake among commercial payers, Medicare Advantage health plans and Medicaid programs.
A MITRE report released this week indicates that 25% of healthcare spending this year at commercial payers, Medicare Advantage health plans and Medicaid programs will be made through APMs.
MITRE, a not-for-profit organization that operates federally funded research and development centers prepared the report as part of a Department of Health & Human Services contract.
The report shows a modest increase in APM adoption from 2015 to this year. Last year, 23% of healthcare spending was made through APMs at commercial payers, Medicare Advantage health plans and Medicaid programs.
This year, Medicare Advantage health plans have the highest rate of APM adoption, with 41% of healthcare spending made through APMs.
APM adoption at commercial payers and Medicaid programs this year as reflected in healthcare spending is pegged at about half the rate observed at Medicare Advantage health plans: 22% at commercial payers and 18% at Medicaid programs, the report says.
MITRE collected data from 70 health plans and two Medicaid fee-for-service states. Health plans including Medicaid programs were determined as "the optimal source of data for tracking the implementation of APMs,"
"Health plans pay providers for delivering healthcare services to patients, and the contracts between plans and providers establish whether plans pay providers through traditional FFS or alternative payment models," the report says.
It focuses on two value-based categories of APMs:
Shared-savings APM models that are based on a "FFS architecture while providing mechanisms for effective management" of healthcare-service delivery such as bundled payments.
APM models with per-member-per-month payments that healthcare providers receive "to manage all of a patient's care and/or conditions."
Last year, HHS set a goal of linking 30% of traditional Medicare FFS payments to value-based APMs by this year, with the bar raised to 50% of Medicare FFS payments in 2018. In March, HHS announced that the 30% goal had been reached.
"These goals are expected to accelerate the adoption and dissemination of meaningful financial incentives to reward providers delivering higher quality and higher value care," the MITRE report says.
A framework of strategies has been developed around five dimensions of inpatient diagnostic errors. Researchers say their work is also applicable to other patient populations.
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have developed a framework of strategies to reduce diagnosis errors in hospitalized patients.
While investigating diagnosis errors in hospitalized patients, the researchers identified five dimensions of diagnosis, then analyzed errors to identify improvement opportunities within each dimension. Their work was published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
National patient safety initiatives and CMS's efforts to reduce hospital-acquired conditions and readmissions have not focused on misdiagnoses, noted study co-author Hardeep Singh, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at Baylor and chief of the Health Policy, Quality and Informatics Program at the Houston VA Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety.
The research focused on inpatients, but the dimensions of diagnosis and corresponding improvement opportunities are broadly applicable, Singh said in a statement.
The five dimensions and some suggested improvements include:
Patient-physician encounter: Allocate time to effectively communicate with patients; seek "cognitive support" to assist decision-making in cases of uncertainty
Performance and interpretation of diagnostic tests: Collaborate in person with lab professionals and radiologists to interpret complex test results or in cases of difficult diagnosis
Follow-up and tracking of diagnostic information over time: Do not overlook past diagnostic data during the current hospitalization; clarify responsibilities of follow-up of abnormal test results
Subspecialty consultation-related communication and coordination: Use direct verbal communication when making critical decisions; ensure everyone on the team is on same page about the diagnosis when multiple consultants are involved
Patient-focused strategies: Encourage proactive patient and family participation in the diagnostic process; encourage patients to look at their own medical notes to find inconsistencies
The authors also noted "conceptual challenges" surrounding diagnosis errors. For example, it can be difficult to identify whether an error has occurred and the way people think about diagnoses and errors can change over time.
"The term 'error' should be used only when unequivocal evidence suggests that a key finding was missed or not investigated when it should have been," the researchers wrote. "Errors should also be framed as learning and improvement opportunities, not moments for assigning blame."
Thinking of errors as missed opportunities gives clinicians the chance to identify what could have been done differently in the diagnostic process and how to apply this knowledge to improve safety, the researchers concluded.
In the largest settlement with a skilled nursing facility chain in DOJ history, federal prosecutors say Life Care Centers of America billed Medicare and TRICARE for unnecessary rehab therapy.
Life Care Centers of America, Inc. and its owner Forrest L. Preston will pay $145 million to resolve whistleblower False Claims Act allegations, the Department of Justice said Monday. The settlement is the largest FCA settlement with a skilled nursing facility chain in DOJ history.
The federal lawsuit against Cleveland, TN-based Life Care Centers alleged the SNF chain charged TRICARE and Medicare "for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary, and/or skilled," DOJ stated.
Under the terms of the settlement, Life Care and its more than 220 SNFs in 28 states will enter into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, DOJ said.
"Billing federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary rehabilitation services not only undermines the viability of those programs, it exploits our most vulnerable citizens," said Nancy Stallard Harr, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, in remarks accompanying the announcement.
Based on the company's ability to pay, the settlement will be paid over the next three years, and includes a $45 million initial payment. The payback resolves allegations that between January 1, 2006 and February 1, 2013, Life Care submitted false claims for rehabilitation therapy in a systematic effort to increase its Medicare and TRICARE billings.
Life Care used corporatewide policies designed to place as many beneficiaries in the highest reimbursement category for therapy irrespective of the clinical needs of the patients, DOJ said.
Life Care also kept patients longer than was necessary to continue billing for rehab, even after therapists felt that therapy should be stopped. Life Care tracked the minutes of therapy provided to each patient and number of days in therapy to ensure as many patients as possible were at the highest level of reimbursement for the longest possible period.
The settlement also resolves allegations brought in a separate federal lawsuit that Preston—the sole shareholder of Life Care—was unjustly enriched by the scheme.
The federal lawsuit was initiated on whistleblower allegations made by former Life Care employees Tammie Taylor and Glenda Martin, who will share $29 million of the settlement.
Life Care quoted Preston in a media release on Monday that acknowledged the settlement but denied wrongdoing. "We deny in the strongest possible terms that Life Care engaged in any illegal or improper conduct," Preston said.
"We are, however, pleased to finally put this matter behind us, without any admission of wrongdoing, and we look forward to continuing our efforts to deliver quality care and services to our patients, residents, and their families."
Potential merger would create a one of the nation's largest non-profit health systems, with more than 140 hospitals and hundreds of clinics and physicians' offices in two dozen states.
Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) have signed a non-binding letter of intent "to explore aligning their organizations and expanding their mission," the two non-profit health systems stated in a joint media release.
"Healthcare is at a turning point in our nation," Lloyd H. Dean, president and CEO of Dignity Health, said in prepared remarks. "Through a stronger strategic and financial foundation, an aligned ministry would accelerate our ability to advance our healing mission into the future."
Kevin E. Lofton, CEO of CHI, said aligning the two health systems "will allow us to play a far more significant role in transforming healthcare in this country. Together, we could enhance our shared ministry as the health industry transitions to a system that rewards the quality and cost-effectiveness of care."
Discussions between the boards of trustees at both health systems are expected to continue through early 2017.
San Francisco-based Dignity Health is already one of the nation's largest non-profit healthcare systems, with a 22-state network that includes 39 acute care hospitals, more than 9,000 affiliated physicians, 62,000 employees, and more than 400 care centers.
Englewood, CO-based CHI is the nation's third-largest nonprofit health system and operates 103 hospitals in 18 states, including four academic health centers, a teaching hospital, and 30 critical-access facilities.
The two health systems' respective strengths complement one another, Dignity Health and CHI in their joint statement. CHI has a diverse geographic footprint with clinical service lines and home-health capabilities, and has successfully partnered with researchers and educators. Dignity Health has scaled systemwide initiatives to ensure consistent medical practices.
There is no geographical overlap of acute care facilities between the two systems, and both include Catholic and non-Catholic healthcare affiliates with a mission to serve the poor and underserved.
Monday's announcement of the letter of intent follows last month's announcement that the two systems formed a partnership called the Precision Medicine Alliance LLC, which will create the largest community-based precision medicine program in the country.
Eleven of the nation's largest commercial plans offer to share their data and experience on cost-savings and improved access to care with the Congressional Budget Office, as Congress crafts legislation to expand telemedicine within Medicare.
Commercial health insurance companies are offering to share their data on the value of telemedicine to federal actuaries who are estimating the cost of expanding remote coverage under Medicare.
"We view telemedicine as an important tool in increasing consumer access to high quality, affordable healthcare, improving patient satisfaction and reducing costs" 11 commercial payers said in a letter this week to Congressional Budget Office Director Keith Hall. "We believe our experience in the commercial market can inform estimates of the impact of policy changes in Medicare."
Telemedicine in Medicare is reimbursable only on under a narrow set of circumstances, but Congress is examining ways to expand it. Any legislation to expand Medicare telemedicine that comes with a price tag attached will require scoring by the CBO, which has limited experience in estimating the value and cost of telemedicine because of the federal government's limited exposure.
Because of that, the commercial payers say their data could provide a clearer picture of the effects of telemedicine on access to care, health outcomes and budgetary impacts.
"As you know, actuaries in the insurance industry conduct careful analysis before coverage decisions are made. Available data supports the value proposition of telehealth and shows that there are significant savings to be gained even as it increases access to care," the payers wrote.
The payers cited one actuarial study that examined data from five telemedicine platforms found that telehealth services save money. "The data suggests that, on average, 83% of telehealth visits resolved the clinical issue for which care was being sought via telehealth, requiring no additional follow-up care. Patients therefore have no need to go to urgent care, the ER or the doctor's office," the payers told Hall.
The 11 insurers are: Aetna; Anthem; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee; Cambia Health Solutions; CareSource; EmblemHealth; HMSA - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii; Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey; Humana; Molina Healthcare; and MVP Health Care.