Cost Effectiveness of Health Report, April 2023

This issue of HFMA’s Cost Effectiveness of Health Report, sponsored by Kaufman, Hall &  Associates, LLC, explores how a focus on fitness can promote health and deliver value for patients. Also included are reports on recent developments in the nation’s efforts to address health equity social determinants of health.

Value-based care and fitness

Why promoting health and fitness should be a primary goal for all U.S. health systems
By Eric C. Reese, PhD
Michael Giardina of CrossFit LLC underscores the need for healthcare organizations to incorporate a fitness focus into their plans for value-based patient care. Possibilities include partnering with fitness organizations or employing fitness coaches, Giardina said, noting that “improving your fitness as you age is what produces health.”

News: SDoH and health equity

Data capture and coding for social determinants of health are works in progress, per reports
By Nick Hut
Studies find that identifying and acting on the social needs of a patient population will remain a daunting task in the absence of greater and more focused funding.

Hospital operational changes underway as health equity becomes one of The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals
By Lisa A. Eramo, MA
Reducing healthcare disparities became a Joint Commission accreditation standard on Jan. 1, as the organization followed up on its Sentinel Event Alert warning, issued a little over a year earlier, regarding the impacts of such disparities on patient safety.

Real estate

Improving performance across the real estate portfolio
Sponsored by Kaufman Hall
By Brent Farrell and Kiel Von Feldt
As health systems continue to face intense operational and financial pressures, performance improvement initiatives must reach all aspects of the organization. Often overlooked in performance improvement efforts is the real estate portfolio, both owned and leased.

Academic medicine

Academic medicine, where privilege compounds dysfunction  
By David W. Johnson 
Academic medicine combines healthcare with higher education, the two U.S. economic sectors that have exhibited outsized cost growth over the past 50 years. The result is a stunning disconnection between academic medical center (AMC) business practices and the supply-demand dynamics reshaping healthcare delivery.

Leadership

The courage to embrace change
By Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA
HFMA President and CEO Joe Fifer offers a perspective on a fundamental professional challenge for healthcare finance professionals.

Voice of experience

Routine rounding helps create opportunities for financial improvements
By Steven Berger, FHFMA
Laurie R. Beyer, MBA, CPA, executive vice president and CFO at GBMC HealthCare in Maryland, and a 33-year HFMA member, shares her views on the importance of having clinical and administrative leaders routinely and frequently participate in rounding together to gain a close-up understanding of the issues impacting each point of service in the medical center.

Health and wellness

Why more is needed to address America’s most prevalent “illness”
By David Wheeler, MBA, MS
The huge drop in deaths from the flu during the COVID-19 exposed poor hygiene as a leading cause of such deaths, providing a sober indicator of why healthcare organizations should step up their effort to educate their patients on the importance of hygienic measures.