Healthcare News of Note: Department of Justice files formal challenge to UnitedHealth Group’s proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare
Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles: Hospitals react positively to news that the U.S. DoJ will challenge a proposed merger between UnitedHealth Group and Change Healthcare, $265 billion of care services could shift from traditional settings to the home by 2025, and a study says the level of community benefit provided by nonprofit hospitals is poorly aligned with the tax subsidy they receive.
Joe Fifer: Cost effectiveness of health: Why now?
HFMA President and CEO Joe Fifer addresses the urgency of making the shift toward cost effectiveness of health.
Paul Keckley: Improving nutrition in the U.S. starts with addressing the elephants in the room
Good nutrition remains elusive for many Americans because they face obstacles in being able to make healthy choices. These “elephants in the room” can only be addressed by policymakers, with the engagement of healthcare and other sectors of society.
6 ways to ease physicians’ burden from coding, documentation and risk adjustment
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for U.S. health systems to gain physician cooperation in documenting and coding patient risk. Yet these organizations also should be mindful of the administrative burden many physicians feel from having to perform these processes, which has contributed to feelings of burnout among them. This article describes six steps hospitals and health systems can take to help ease the administrative burden for physicians, which is necessary to ensure the future quality and effectiveness of the nation’s healthcare system.
8 ways healthcare providers can smooth the DRG audit process
A health system’s financial sustainability depends on its being paid appropriately for the services it delivers. Yet routine payer audits can all too often result in downgrades of a health system’s billed diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), resulting in lower payment. It therefore behooves health systems to be well prepared for such audits and thoroughly understand why payers’ are most inclined to take such action.
Omicron, swelling expenses characterize end of another challenging year for hospitals, physician groups
The nation’s hospitals, health systems and physician groups closed the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic amid ballooning expenses exacerbated by nationwide labor shortages and global supply chain challenges.
Omicron, swelling expenses characterize end of another challenging year for hospitals, physician groups
The nation’s hospitals, health systems and physician groups closed the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic amid ballooning expenses exacerbated by nationwide labor shortages and global supply chain challenges.
Bold pursuits require persistence and curiosity
I hope this message finds you and your family safe, healthy and having had the opportunity to enjoy the holiday season. Safe and healthy is no small hurdle to surpass as of late. Over the past few months, we have encountered tornadoes, fires, storms and a new COVID variant that is making its way through…
Latest healthcare spending data paint a complicated picture of industry challenges and opportunities
Healthcare spending patterns during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic reflect an industry trying to get its bearings amid a public health emergency and daunting long-term trends.
‘A just cause’: HFMA’s CEoH initiative addresses the factors that impede quality of health and raise healthcare costs
HFMA is moving forward with a global effort focused on the concept of cost effectiveness of health (CEoH), with the goal for promoting development of a system for care that is needed, accessible and affordable. A key message of this effort is that a broader focus on improving cost effectiveness of health — not just of healthcare — should be a strategic priority for healthcare leaders.