Study finds that physicians believe a fifth of all medical care is unnecessary with fear of lawsuits identified as a primary driver for wasteful healthcare practices, but fee-for-services also seen as a major contributor. The study also identified a number of solutions for mitigating the problem including increased training, better access to health records, and […]
National Physician Organization Demands EHR Overhaul
The AMA describes current EHR systems as poorly designed and implemented, and responsible for consuming over 50% of physician time. The American Medical Association (AMA) report describes primary care physicians spending nearly six hours of an average 11.4-hour workday, and list eight principles that EHR technologies must address in order to be supportive of clinical […]
NQF: Patient Reported Outcome Measures Insufficiently Used
National Quality Forum (NQF) study revealed that healthcare professionals were not paying sufficient attention to Patient Reported Outcomes, failed to prioritize patient outcome priorities. NQF described “patient voice” as a key success factor in healthcare quality, and described a misalignment in priorities between patients and care providers in which patient voice was not sufficiently incorporated. […]
Patient Satisfaction Scores Predict Hospital Quality and Safety Metrics
Study finds that a 10% difference in patient satisfaction ratings predict a 2.8% difference in mortality rates, and a 1.9% difference in 30 day readmission rates. Hospital quality metrics are difficult to interpret and may be biased by patient demographics and the breakdown of services provided, but patient satisfaction was found to predict quality metrics. […]
National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Shows Little Improvement
The 2016 report shows improvement to quality in the United States, but disparities show slow and minimal improvement from 2010 to present day. Access for the uninsured showed some improvement compared to already insured and while some disparity metrics showed slight improvement, poor and uninsured populations continue to struggle. Excerpt: “The report is based on […]
Employers Health Plans are Moving Towards Value-Based Care
Across the US, many large employers’ healthcare plans will incorporate some component of value-based care. In addition, these large organizations are seeking plans with access to accountable care organizations (ACOs). Excerpt: “The nation’s largest employers are moving quickly toward value-based approaches to contain health costs and improve quality, employers and health benefits firms say. With […]
Key U.S. Outpatient Care Quality Metrics Remain Low
Review of 46 indicators of outpatient care quality showed mixed results, with marginal gains in some areas and declining quality in others. Marginal quality improvements seen in recommended medical treatments, counseling and cancer screening, and avoidance of inappropriate cancer screenings, while recommended diagnostic and preventive testing, recommended diabetes care, and inappropriate imaging avoidance were unchanged, […]
Moving U.S. Healthcare from Last to First
There are four root causes for the U.S. healthcare system to be ranked last among high-income countries and spend more on healthcare than any other country. Root causes include lack of access, underinvestment in primary care, administrative inefficiency, and disparities in care delivery. Excerpt: “Many Americans believe that the United States has the best health […]
The Fallacies Surrounding Physician Report Cards
The main goal of physician report cards is to show the effectiveness of the physicians and assess the quality of care administered to patients, ideally resulting in an overall healthier population. The report cards gather data from checked boxes in the patients’ EHRs, which the providers are required to check. If a box is not […]