Healthcare Finance News | Enterprise Resource Planning

Healthcare Finance News Staff

As hospitals and health systems launch construction projects and refinance debt in order to remain competitive in the marketplace, they should be considering all their capital financing options, said Thomas R. Green, CEO of Columbus, Ohio-based investment firm Lancaster Pollard.

New York pilot program aims to cut readmissions

May 21, 2012 |

Care managers take the time that physicians often don't have to get to know patients who have chronic and multiple conditions and require a lot of services. The use of care managers in this new Hudson Valley-based program is already showing improved results for readmissions.

OIG pressures CMS on home health sanctions

May 14, 2012 |

Stephanie Bouchard

As the number of home health agencies and fraud cases related to home health agencies continues to skyrocket, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is exerting more pressure on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to fulfill an obligation that is 15 years old.

Compensation incentive programs for healthcare professionals are ineffective

May 14, 2012 |

Stephanie Bouchard

As the healthcare industry continues to move in the direction of using compensation incentives, a new analysis reveals that incentives as currently used are not an effective motivator for healthcare professionals and waste an estimated $20 billion in resources.

Wellness emerges as a real estate strategy

May 14, 2012 |

With a changing medical model that is moving from treating the sick to helping people stay fit, wellness centers have become a component of the real estate strategies for some health systems, hospital executives told an audience of healthcare real estate professionals at BOMA International's Medical Office Building conference in Atlanta May 3.

Extending the PCMH model

May 8, 2012 |

Chris Anderson

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) is a regional insurer serving the greater Kansas City, Mo., market and two Kansas counties. It counts nearly one million members. In 2009, it launched a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) program with area primary care physicians, which has grown from 67 practitioners at its inception to more than 420 doctors today caring for 110,000 Blue KC members. Building on the success of its PCMH initiative, the insurer is bringing a similar model to area health systems and recently signed St. Luke’s Health System as the first under its new Collaborative Value Program. Senior vice president and chief contracting officer Brian Burns spoke recently with Healthcare Finance News Senior Editor Chris Anderson about using the PCMH model as the backbone of Blue KC’s health system collaborations.

Slowdown in capital spending expected in 2012

May 2, 2012 |

In its Spring 2012 Economic Outlook report, Premier healthcare alliance reported that impending reimbursement reductions and uncertainty around the potential impact of health reform will likely lead to more conservative hospital capital budget expenditures for the year.

Hospitals expand to attract well-insured patients

April 10, 2012 |

Targeted geographic expansion into new markets with well-insured people is the new frontier for hospitals seeking a competitive edge in the marketplace, according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) published in the April edition of Health Affairs.

Hospitals save money by ‘going green’

April 9, 2012 |

Kelsey Brimmer

While it may cost slightly more initially, many hospital and healthcare facilities around the country are finding it financially beneficial to receive LEED certifications by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for sustainable designs, green building materials and energy-efficient systems.

New initiative challenges hospitals to improve environmental footprint

April 3, 2012 |

Kelsey Brimmer

The Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) and its founding health systems announced a set of six challenges for hospitals nationwide aimed at improving the healthcare sector's environmental footprint during a media briefing Tuesday.

U.S. not-for-profit healthcare sector pension funding improves, gap still wide

April 3, 2012 |

Many U.S. not-for-profit hospitals and health systems will likely face increased pension funding needs in the next several years despite an improvement in funded status in 2011, according to a Standard & Poor's Ratings Services report released Monday.

Hospital design competition results in a surprise

March 23, 2012 |

Stephanie Bouchard

Kaiser Permanente's first ever hospital design challenge, Small Hospital, Big Idea, came to a surprise ending this week: a tie.

Value Analysis - A Best Practice Approach to Elevated Performance

April 4, 2012 |

Careful consideration of the financial and clinical impact of the medical technologies used has become a strategic imperative. While most healthcare organizations recognize the importance of a committed, multidisciplinary team to drive these critical decisions, many of their Value Analysis teams often still struggle to achieve maximum results. Join this exciting and informative webinar to help you leverage tools and information to improve alignment and optimize your value analysis initiatives.

Technology Standardization Toolkit: How to Gain Alignment and Maximize ROI

January 19, 2012 |

Learn how to obtain the evidence required for standardization across your delivery infrastructure and how to weigh your hospital's functional, technical, support, and financial requirements to ensure you choose the vendor(s) that allow you to receive the maximum return on your investments. In this webinar we will discuss the tools needed to gain visibility into the universe of options to put in place the protocols needed to improve clinical quality while reducing costs in ways that can be implemented on a broad scale.

Carle Hospital and Carle Clinic Merge Saving $4 Million

October 17, 2011 |

While healthcare reform is the hot topic right now, other legislation frequently goes into effect that has a huge impact on healthcare organizations. Take the Stark IV regulation, for example. This regulation states that healthcare organizations cannot refer patients to ancillary services owned by the same organization. Carle Foundation Hospital and Carle Clinic Association both operated as unique entities, however the two relied on each other and had a very symbiotic relationship for upwards of 60 years. A frequent occurrence was clinic doctors working in the hospital referring patients for needed services such as radiology or labwork. Prior to Stark IV, the hospital, which did not have radiology or lab departments, purchased those services from the doctor-owned clinic. With Stark IV taking effect, things needed to change rapidly for the two central Illinois organizations. The two organizations merged to form one nonprofit healthcare system, Carle Hospital. Find out how Carle saved millions by merging their supply chain management, financial management and human capital management systems.

Lawson Analytics for Healthcare: Minimize waste, manage expenses and enhance your ability to deliver quality patient care

October 17, 2011 |

Do you ever ask, "What is my relationship between staffing and patient wait times or incidents?" "Where are opportunities to standardize supplies to reduce costs?" "How does length of stay impact service line profitability?" When it comes to your healthcare organization, you need answers that reveal where you can minimize waste, manage expenses and enhance your ability to deliver quality patient care. View this webinar to learn how analytics for healthcare can help you simplify access to timely information across your organization, deliver accurate information and support faster decision-making and control critical areas of spend so you can focus on improving patient care.

TSG Resources Inc. Improves Financial Reporting and Gains Operational Predictability

September 1, 2011 |

Healthcare organizations that operate a variety of enterprises face a special set of challenges. Often, there's no single system that can bring varying divisions together as a cohesive whole, which means more time spent manually pulling financial and workforce information together to gain a big-picture look at what's happening within the entire organization. Learn how TSG Resources, Inc. improved reporting efficiency across all business lines, processing efficiencies, consolidated payroll and HR management, managed complex payroll taxes and consolidated cash management. TSG also developed an enterprise-level reporting and business intelligence system to consolidate information silos by bringing all divisions into a single reporting system.

Bon Secours Health System Reaps Rewards with System Consolidation

September 1, 2011 |

Without a doubt, maintaining critical patient care systems takes top billing at many healthcare facilities. Bon Secours Health System operates with that priority in mind, but also sees its relationship with Lawson as ranking very high in strategic importance to its overall operation. Consolidating their systems has enabled Bon Secours to achieve dramatic savings through process redesign and refinement. Find out how Bon Secours can now determine and maintain financial excellence, deliver lifesaving patient care supplies, pay employees and liberate employees to fulfill their potential to be good help to those in need.

IDC Study: Better Patient Care...Virtually There

October 20, 2010 |

This IDC Health Insights White Paper identifies the key benefits from desktop virtualization in the clinical environment and presents detailed case studies from three hospitals that are early adopters of desktop virtualization in the clinical environment.

Enabling Fast and Secure Clinician Workflow with One-Touch Desktop Roaming

October 20, 2010 |

This white paper explains how organizations can bridge the gap between clinician productivity and security, solving the “last mile” problem for clinicians by providing seamless, efficient and secure access to electronic patient record data across multiple clients, where and when needed.

Transforming and Modernizing Healthcare IT: Learn to Reduce Costs and Streamline Operations

October 20, 2010 |

Read this overview to discover how to reduce the cost and complexity of existing applications and infrastructure so you can accelerate the implementation of EHR systems and other healthcare IT solutions.

3 tips for hospitals to decide whether to build new facilities or renovate

May 18, 2012 |

What is the most cost efficient method of expansion for a hospital: adding or renovating facilities? Return on investment is key to this question as hospital executives plan to add to their medical real estate portfolio or focus on enhancing their current assets.

3 ways to optimize your hospital's HVAC performance

May 11, 2012 |

Upgrading or replacing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems is one of the most cited energy improvements hospital executives are implementing, 37% according to a Health Facilities Management 2011 survey.

Rethinking the hospital's operating room

May 4, 2012 |

An operating room (OR) that has medical imaging, catheter-based interventions and surgery may sound far fetched as these disciplines have traditionally been in separate spaces, but as hospitals are discovering new and more efficient methods and technologies of delivering patient care, they are bringing these processes together.

Lean helps drive hospital quality and efficiency

April 26, 2012 |

How can hospitals promote efficiency and high-quality results? Look at a Lean approach when designing a new hospital or redesigning an existing one.

Medical real estate industry 2012 trend report part 2

April 19, 2012 |

As the dynamics of healthcare continue evolving, all parties involved from hospitals, to investors, to practitioners, will be better positioned to survive if they understand the trends taking place.

Medical real estate industry 2012 trend report part 1

April 13, 2012 |

What are some of the biggest factors impacting the medical real estate market in 2012?

How Hospitals Can Meet Data Storage Demands for Meaningful Use Stage 2

March 20, 2012 |

With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and Office of the National Coordinator recently releasing the proposed requirements for Stage 2 meaningful use and 2014 certification of electronic health records, hospital executives are looking for viable data storage options to meet their needs.

The future of physician-owned hospitals

March 14, 2012 |

At a time when delivering high quality healthcare is a top priority for every hospital executive, physician-owned hospitals are having much difficulty gaining traction for future expansion and development in light of healthcare reform.

3 reasons why off-campus facilities can be beneficial to hospital executives

March 8, 2012 |

As hospitals and physician groups look for ways to expand into new markets while keeping costs down, building off the hospital campus has become a popular and growing trend.

A medical facility fitting for healthcare reform: Free standing ED

February 29, 2012 |

What’s a progressively growing medical facility that stands to benefit health system and hospital executives, especially in response to healthcare reform? A satellite emergency department (ED).

Healthcare reform's impact on new hospital construction

February 15, 2012 |

With hospital budgets relatively flat from last year for new construction, according to a Health Facilities Management/ASHE 2011 survey, healthcare reform is having a considerable impact on how hospitals are deciding to move forward with construction projects.

5 environmentally sustainable tips for health facilities

January 24, 2012 |

Hospitals spend $10 billion every year disposing of waste according to the American Hospital Association. As industries everywhere are “going green,” healthcare facilities are implementing green technology programs as well, and the applications can be overwhelming.

Compliance 360 incorporates "Seven Elements" guidelines to help organizations better demonstrate compliance effectiveness

September 6, 2011 |

Compliance 360, bringing order and efficiency to the complexity of compliance, today announced that it has incorporated the “Seven Elements of Effective Compliance and Ethics Programs,” outlined by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, into the Compliance 360 system.

Accountable Delivery System Institute Adds Program for Hospital Executives

August 23, 2011 |

The Accountable Delivery System Institute (ADSI) today announced a new educational program for hospitals seeking to implement more accountable models of care, taught by the executives who built and operate one of the nation’s first successful accountable health care delivery systems.

GE Healthcare to launch Centricity Business 5.0

August 17, 2011 |

GE Healthcare, a leading provider of healthcare information technology will launch Centricity Business 5.0, the next-generation revenue cycle management solution for hospital networks, academic medical centers, large practices and physician billing groups on Monday.

SCI secures additional funding to support growth of healthcare platform

August 10, 2011 |

SCI Solutions, the premier provider of enterprise access management, physician connectivity and front-end revenue management software, today announced it has partnered with The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C., a New York-based private equity firm, and New Enterprise Associates, Inc., a venture capital firm, to secure funding that supports the company’s continued expansion.

Essence Group closes $61M private investment round

July 19, 2011 |

Essence Group Holdings Corporation (EGHC) today announced it has raised $61 million in a private funding round that includes new investors Camden Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

SCIOinspire launches economic modeling solution for bioscience, medical and wellness management

July 18, 2011 |

SCIOinspire, Corp., a premier provider of analytics-driven business process solutions for health plans and hospitals, today introduced an economic modeling solution to assist bioscience, medical and wellness management companies in successfully making their business case to stakeholders.

RegionalCare Hospital System selects HMS for financial software

June 16, 2011 |

RegionalCare Hospital Partners has selected Healthcare Management Systems Inc. (HMS) to provide clinical and financial applications to its hospitals via ASP as part of the new strategic partnership designed to support RegionalCare’s aggressive expansion plans.

Wishard Health Services selects Kramer Healthcare Technologies' RQi Revenue Cycle Solutions

June 16, 2011 |

Kramer Healthcare Technologies announced that Wishard Health Services in Indianapolis, Ind., has selected the following Kramer provided revenue cycle solutions: RQi enterprise (Registration Quality Improvement), RQi patient address, RQi patient identity, RQi price estimator and RQi eligibility to provide denial prevention support.

Houston Hospital Joins New York Hospital in Addressing Operational Capacity with New GE Healthcare Solution

May 31, 2011 |

GE Healthcare Performance Solutions today introduced Patient Care Capacity Management (PCCM), a new global solution aimed at solving the worldwide issue of poor hospital utilization and ineffective capacity management.

HealthPartners and The Chartis Group collaborate to improve healthcare quality, service, and cost

May 20, 2011 |

HealthPartners Medical Group and Clinics (HPMG) and The Chartis Group today announce a unique collaboration to help hospitals and health systems achieve superior performance in health care quality and patient service, while simultaneously lowering costs.

Rhode Island Quality Institute expands Regional Extension Center Vendor Marketplace

May 13, 2011 |

The Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety and value of healthcare in Rhode Island, announced today that its Rhode Island Regional Extension Center Vendor Marketplace has expanded to include 23 pre-qualified EHR software vendors and technical service consultants.

VHA launches improved analytical solutions suite - VHA LYNX

May 5, 2011 |