Infection control remains a big problem at VA hospitals
Since Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center began using Toyota's lean management style 10 years ago, the hospital has risen to the top 1 percent in safety and efficiency nationwide, reports Voice of America.The hospital also has successfully streamlined cancer patients' visits. By tracing the steps associated with administering chemotherapy treatments, Virginia Mason staff reduced the process by 50 percent. "Time is absolutely the most precious thing in [these patients'] lives, and [staff] were wasting huge amounts of it," says efficiency expert Charles Kenney, author of Transforming Healthcare, Virginia Mason Medical Center's Pursuit of the Perfect Patient Experience.Lean changes have also enabled nurses to spend 90 percent of their time providing direct care to patients, up from just 35 percent, notes HealthLeaders Media. Patient wait times for lab test results also dropped by more than 85 percent, while professional liability insurance fell 52 percent.The lean techniques also enhanced the hospital's bottom line. "By continuously taking out waste over these 10 years, and getting better and better at improving our quality, we've lowered our cost position. Our cost per dollar of revenue continues to decline," Virginia Mason's chairman and CEO Dr. Gary Kaplan tells HealthLeaders Media.More and more and more and more and more.
Diagnosis as disease: Physicians are now making diagnoses in individuals who wouldn't have been considered sick in the past, and it's raising healthcare costs.
Low diagnostic thresholds lead people who feel well to be labeled as unwell. Not surprisingly, some subsequently feel less well. In short, low diagnostic thresholds introduce more "dis"-ease into the population. Does that sound like a good thing for a "healthcare" system to do?
Diagnostic thresholds that are set too low lead in turn to a bigger problem: treatment thresholds that are too low. Diagnosis is the critical entry step into medical care — getting one tends to beget treatment. That's a big reason why we are treating millions more people for high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, glaucoma, depression, heart disease — and even cancer.
To have any hope of controlling healthcare costs, doctors will have to raise their diagnostic and treatment thresholds. And higher thresholds would be good for more than the bottom line. Less diagnosis and treatment of disease would return millions of Americans to normal, healthy lives. That's right: Higher thresholds could well improve health.
Medical societies financially tied to drugmakers
Antibiotic-Resistant Staph Bacteria Is Found In U.S. Meat
One Reason Why Rich People Age More Slowly
An Insured American Family's Health Care Costs $19,393
Docs prescribe yoga as last resort
Fla. pilot program to cut Medicaid costs raises new questions
Reform to fundamentally change healthcare business model
Antibiotic-Resistant Staph Bacteria Is Found In U.S. Meat
One Reason Why Rich People Age More Slowly
An Insured American Family's Health Care Costs $19,393
Docs prescribe yoga as last resort
Fla. pilot program to cut Medicaid costs raises new questions
Reform to fundamentally change healthcare business model
Hospitals, insurers and physicians will have to make fundamental changes to their business model in a post-reform operating environment, according to a new report by the venture capital firm the Psilos Group, reports Healthcare Finance News.GOP plan could cut 44M from Medicaid rolls
The report concludes that one of the consequences of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is that it will create a market-based healthcare system that will require hospitals, health plans and doctors to provide "value-based performance"--essentially better outcomes at good prices.
"If you are an employee and you now are being given a chunk of change to go buy a plan on your own, you're going to look for the kinds of things you look for when you buy a car: friendly salesperson, quality service, 'I understand what's happening'--the paperwork and all that," said Lisa Suennen, co-founder of the Psilos Group and one of the co-authors of the report.
In addition to the payer equation becoming more in line with consumer expectations, Suennen said that hospitals will have to implement more comprehensive care planning because they won't get paid for many readmissions and will be penalized for medical errors.
However, consumers will also have to educate themselves about the healthcare system and "take ownership of the process," Suennen added.
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