Outsourcing Traditionally, hospitals and health care systems have outsourced primarily support services such as housekeeping, laundry and food services, etc. They have contracted with large scale organizations to provide these services utilizing an economies of scale concept whereby contracting out these services allows for lower costs overall. More recently there has been a trend toward outsourcing the information technology services and indeed, healthcare delivery as well, such as dialysis anesthesia and Emergency Department staffing, hospitalists and diagnostic imaging (Punke, 2013) Prevalence With consolidation among hospital systems over the last few years there has been a trend toward ways to streamline processes. By having “shared services” such as laundry services, human resources and radiology and diagnostic services it’s possible to lower costs and have common processes. The advent of health care reform and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with its Information Technology (IT) incentives has led to greater interest in risk management and IT solutions. While there was a decrease in 2012 on outsourcing IT services the finalization by the Supreme Court of the ACA and President Obama’s re-election cemented the need for an IT solution (Kutscher, 2012) With the federal sequester that added a 2% cut to Medicare reimbursement and the healthcare reform leading to a decrease in hospital admissions for some organizations, the bottom line has become ever more important. Some organizations have used layoffs as one means of cost-cutting but even more are streamlining by outsourcing those services that can be better done by organizations devoted to that one activity (Punke, 2013) The driver of this is the cut to reimbursement. In Modern He... ... middle of paper ... ...etrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/25/business/la-fi-healthcare-offshore-20120725 Morrissey, J. (2013, October 1). Telemedicine: “If you aren’t doing anything now, you’re way behind”. Hospitals & Health Networks, 87(10), 22-23. Punke, H. (2013). Outsourcing is exploding in healthcare - will the trend last? Retrieved from http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce-labor-management/outsourcing-is-exploding-in-healthcare-will-the-trend-last.html Stempniak, M. (2013). Electronic visits slow to be embraced by payers and providers. H&HN: Hospitals & Health Networks, 87(10), 25. UntiedHealth Group [Brochure]. (2012). Retrieved from www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/uhg/pdf/services/unh-gloal-brochure.ashx? Whitten, P., & Buis, L. (2007). Private payer reimbursement for telemedicine services in the United States. Telemedicine and e-Health, 13(1), 15-24.
In the planning process, the health care organization’s first step should be to identify alternative expense reduction measures that can be implemented. Marshall and Broas (2009) and McConnell (2006) state that measures such as hiring freezes, reduced work hours, reduced salaries or bonuses, early retirement, limited use of temporary workers and discrepancy spending should be explored first before resorting to mass reduction in the workforce. Given the numerous legal cases in which employees have accused companies of lavish spending during layoff processes, a company should consider taking expense reduction measures. This would show that the company had explored another alternative before resorting to a RIF, and it would also help employers dismiss employees claims that the RIF was not necessary or discriminatory ( Marshall & Broas,2009) .Whatever alternative expense reduction measures were taken by the company along with the reasons for doing so should also be documented( Marshall & Broas,2009).Documenting the reason for the RIF, should be the next step.
Excessive system overhead costs are assigned to Midwestern Medical Group (MMG) in the Midwestern System. $110,000 per physician compared to a benchmark of $50,000 per physician. The medical group was also compelled to provide staff benefits to match benefits provided by the hospitals, benefits that most independent groups did not provide. Concerning this issue, this outline further elaborates
Telemedicine is a tool that enables providers to deliver health care services to patients at distant location, and it is often promoted as a means of addressing the imbalances in the distribution of health care resources (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, p. 156.)
The implementation of electronic health records (EHR) continues to make an impact on nursing and patient care throughout the country. As a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, all public and private healthcare providers were required to implement electronic health records in their facilities by January 1, 2014. By demonstrating “meaningful use” of the electronic medical record, facilities are able to maintain Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement levels. Providers who show that they are meeting the “meaningful use” criteria during EHR use will receive an incentive payment from Medicare and Medicaid. “Meaningful use” is “using certified technology in EHR implementation to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities; engage patients and families; improve care coordination; and maintain privacy and security of patient health information” (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2013).
Reimbursement policies prevent the total integration of telemedicine into health care practice (Prinz, 2008). Today, there is no overall telemedicine reimbursement policy in the federal health care system (HRSA, 2011 & OAT, 2003). As a result, reimbursement for telecare has been limited and somewhat haphazard. It’s up to each state to specify what telemedicine services, if any, are eligible for Medicaid reimbursement (HRSA, 2011 & OAT, 2003).
The long-term trend affecting the organization the most is the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare is anticipated to be a great challenge in the healthcare industry. Increasing state and federal budget taxes poses another threat on MUSC (Harrison, 2010). Increasing pressure to reduce healthcare costs is a threat to the company. Increasing demands of physicians and administrative staff for expensive medical technology is not a cost effective solution for the hospital and poses a threat to its accountability. Adverse demographic changes pose a threat to the organization. Size and organizational complexity can conspire to create seemingly insuperable barriers when it comes to improve patient care.
Bashshur evaluating the development of Telemedicine. The major purpose of Bashshur’s study was to provide a contextual and conceptual framework for the analysis of the potential effects of telemedicine on the health care system with special emphasis on cost. Bashshur also briefly reviews the results of the experience with telemedicine to date, describing the framework for a valid assessment of telemedicine effects on the health care system, discussing the rationale concerning the expected telemedicine effects on cost, quality, and accessibility to care. Bashshur proposes ways to resolve telemedicine issues related to cost, access, and quality.
Despite promising quality and efficiency gains in healthcare, IT here is facing barriers of high cost and complexity of implementation. However, the IT development will have profound impact on how well these cha...
Nations around the world are taking strides in adopting health information technology into their future. Networking and communicating are also ways today’s generations are integrating units of healthcare delivery into their organizations. Over the last decade of innovation, and utilization, high technology has increased both in figures and in terms of population rates. Regarding e- health, many services have become available to electronically submitte prescriptions. Many services are at least in the beginning phases for an informatics solution, and most have already implemented it or are in the roll-out phase. Internet appointments for primary care services were fully implemented in 2009. (euro.who)
Great discussion post this week. For my research this week I was able to learn some interesting as regards to Telehealth. During my research on Telehealth I learned that it’s another way to provide services that can make it more resourceful to manage ongoing care. According to Silva et al. (2014) Telehealth increases access to healthcare so that: remote patients can have easier access to clinical services, remote hospitals can provide emergency and intensive care services, patients diagnosed and treated earlier often have improved outcomes and less costly treatments, patients experience reduced complications, reduced hospital stays and substantially reduced mortality rates. I noticed that you mentioned that the participants
The United States health care system has undergone a myriad of changes, including the introduction and implementation of health information systems (HIS). Because I am primarily a consumer of healthcare in an international forum, I have watched with interests as the United States aims to integrate the use of electronic health records throughout the healthcare platform. Just recently, I had the opportunity to ask an internal medicine physician about the experience of using HIS within an office setting. The physician stated the process is especially helpful for patients who travel and move often. But, in this particular healthcare practice, the physician stated the two biggest HIS obstacles were time consumption and system breakdowns. In fact,
By the 1990 's, the focus of healthcare in developed countries, where the health IT investment was occurring, had changed from dealing primarily from acute, short-term interventions to primarily dealing with long-term, chronic conditions that required input from a wide range of specializations provided from both hospitals and community-based
Increasingly, existing rural medical facilities are utilising telemedicine to treat patients where less people are employed. Telemedicine is the application of technology to treat and diagnose patients within a remote or rural background (Gregory, 2013). Telemedicine is proving to be a well-regarded use of medical technology where adequate care is provided for patients (Harvey, Yeager, Cramer, Wheeler, & McSwain, 2017). Although this is a positive regarding telemedicine, there are certain limitations within the rural setting, making healthcare access difficult in
Goldstein, Douglas, E. "EHealthcare Predictions, Trends and Tactics for the Next 10 Years." 2002. Aspen Publishers. Mar 2004 .
The cost of industry has a significant impact on health care so much so that while health institutions attempt to save money with cutbacks they see little reward and few gain in return. With technological advances, reduced staff numbers, and further push for greater efficiency the health care industry should see a great amount in savings which then should be pasted on to patients unfortunately this is not the reality. With all of the rising health costs and increased demand, health organizations are being forced to absorb more costs associated to patient care. A majority of the savings that come from cutbacks are being used to make up for those losses so that the institution can stay afloat.