Though COVID-19 has absorbed the world’s attention, hospitals must also effectively treat all of those patients who needed care before COVID-19 appeared. Many of these patients are deferring or skipping necessary care, often against their physician’s advice, for fear of contracting COVID-19 at a healthcare provider. Providers need to allay patient fears and establish effective […]
What COVID-19 volume should hospitals expect over the next 6 to 12 months? In the last two months, some hospitals experienced exponential COVID-19 census growth, while others stared at empty hallways as stay-at-home orders flattened the growth before it took off. Doubling of cases occurred as quickly as every 3-5 days before states exercised any […]
Across the nation, hospitals are planning for rapid resumption of elective and other non-emergent care. State regulatory approval to do so is the critical initial hurdle/”trigger”. If you are a COO, service line administrative/medical director, or ambulatory care center leader the chart below is Veralon’s guide in preparing for and assessing your readiness to proceed […]
Physician compensation plans have generally been designed to meet specific health system objectives including: Optimizing recruitment and retention Aligning physician financial incentives with organization goals around quality, productivity, citizenship Promoting consistency and equity among physicians Most compensation models reflect expectations with respect to production, quality, and time worked, and target expected levels of compensation based […]
The COVID-19 crisis is likely to include a series of recurring cycles over an extended period —a “pulsed recovery” that will result in a new normal in which clinical care operations have fundamentally changed. While Herculean efforts are focused on the immediate challenges, the deferred needs of the chronically ill (e.g., congestive heart failure, COPD, […]
Many physicians, and other clinicians, are working harder than perhaps they ever have under extraordinary conditions, as COVID-19 surges through our communities. While those conditions will improve as the initial surge subsides, physician practices, both independent and employed, will need to change to respond to the consequences of that surge, and the potential for secondary […]
COVID-19 is a tsunami for hospitals—the waters pulling back as beds are emptied, then an overwhelming and uncontrollable surge wave. Like an actual tsunami, this one may have multiple surges. But even with several waves, an actual tsunami is over quickly and recovery returns you to a former baseline. With COVID, it is likely that […]
The Blanket Waivers that CMS issued on sanctions under the physician self-referral law (Stark) do not halt application of the law during this emergency time period. Instead, they waive sanctions for certain circumstances that would otherwise violate the self-referral law. The 18 individual waivers address a variety of financial arrangements between physicians and designated health […]
Ambulatory care has grown dramatically in recent years, and all signs point to continued growth. In 2017 (the most recent year for which data is available), net outpatient service revenue equaled 95% of net inpatient revenue, an increase from 83% in 2013.[1] Clearly every hospital and health system must have an effective ambulatory care strategy. […]
What is the Primary Care First Program (PCF)? PCF is a voluntary 5-year CMS Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) with two care models—one for “Advanced” primary care and one for high-need, seriously ill Medicare beneficiaries (Seriously Ill Population, or SIP). The latter is aimed primarily at providers who typically provide hospice or palliative services. Practices […]