White Papers - Now Available for Download

For the healthcare industry to achieve widespread success in aligning care quality with reimbursement to improve outcomes and ultimately lower costs, health plans and providers need to work together. The success of one Hawaii health plan provides an example of what can be achieved if providers and health plans collaborate like partners instead of quibble like adversaries.

This white paper examines the success of Hawaii Medical Service Association's unprecedented payment program. The program was the result of 18 months of planning and collaboration, during which physicians directly informed the health plan about the quality measures most meaningful to them.

Key learning points include:

• How HMSA created a quality bonus program that engaged physicians
• How HMSA achieved consensus buy-in among physicians and stakeholders
• How HMSA supports provider investment in technology

Consumers’ share of out-of-pocket medical expenses has increased dramatically over the last 15 years. Out-of-pocket spend reached $365 billion in 2017 alone, representing a 3.6% increase from 2016. At the same time, taking a cue from online retail shopping, today’s medical consumer has come to expect speed, convenience and transparency in their medical purchasing experience. In this whitepaper you will learn about human and technology-based solutions that healthcare practices can implement to help families deal with their rising healthcare financial responsibility. Providing safe, convenient and efficient payment methods that help facilitate timely and predictable payments are a win/win for patients and practices alike.

Learning objectives

• Understand how outdated billing practices can hurt your business
• Learn how to effectively implement and use alternative payment methods to increase your revenue

Most hospitals’ internal processes can find up to 99% of health insurance coverage. However, without a holistic collections strategy in place, 9 times out of 10 there’s $100s of thousands to $10s of millions left on the table.

Read Four Ways to Uncover More Hidden Revenue to find out how you can recover every earned dollar by:

• Maximizing overall yield through insurance discovery
• Identifying more overlooked coverage you hadn’t realized you were missing
• Overcoming industry challenges that affect reimbursements

What if there was a way to plan better and budget smarter? The January 2019 Vizient® Drug Price Forecast provides a detailed projection of prescription drug price trends for 2019-2020. Using our industry-leading analytics and pharmacy expert insights, this twice-yearly report helps pharmacy leaders anticipate and manage drug spend across their health systems.

This report offers valuable information on:

• Projected price increases, listed by generic drug name and by therapeutic class, through June 2020
• Market dynamics that are likely to have an impact on drug spend
• Critical industry topics such as drug shortages, rising prices, the adoption of biosimilars and more

Time to raise the bar on internal and payer communication. The health care landscape continues to experience shifts driven by mergers and acquisitions, Medicare cuts and value-based care – multifaceted changes stressing the bottom line at health systems across the country today.

The responsibility of health system finance leaders to maximize contract value is more complex than ever. In this white paper, learn more about how best-practice organizations are improving their contract management and getting the most from their contract yield by:

• Increasing internal communication and coordination
• Opening regular communication channels with payers

Managing patient flow is a growing and complex challenge for hospitals and healthcare systems of all sizes.

Typically, the problem isn’t that hospitals lack enough beds, staff or data. Rather, the challenge is their inability to match their capacity and workforce to anticipated patient demand. The issue isn’t insufficient resources; it’s insufficient resource management.

In this whitepaper you will learn how predictive and prescriptive analytics can:

• Be used to align capacity to true demand and better manage length of stay.
• Empower front-line decision makers to commit to continuous process improvement.

A successful population health strategy is built on a solid foundation of data. While the rapid digitization of healthcare ensures the proliferation of data across the enterprise, providers must still figure out how to glean actionable insights from large repositories of information. This critical need has inspired the development of numerous solutions produced in a highly competitive and crowded health IT marketplace. In this market, providers must learn how to assess product functionality and vendor capabilities, making IT purchasing decisions complex and drawn out.

In our white paper, “Considerations in Selecting a Population Health Management Solution,” we highlight the top six capabilities to look for when assessing population health technology vendors. Topics discussed include: Security standards, adaptability and value-added services, among others.

It's no secret clinicians are frustrated with EHRs. However, digital patient records have contributed to numerous improvements in care and will remain a permanent fixture in healthcare for the foreseeable future.

EHR adoption is "nearly universal" among acute-care hospitals today, with 96 percent of facilities live on the technology as of 2015, according to an analysis by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT at HHS. Yet without clinician buy-in, hospitals and health systems cannot fully capitalize on the technology's benefits.

As health IT becomes more integrated into hospitals' clinical and operational workflows, it will become increasingly important for clinicians and executives alike to understand how EHR systems work. Formal training offers one solution to ensure hospital staff — from front-line employees to C-level leadership — get the most out of these systems.

In this white paper, readers will learn:

• The history of how EHRs were integrated into the hospital setting in the U.S.
• Examples of how leading providers are using EHRs to support patient care improvement efforts
• How education programs can support hospital leaders in building IT efforts and maintaining clinician buy-in

Quality data drives clinical excellence across healthcare service lines and facilities, influencing protocols to improve patient safety and satisfaction and increase volume, among other applications.

NAPA CEO John F. Di Capua, MD says, “Hospitals make money when patients become loyal to one health system…for many young families, their first step in building a hospital relationship begins with a great childbirth experience.” This white paper addresses:

• How QI has evolved over a century to monetize value over volume
• How millennial moms, representing 83% of new mothers, are now the $2.4 million social media influencer—and what that means for obstetric services and hospital brand loyalty
• How NAPA deploys QI intelligence to solve problems and create value for its healthcare partners.

The consumerism revolution in healthcare continues well into the new year. With the recent CMS price transparency rule and increasing out-of-pocket costs for patients, innovative health systems are realizing the need to create a consumer-centric patient financial experience to respond to the rapid changes.

Patients want and expect an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand solution when it comes to paying their healthcare bills. St. Luke’s University Health Network recognized they needed to strive for a patient financial experience that met the standards that Amazon and other major online retailers have trained consumers to expect. This motivated St. Luke’s to invest in their patient financial care, which in turn resulted in positive results in collecting, building patient loyalty, and overall long-term organizational growth.

Download this whitepaper to learn more about:

• How to address the critical challenge of healthcare affordability
• Enhancing the patient financial experience through easy-to-use and easy-to-understand solution that drives results
• Empowering patients by providing access and tools

In an effort to overcome the fragmentation and perverse incentives that discourage coordinated, cost-effective care delivery, healthcare provider members of Premier are designing and implementing clinically-integrated, high-value networks. To further identify improvement opportunities, Premier analyzed nearly 24 million emergency department visits across 750 hospitals and found that approximately 4.3 million visits associated with patients who have at least one of the common six chronic conditions were potentially avoidable. Best practices from Premier® and its members suggests that a patient-centric, physician-aligned care management model can be effective in reducing avoidable emergency department visits, with a savings potential of up to $8.3 billion annually.

Patients are increasingly behaving like consumers in a healthcare setting. As a result, they expect enhanced services and experiences when engaging with providers and health systems. How can health systems engage patients in an integrated effort that aligns with strategic goals to improve patient outcomes, improve efficiencies, reduce costs and enhance patient satisfaction?

This white paper examines important conditions and trends driving consumerism, evidence of the economic and reputational value of a positive consumer experience, examples of health systems successfully improving the patient experience, and a Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies approach to working with health systems to embrace the new era of consumerism.

Shifting to a value-based care model is not without its challenges. But when done right, these approaches can yield substantial benefits for both providers and patients. Holston Medical Group (HMG), which provides care throughout Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, is an example of an organization that has thrived under a value-based approach.

This case study examines several successful value-based initiatives, including a physician-led Accountable Care Organization, which recently earned HMG more than $7.2 million. Fill out the form to the right to learn how HMG champions a patient-centered, data-driven approach to care.

Did you know that Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health tapped Daniel Morissette to serve as CFO of the organization created by its merger, while Denise Brooks-Williams is filling a newly created senior vice president and CEO position for Henry Ford Health System’s north market? Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health selected Austin Chiang, MD, to serve as chief medical social media officer, a newly created role and Steven Choi, MD will serve as Yale New Haven's inaugural chief quality officer.

The fourth quarter of 2018 was abuzz with healthcare executive moves, including more than 70 CEOs and presidents who stepped into new roles, retired or resigned during the quarter. Altogether, at least 121 hospital and health system C-suite executives were on the move during the final three months of the year.

Keep track of all the 2018 fourth quarter C-suite executive moves with this report.

Phoebe Putney Health System recognized that excessive overtime was costing their organization millions of dollars. The CNO and CFO worked together to create a cross-functional team that could launch a workforce management initiative to save the organization $3M in one year.

Learn how:

• Standardized staffing practices and technology created the foundation of their initiative
• A prioritized rollout helped them realize cost savings more quickly
• Improved staffing processes delivered both staff satisfaction and cost savings
• Creating a 24/7 central staffing office provides a hub for moving staff more efficiently to minimize agency and overtime costs

Geisinger Health System is rooted in innovation and constantly searching for new and better ways to care for patients. One way Geisinger has led the pack is with their holistic approach to reducing opioid abuse by implementing electronic prescribing for controlled substances (EPCS).

Geisinger’s commitment and choice – to “do good” – also allowed them to “do well” — saving them almost $1M a month. By implementing Imprivata Confirm ID for EPCS™ in conjunction with other safety and security measures, Geisinger is realizing huge returns on their investment.

Read our whitepaper to learn how Imprivata Confirm ID for EPCS has enabled Geisinger to:

• reduce opioid prescribing
• improve provider and patient satisfaction and increase patient safety
• generate significant cost savings and return on investment

Like many technologies, mobility adoption in healthcare has followed three successive phases:

• Phase I: Ad hoc reaction to individual pain points via point solutions
• Phase 2: Collective awareness of the fragmentation consequences of these point solutions and migration towards integrated platforms
• Phase 3: Clarity on the need for an integrated strategy, supported by repeatable processes and the ability to monitor and manage towards intended outcomes.

Although there are pockets of excellence and promise, as a whole, our industry is still far from repeatable processes and true predictable outcomes management of mobile technologies. The PatientSafe Mobile Maturity Model for Healthcare® serves as a navigation framework and strategy map to help health systems achieve the highest level of mobile technology adoption success broadly, but especially in the context of clinical communication and collaboration investments.

Read the whitepaper to understand the 6 key capabilities to consider and 5 stages of mobile maturity in healthcare organizations.

Today’s hospitals are challenged to improve quality while reducing costs. More than ever, physicians, advanced providers, nurses, and staff need to work together to find innovative solutions to provide effective, high-quality care. Learning collaboratives foster team integration.

Innovation and transformation don’t just happen. They require prioritization, resources, leadership, and time. In this white paper, you will see how collaborative learning can help hospitals to:

• Implement new processes that quickly produce meaningful results
• Improve team collaboration and efficiency
• Gain higher satisfaction scores from providers and patients

In a recent study of more than 1,200 clinicians, 87 percent say that alarms for non-actionable, irrelevant issues “occur frequently,” a jump of more than 10 percent in five years. The problem is growing with the proliferation of monitoring devices in hospitals. It’s time to make alarm management a priority, to protect patient safety and to mitigate provider burnout.

This guide includes:

 

• Insights on the latest alarm surveillance technology.
• Eight steps in a successful alarm management improvement process.

While patient satisfaction scores undoubtedly help gauge the experience from a single episode, they ultimately fall short of a larger, more important goal: to get patients to see the health system and its providers in a spirit of long-term partnership and collaboration. Instead of focusing on episodic patient satisfaction, the way to create real value is to earn patients’ loyalty.

In this white paper, you’ll find:

 

• A framework for starting the shift to patient loyalty
• The top five loyalty drivers you can influence
• Three domains of change that will help earn the patients’ trust beyond a single episode

 

Did you know that Catholic Health Initiatives named a new COO of their Texas Division, Liz Youngblood, while John Doyle, President of Ascension Holdings announced his retirement in June? There were also a number of unique positions filled this quarter including a chief pharmacy officer, chief patient safety officer and chief equity and inclusion officer.

The first quarter of 2019 was abuzz with healthcare executive moves, including more than 50 CEOs and presidents who stepped into new roles, retired or resigned during the quarter. Altogether, at least 126 hospital and health system C-suite executives were on the move during the first month of the year.

Keep track of all the 2019 first quarter C-suite executive moves with this report.

In today’s competitive market, it is more critical than ever to attract and retain top talent.

Read the article to learn key strategies on reducing the staffing burden, including:

• Talent acquisition
• Retaining and engaging rehab talent

Social determinants of health (SDoH) are all the rage these days. That’s because researchers believe social determinants drive more than 80 percent of health outcomes. And in a value-based care world, it’s critical to identify and manage patient social challenges.

In this white paper, Social Determinants of Health: From Insights to Action, you’ll learn:

• How physicians and care managers use SDoH data to improve the care and outcomes for populations while
  personalizing healthcare for individuals
• How technology and analytics are making SDoH initiatives scalable
  What’s next in SDoH

With more consumers covered by high-deductible health plans, patient payments represent a higher percentage of your revenue. And the primary tool for collecting those payments is patient statements. How well are yours working for you? This white paper explores how Experimentation enables providers to create statements that drive engagement, collections, and patient satisfaction.

You’ll learn:

• Why patient statements are in the spotlight
• How consumer testing helps you create an effective statement
• How artificial intelligence and machine learning can automatically optimize to select the most effective prototype
• How Design Thinking is applied to patient statements to help encourage prompt patient payments

Even for the most developed nations, healthcare spend is finite. What’s most critical is the pursuit of more efficient and effective delivery of care, that leads to improved patient outcomes and experiences.

Clinical workflows have been shown to have a direct effect on efficiently transitioning patients through their care plan, ultimately delivering improved outcomes.

There are many technical aspects underpinning clinical workflows that warrant attention if they are to be improved.

Core areas of focus:

• Flexibility, intelligence and standardization
• Efficient use of time
• Interoperability, integration, and data mobility
• Security, risk and compliance

Lean Healthcare principles can be an invaluable tool in helping hospitals and health systems improve operational, financial and clinical performance. This is especially true in emergency departments that are often ripe with opportunities for process improvement that can enhance throughput, metrics, quality of care and patient satisfaction. Emergency department staffing and operational excellence have been cornerstones of TeamHealth’s services to hospitals since 1979.

This white paper will show you more about the ways TeamHealth worked with Montgomery, Alabama-based Baptist Health to use Lean Healthcare principles and tools to make dramatic improvements in emergency department clinical and operational performance.

Spectrum Health, an integrated health system headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, needed to improve care delivery for specialty consults. Through its telehealth program, Specialty MedNow, Spectrum Health launched more than 90 telehealth use cases across its system and saw impactful results, including:

• A 76 percent reduction in readmissions for Wound Care
• A reduced transfer savings of $345,400 for Infectious Disease
• More than $5 million in savings for its insurance arm, Priority Health
• More than 25,000 remote consults using American Well telemedicine carts

Case acceptance, especially for those patients facing complex procedures such as implant dentistry, is a major factor for many dental health professionals. However, the failure of patients to carry through with a recommended course of treatment is not an insurmountable problem. If your case acceptance rates are below 85%, you need to offer more financing options.

With LendingUSA Patient Financing, you get:

• Higher Approval Rates
• Loan Approvals Up to $35,000
• Lowest Merchant Fees in the Industry
• Promotional 0% APR on Loans Paid in Full Within 6 Months

The healthcare industry is facing major demographic and market changes that will dramatically impact which services are needed and how they are delivered. The organizations that put the consumer at the center of decision-making stand to be leaders in the new economy.

In this white paper, you will gain insights into how to:

• Start serving different consumers in different ways, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
• Keep an eye toward creating a seamless delivery network through which patients can move.
• Forge strategic partnerships with technology disruptors - from integrators for patient/program matching, to reimbursable health tools, to predictive and behavioral analytics providers.

While there are many perspectives and publications on the “Hospital of the Future,” few, if any, provide a system perspective. Too often, when imagining the Health System of the Future, a hospital-centric model emerges. The challenge in this hospital-centric view is that it ignores most of the factors that are already driving services, activity, and revenue to new and different care environments, and will do so increasingly over the next decade.

This whitepaper discusses:

• The new rules driving the shift towards the Health System of the Future including:
• Provider Cost Risk
• Patient Centricity
• Value Transparency
• The seven pillars of transformation

The continuing evolution of hospital services and procedures to outpatient settings creates a challenge for hospital ambulatory leaders and hospital HR professionals. Hospitals partnering in ambulatory ventures need an HR solution that will match the speed and efficiency that is central to the ASC business model. MedHQ’s new paper offers insights around key efficiencies, including:

• Benefits design and administration
• Recruiting, hiring and managing employee relations
• Technology