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One step closer: Price transparency in healthcare

Dr. Jonathan Kaplan Healthcare Administration

It's official: Price transparency in healthcare is closer to reality. On Nov. 15, the Trump administration released new rules requiring hospitals to publish their charges and negotiated rates. You may be thinking, "Oh, this doesn't affect me! It only affects hospitals and their employed physicians." But make no mistake, this affects all physicians.

5 ways to help your patients achieve better rehab outcomes

Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare Administration

The rehabilitation process can be both physically and emotionally challenging for virtually any patient. You may need to frequently revisit your facility's inpatient approaches and work in tandem with outpatient rehab teams. What are some fresh and effective ways to make the rehab process easier on your patients and increase the odds of terrific outcomes? Let research be your guide. Incorporate the following tips to perfect your process.

Payers, providers win latest battle in ongoing hospital pricing war

Scott E. Rupp Healthcare Administration

It appears that hospital price transparency proponents have lost a recent battle. Trump administration officials are kicking a political can down the road after push back from hospitals and insurers, who would have had to make previously undisclosed rates public. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it has some 1,400 comments for a proposed rule about the revealing of rates, and the coming rule regarding the topic will include responses to these concerns. So, who wins here? Payers and providers, apparently. Consumers? Not so much.

Healthcare career transitions: Why and how to make them happen

Keith Carlson Medical & Allied Healthcare

Making a career change or job transition can be a big deal when you take into consideration the potential repercussions that may reverberate throughout all aspects of your life. For healthcare professionals, career transitions can be both exciting and tricky. Your "why" vis-à-vis a pending career change may be due to a variety of factors that impact you on a daily basis. No matter what the root cause, understanding the underlying motivations behind your desire for change is paramount.

Are IV vitamin drips right for you?

Victoria Fann Medical & Allied Healthcare

Have you joined the IV drip craze? If so, you’re not alone. At the beginning of 2019, Good Morning America called IV vitamin drips one of the biggest health trends of the year. Doctors, nurses and entrepreneurs are getting in on the action. As a result, IV bars, lounges and clinics are popping up along with mobile units that come to your home or office. They’re offering everything from hangover cures to beauty enhancers and immune system boosts. Loyal fans spend thousands of dollars to get punctured, sometimes several times a month. But are they the miracles that they’re touted to be?

Investigational hyperbaric oxygen therapy indications

Eugene R. Worth Medical & Allied Healthcare

We would like to start this series by emphasizing that we are not recommending hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for off-label indications. However, the use of HBOT for certain off-label conditions may be supported by some evidence, as described by case reports, case series, or small randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In this series, we will provide an overview of off-label indications for HBOT and review existing evidence for several conditions. We are going to start with an overview of off-label HBOT. To do so, we must define the boundaries of "on"- and "off"-label HBOT use.

Australian study: Organs once deemed unsafe for transplant may be OK

Chelsea Adams Medical & Allied Healthcare

Australian research suggests organs once deemed too risky for transplant may actually be safe. The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, says it may be safe to transplant organs from donors with high-risk behaviors, as long as the donor tests negative for blood-borne viruses like HIV and any type of hepatitis. International guidelines frequently reject donors who inject drugs intravenously; work as sex workers; are homosexual; spent time in jail; or had sex with a person with a high-risk lifestyle.

5 ways to simplify key processes at your hospital

Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare Administration

As a hospital administrator, you seek to streamline processes at your facility on an ongoing basis. Your institution likely uses focused studies and seeks complex feedback to make this happen. But sometimes the easiest fixes are the most effective. Consider these simple, research-driven strategies to make your staff’s jobs easier, increase your patients' satisfaction, save costs, and sharpen your focus. Plus, you can start implementing them immediately.

Study: Off-label use of gabapentin for cancer pain

Dorothy L. Tengler Pharmaceutical

Although not all cancer patients have pain, it is still one of the most common symptoms caused by cancer treatment, surgery, or cancer itself. Opioid drugs are commonly used to treat moderate or severe cancer pain and are recommended for this purpose in the World Health Organization (WHO) pain treatment ladder. But the opioid epidemic has raised questions about whether postoperative use of opioids can lead to misuse. Between 2005 and 2015, as the opioid crises became evident, prescriptions for gabapentinoid medications such as gabapentin and pregabalin saw a twofold increase for use with cancer.

Survey: Patients who experience telehealth services are happy with them

Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied Healthcare

For those who use telehealth services, the results are quite good, a survey by J.D. Power shows. The satisfaction rate is about 85% — 851 on a 1,000-point scale — while almost half (46%) of all who participated in the survey gave telehealth services a score above 900. The survey included almost 8,300 consumers. In addition to their being happy with the service, they reported that it usually addressed their clinical issues; almost 85% of telehealth users said they resolved their medical problems as a result of their remote teleconsultation.

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