Newsletters

In our blog earlier this month, we discussed the “Triple Aim” — an initiative launched in 2007 by The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). It was created for healthcare organizations to enhance a patients’ experience (i.e. quality, access, and reliability) while reducing the per capita cost of care.

However, prior to the Triple Aim’s evolution, The Institute of Medicine (IoM) identified six “Aims of Improvement” in 2001.

1. Safe
2. Effective
3. Patient-Centered
4. Timely
5. Efficient
6. Equitable

The IoM defines Equitable as providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status.

Due to the passage of recent Stimulus Acts and Congressional Tax Bills, there are several notable updates to the Section 179 deduction. The specific impact that these Stimulus Acts have had on the Section 179 deduction is related to the dollar limits of the deduction and bonus depreciation increasing.

As the year-end is fast approaching, many healthcare businesses are considering purchases, including medical equipment. Understanding and utilizing available tax incentives should be a consideration for these purchasing decisions.

Section 179: How to Cash In on Tax Savings

In this month’s newsletter, we are taking a closer look into value-based care’s pricing model and how transparency plays an important role for patients.

Transparency Can Lead to Confusion

Value-based care (VBC) is a healthcare delivery model in which providers, including hospitals and physicians, are paid based on patient health outcomes.VBC differs from a fee-for-service approach, in which providers are paid based on the amount of healthcare services they deliver.

Value-based purchasing (VBP) incentivize providers to enhance the caliber of their care by offering financial rewards (or penalties) based on their outcomes. Price transparency initiatives entice patients to select “higher-value” providers by offering price information.

Last year we reported the disturbing rise of ransomware in healthcare, specifically within ASCs as well as explaining how employees are used as targets for identity theft. Organizations have been victimized by hackers who steal patient identities and disable access to key patient treatment and status records until ransom demands are met.

While it sounds like something out of a dramatic cinematic film, ransomware is very much a harsh reality. Traditional technology networks are vulnerable and lucrative to attacks. Small to medium-size health care facilities are marked as primary ransomware targets because their security infrastructure is often lacking.

Ransomware attacks have infested healthcare organizations for years. In 2017, the WannaCry ransomware targeted medical devices and caused extensive problems for healthcare companies. Earlier this year, SamSam ransomeware hit a number of healthcare organizations.

Ransomware attacks obviously concern healthcare IT professionals. According to a survey by security firm Imperva, a ransomware attack is the type of cyberattack that most worries healthcare IT professionals. Almost 10 percent of those surveyed had paid a ransom or extortion fee, while almost half didn’t know if they had paid a ransom or not. More than one-third of healthcare organizations have suffered a cyberattack within the last year, the survey found.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a growing concern for everyone impacted within the field of healthcare — both patients and providers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes that every day, one in 20 patients will contract an HAI. Equally disturbing, the economic burden of HAIs is suspected to reach over $30 billion a year.

Hospitals are the perfect environment for infections to manifest. Being isolated in a small area, day after day, with many other people who also have suppressed immune systems, understandably leaves patients highly susceptible to infection.

There are a number of patient safety networks and associations who have joined forces to improve infection control and lower the number of patients who contract these conditions.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, norovirus, and Escherichi coli — these are just some of the better-known bacteria and viruses responsible for HAIs, according to Beckers Hospital Review.