Healthcare Spending News and Resources for Healthcare

Population Health Program Cuts Hospital Admissions by Nearly 50%

November 13, 2018 - Northwest Physicians Network (NPN) in Washington State has launched a collaborative population health program that has cut hospital admissions by 43 percent, ambulance transports by 47 percent, and emergency department visits by 36 percent. The program, which integrates clinical teams, community partners, and first responders, has also led to a 44 percent reduction in emergency calls,...

Preventive Dental Care Associated with Fewer ED, Hospital Visits

October 25, 2018 by Jennifer Bresnick

Providing dental coverage as a preventive care benefit may help providers and payers reduce the number of emergency department visits and hospitalizations, according to a new two-year study from Capital BlueCross, Dominion National, and...

Cutting Variation in Hospital Care Brings High Quality, Lower Costs

October 04, 2018 by Jennifer Bresnick

High quality and lower costs can indeed go hand-in-hand for hospitals, according to new data from Advisory Board, if healthcare organizations can successfully reduce unnecessary variations in care. An analysis of more than 460 hospitals...

Express Scripts Diabetes Management Program Saves $43M, Ups Outcomes

October 04, 2018 by Jessica Kent

A coordinated approach to chronic disease management for diabetics has reduced drug spending by 19 percent for more than 800 enrolled plan sponsors, saving a total of $42.6 million in 2017, said Express Scripts. “By combining...

Adherence to Clinical Decision Support Cuts Costs by $1K Per Patient

August 30, 2018 by Jessica Kent

Adhering to a real-time clinical decision support system embedded in the EHR helped providers at Cedars-Sinai cut wasteful healthcare spending by almost $1000 per patient and improve patient outcomes, according to a study published in The...

Atul Gawande to Lead Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan Healthcare Company

June 20, 2018 by Jennifer Bresnick

Brigham and Women’s surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande will be leading Amazon’s most significant leap into the healthcare industry yet by becoming CEO of the partnership between the e-commerce giant, JPMorgan Chase, and Berkshire...

CVS Health Cuts Red Tape with Real-Time Prescription Cost Data

March 13, 2018 by Jennifer Bresnick

Access to real-time data at the point of care may be one of the healthcare industry’s highest priorities, yet it remains one of its most elusive goals. From interoperability issues, workflow barriers, and data aggregation woes...

CVS Health to Bulk Up Big Data Analytics Ahead of Aetna Deal

February 09, 2018 by Jennifer Bresnick

Solid growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 and a massive income tax break are allowing CVS Health to invest in more big data analytics technologies ahead of its proposed acquisition of Aetna, the company said in its latest earnings...

CVS Health, Epic Systems Using Big Data to Control Drug Costs

October 17, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

CVS Health and Epic Systems have launched a strategic big data analytics initiative aimed at controlling prescription costs, the two companies announced this week. CVS Health, which uses Epic electronic health records (EHRs) in its...

Cost is a Primary Driver of Medication Non-Adherence Rates

September 11, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

The high cost of prescription drugs is what drives 67 percent of patients into medication non-adherence, according to the latest Truven Health Analytics-NPR Health Poll, contributing to a multi-billion-dollar issue that is of particular...

How Many Emergency Department Visits are Really Avoidable?

September 05, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

Reducing emergency department utilization is a top goal for many population health management and value-based care initiatives, but how many trips to the ED could actually be classified as “avoidable” in the first...

ICU Admissions from Opioid Overdoses Increase 34% Since 2009

August 17, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

The number of opioid overdoses requiring admission to intensive care has skyrocketed by more than a third since 2009, bringing higher death rates and significantly more spending on high-intensity hospital care, according to a new study...

Nutrition Risk Assessment Saves $4.8M, Cuts Hospital Readmissions

August 11, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

Implementing a patient nutrition care program at four Chicago-area hospitals helped Advocate Health Care accrue more than $4.8 million dollars in savings by reducing hospital readmissions and shortening inpatient stays, according to a new...

Decision Support, Big Data Analytics Reduce Hospital Blood Use

July 25, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

Big data analytics and the implementation of clinical decision support guidelines can help hospitals and health systems reduce unnecessary blood use and associated spending, according to a pair of new studies released this week. At a cost...

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Market to See 40% CAGR Surge

July 24, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

The advent of true artificial intelligence in healthcare may still be some way off, but strong interest in achieving the goals of AI is producing a significant surge of investment in advanced machine learning, predictive analytics, and...

Brown Gets $1.1M to Study Medicare Post-Discharge Care Quality

June 05, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

The Peterson Center on Healthcare has announced a two-year $1.1 million grant that will allow researchers at Brown University to study how to improve post-discharge care coordination for Medicare beneficiaries. The new initiative will...

Clinical Decision Support App May Cut CTs for Head Injuries

May 24, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

A clinical decision support (CDS) application that includes patient education and risk stratification may be able to reduce the delivery – and costs – of unnecessary CT scans for minor head injuries, says a new study in the...

Cardiovascular Disease May Incur $1 Trillion in Costs by 2035

February 15, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

Over the next two decades, cardiovascular disease is likely to impact 45 percent of the United States population and generate more than $1.1 trillion in chronic disease management costs, acute care spending, and lost productivity per year,...

EHR Use Correlated with Higher Rates of Blood, Imaging Tests

January 25, 2017 by Thomas Beaton

A recent study published in the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) found that physicians using electronic health records tended to order more CBCs, CT scans, and x-rays for their patients than non-EHR users, calling into question the...

Population Health, Big Data Strategies Could Reduce $2B Waste

January 16, 2017 by Jennifer Bresnick

The employer-based health insurance industry leaks approximately $2 billion each year due to wasteful or preventable spending across the care continuum, according to a new report by the American Health Policy Institute (AHPI). But a...

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