- How Parkland Health is using an information exchange to address social determinants. Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) developed an innovative information exchange program that connects case workers and providers in the Dallas area—with impressive results, Jessica Kim Cohen reports for Becker's Hospital Review. The program, called the Dallas Information Exchange Portal (Dallas IEP), currently connects two umbrella organizations—the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and the Texas Food Bank—that together represent about 250 partner agencies, and hosts data on more than 100,000 individuals. PCCI has been able to use the IEP to pilot several successful programs, including an initiative to curb adverse clinical effects linked to homelessness that has been linked to a 26 percent relative reduction in Parkland Health & Hospital System's readmission rate for Medicare beneficiaries.
- Job satisfaction not linked to care quality, medical errors, study finds. While job satisfaction can reduce burnout and boost retention, it is not correlated with better care quality or fewer medical errors, according to a new study in Health Affairs. For the study, researchers compared rates of job satisfaction and burnout among 168 clinicians at 34 medical practices at baseline and again one year later. The researchers found that while providers who said they were satisfied with their jobs were nearly three times less likely to say they were burned out and more than eight times as likely to plan on remaining at their job, there were no observed changes in the quality of care or overall number of medical errors. However, the researchers noted that higher rates of job satisfaction—and retention—over a longer period of time could be linked to better care coordination and patient outcomes.
- Study: Free-standing EDs clustered around high-income areas. Free-standing EDs in Texas that are not associated with hospitals are more frequently located in high-income areas rather than in areas with high demand for such services, according to a new analysis published in Health Affairs. The researchers said they selected Texas for the study because Texas hosts about half of the nation's free-standing EDs and because state regulations favor unaffiliated, free-standing ED development. The researchers found that such EDs tended to be located around major cities where residents had higher income levels ($91,563) compared with those residing in areas without such facilities ($66,825). Moreover, the proportion of insured residents was 5.6 percentage points higher in areas where such EDs were located compared with areas without such facilities, the report found.
From Advisory Board:
- How to reduce avoidable ED utilization. Heightened demand for emergency services and increased consumerism in health care has left EDs overburdened with rising costs and volumes. Since the majority of these visits are considered unnecessary, provider organizations can capitalize on the opportunity to cut avoidable ED visits. Join us on Wednesday, Oct. 18, to learn tactics to increase patient access to primary care, inflect patient behavioral change by boosting awareness of alternate care points and self-management strategies, and implement targeted measures for high-risk patients.
- Is your Medicare risk strategy MACRA-ready? While the GOP's health reform effort continues to evolve, Medicare payment reform has quietly marched on with bipartisan support. And with MACRA well underway, the new administration has shown no signs of reversing course. As a result, hospital and health system leaders need to develop an intentional Medicare risk strategy. Check out our new research report to learn how to navigate the Medicare ACO programs, expand into the Medicare Advantage market, and ensure the longevity of your Medicare risk strategy by actively cultivating contracts over time.
- Address patients' non-clinical risk factors in ongoing management. Join us on Thursday, Dec. 7, to learn how to partner with community-based organizations already providing quality non-clinical support for a range of needs, from healthy food access to stable housing, to scale patient management beyond traditional care settings.