As Hospital Chains Grow, So Do Their Prices For Care
The average patient stay costs $4,000 more at Sutter and Dignity hospitals than at other California medical centers, study shows.
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The average patient stay costs $4,000 more at Sutter and Dignity hospitals than at other California medical centers, study shows.
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Bad coordination and communication can put patients at risk as they're discharged from a hospital.
The prestigious facilities are seeking to improve patient safety by getting surgeons and hospitals to pledge to meet minimum thresholds for 10 high-risk procedures.
Private insurers that administer Medicaid for the poor also face limits on profits and requirements to provide sufficient doctors.
The “overall hospital quality” rating is designed to help consumers who are sometimes confused by the variety of quality measures that the government already provides. But members of Congress had asked for the delay because of concerns that the methodology for the stars was not accurate.
Nearly half of academic medical centers will be penalized by the government this year for high rates of infections and other avoidable complications, but the hospitals say it shows they screen better for problems.
Researchers found that the facility fees hospitals and their clinics routinely add to the bill helps drive the price increases.
A California Assembly bill would require creating a mandatory registry for available psychiatric hospital beds, but the state hospital association calls it unworkable.
These non-medical workers are increasingly being seen by hospitals as a critical point of contact for patients and a way to help hold down readmission rates and improve health outcomes.
In a sweeping overhaul of its contracts, the state’s insurance exchange will require health plans to hold doctors and hospitals accountable for quality and cost.
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