The United States is one of the most dangerous among wealthy nations for women to give birth. Disturbingly, it’s even more dangerous for women of color. Black women are about three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, while maternal mortality rates among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women are…

Private equity is gaining a foothold in healthcare despite growing evidence that its role has been detrimental to care quality and prices. But new data and even governmental concern aren’t slowing private equity investments in provider organizations. Full Article

The shift toward value-based care (VBC) is increasingly taking hold in health care as practices continue to face challenges with stagnant fee-for-servicereimbursement rates and medical cost inflation. To succeed in a VBC environment, practices must adopt patient engagement as a foundational capability. Better patient engagement not only helps keep patients healthy and from needing higher-cost…

Effective population health management requires collecting, processing, and analyzing large amounts of patient data, making data analytics tools key for any population health initiative. Population health is often conceptualized based on a definition in a review published in the March 2003 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, which states that the term refers to…

A transition to value-based reimbursement would fundamentally change the traditional hospice business model. It could also wield a powerful influence on an organization’s culture. Hospices are inching ever closer to the value-based arena. To date, much of this has centered around diversified programs like palliative care, PACE and other services. However, the ongoing value-based insurance…

An ONC analysis shows that 83 percent of non-federal acute care hospitals participate in some social determinants of health (SDOH) data collection. Still, challenges related to routine screening data collection exist. SDOH specifically refers to the environments in which individuals live, work, and play. When these social needs, such as transportation, housing, and food security,…

While value-based care adoption has accelerated in the healthcare industry, the alternative care delivery and payment model is still lacking in the pediatric setting. The current healthcare infrastructure does not support the resources needed to successfully implement this model for kids, according to Rachel Thornton, MD, vice president and chief health equity officer at Nemours…

Medicaid expansion is close in North Carolina, with the Republican-led legislature passing and the Democratic Governor Roy Cooper signing the Access to Health Care Options legislation to take effect with passage of the state budget for the 2024 fiscal year. A distinctive feature of this result is the strong bipartisan legislative vote. Other states have…