Tag Archive: Healthcare

By John Yeast & Anthony W. Minge, EdD Fitch & Associates The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers. CISA, FBI, and HHS have…

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Last week, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced proposed changes to how it reimburses home health agencies. Specifically, CMS will now allow home health providers to report the costs of remote monitoring. Like many initiatives happening at the local, state and national levels, this move by CMS appears to recognize and support…

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We’ve heard it for several years now: Value-based purchasing is coming. But some of you, I know, are beginning to wonder if that future will ever arrive. After years of hearing about these changes, we still largely get reimbursed the same way we have for decades. A recent report out of Maryland shows that the…

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Challenging ALS and BLS standards of emergency medicine to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction By Guillermo Fuentes The term “evidence-based practice” has been used in EMS for more than a decade. The reality is, as a profession, we fail to understand what implementing an evidence-based practice actually means. One of the most influential thinkers on…

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As the EMS adage goes, “If you’ve seen one EMS system, you’ve seen one EMS system.” While that statement reflects the diversity of EMS systems across the United States, it also creates the false sense that every EMS system is entirely different and that EMS leaders can’t learn from each other. Clearly that is not the case. As we see in the premiere edition of the EMS Trend Report, EMS systems across the country share many traits. On the other hand, significant differences do exist in everything from clinical care to salaries to operational benchmarks to hiring requirements.

Rarely does a week go by without another news report about an ambulance service or hospital under investigation by the federal government for fraud or abuse related to billing for transport services. Whether willful or unintentional, negligence that results in the billing of transport services at inappropriate levels is leaving many hospital-operated ambulance services at risk. And the scrutiny is only increasing.

Despite a tremendous diversity in how emergency medical services (EMS) are provided in communities around the country, most U.S. EMS systems remain focused on responding quickly to serious accidents and critical emergencies, even though patients increasingly call 911 for less severe or chronic health problems.

EMS leaders need to focus on continually improving quality, efficiency and innovation to add value as health care undergoes dramatic changes By Roxanne Shanks Health care policy seems to be in constant change with little clarity on where it is headed. Several policy changes being considered in Washington, from repeal of Obamacare to other, less…

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