Recent News
AHA launches health equity roadmap
April 4, 2022
The American Hospital Association Board of Trustees voted earlier this year to update its vision and mission statements to reflect the importance of equity more directly in advancing the health of people and communities.
Read More!
Becerra: HHS wants to get 'money's worth' on Medicare Advantage, will look into coding practices
April 4, 2022
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the agency is looking into the drivers of overpayments to some Medicare Advantage plans but didn't detail what reforms could be in the offing.
Read More!
Negative effects of rural hospital closings go beyond health, study finds
March 28, 2022
Rural hospitals have struggled financially for years, prompting the closure of 101 such facilities from January 2013 through February 2020 alone, according to one federal government report. The result is longer travel times for local residents to access common medical services and a decline in the number of healthcare professionals in those counties.
Read More!
Donations to assist Ukraine and its refugees
March 17, 2022
The U.S. Ukraine Foundation is a 30-year-old organization that supports the people of Ukraine in their quest for freedom, democracy, a free-market economy, and human rights. The U.S. Ukraine Foundation has established a fund to provide financial support for humanitarian efforts, including covering the costs of sending medical supplies to Ukraine. The fund also supports refugees through the Kyiv Rotary Refugee Initiative.
Read More!
3 ways to improve patients' digital experiences
March 7, 2022
In a new report, the American Hospital Association (AHA) suggests three ways health systems can leverage technology to create a seamless digital experience for patients.
Read More!
President announces strategy to strengthen mental health care system
March 7, 2022
Our country faces an unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages. Two out of five adults report symptoms of anxiety or depression. And, Black and Brown communities are disproportionately undertreated – even as their burden of mental illness has continued to rise. Even before the pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety were inching higher. But the grief, trauma, and physical isolation of the last two years have driven Americans to a breaking point.
Read More!
Loss of rural health creating care deserts
March 7, 2022
A rural health care advisory and analytics provider has found nearly half of rural hospitals have refrained from admissions because of nursing shortages this past year. Additionally, more than a quarter of rural hospitals have ceased offering some services due to staffing challenges.
Read More!
Telehealth use for outpatient visits remains elevated, KFF study finds
February 21, 2022
Telehealth use has decreased since the start of the pandemic but levels remain elevated compared to pre-COVID levels, a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis has found. The survey assessed telehealth use from March 2019 through August 2021 using data from Cosmos, an Epic dataset, for more 41 million outpatient visits. The study is relevant only to the population studied and not weighted to be nationally representative.
Read More!
A new era of health literacy - expanded definitions, digital influences and rural inequities
February 21, 2022
The languages of medicine. First, there is the jargon-packed peer-to-peer language used by healthcare providers to discuss patient care. Second comes an even more elaborate language dedicated to specialty medical care. A third language exists because of the MSDRG system, or Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Groups. Different from providers’ clinical language, it is a language that belongs to data collection and billing — but it is also a language that providers must master. Yet there is a fourth language that providers do understand — but don’t always speak fluently: the plain language used by their patients.
Read More!
CMS delays hospital star ratings update until July
February 21, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today announced it will delay updating the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings on the Care Compare website from April until July so it can correct a calculation error in the calendar year 2021 results for the OP-10 outpatient imaging efficiency measure.
Read More!WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE SAYING
"Our experience with Lutz has always been positive, professional, and timely. The consulting advice has been beneficial to our organization".
The quality of people in the IT world that would just work as your employee is limited in these rural areas. Five Nines fills that gap for us. I really feel like this collaboration is a real partnership. This is long term, we look at the big picture rather than those little pieces.
UNANIMOUS understands strategy. When it was time to address our outdated mission and vision we wanted a firm to facilitate our process for updating it. They understood the connection between branding and strategy. Their facilitation included robust imput from senior leaders as well as community leaders, staff and patients. It felt like they understood exactly what we were needing and how to help us get it done.
Bryan Health Connect's partnership with NHA Services Preferred Business Partner Bellevue University is a great addition to the services offered to our membership. The tuition assistance, quality programs and flexible learning options benefit our members who want to pursue a graduate degree for career advancement and expertise, and their family members who may be pursuing undergraduate degrees to begin their career path.
Paymerang has been great to work with. We upload our payments once a week and send a wire to cover them and Paymerang takes care of the rest. Several of our vendors have switched over to ACH payment or Credit Card payment and are receiving their payments much quicker, which they like. Our client rep keeps in contact with us to make sure everything is going well, so they are very hands on. We couldn’t ask for better service.