For more than a decade, new heart program start-ups or expansions have been flat or declining in the US. This has occurred with a concomitant increase in the percentage of what has been termed “low volume heart programs” over the past 10-15 years. (see our previous blog Can Low Volume Cardiac Surgery Programs Be Excellent)
In our recent post, Low-Volume Cardiac Surgery Program “Excellence”, we initiated a multi-part series discussion on the theme of cardiac program excellence. In this article, we address the importance of understanding one’s cardiac program volumes and the difference in key types of procedures that comprise your cardiac surgery program’s procedure volume.
In a previous blog, CFA asked the question, “Can a low-volume cardiac surgery program be excellent?” (posted November 16, 2016). CFA estimates,
The national decline in cardiac surgical volumes is well documented: between 2000 and 2010, annual isolated CABG volume in the U.S. declined by 95,000 cases (from 314,000 to 219,000), a drop of 30%.
In the continuing effort to foster innovation and cost savings in cardiovascular programs, CFA was reminded of two interrelated clinical pathway issues by recently published research.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on March 21st in the Federal Register the following news on the anticipated implementation of the mandatory cardiac bundled payment initiative:
After more than a decade of paltry economic growth, many CFOs and healthcare sector financial analysts are becoming more bullish on the future of their health services organizations’ financial positions and performance.
The integration of Heart and Vascular Services has been an ongoing challenge for the past 15 years or so. CFA has long promoted the benefits of heart and vascular services alignment, as the advantages far outweigh the time and effort necessary to achieve integration.
In a previous blog post, we introduced the concept of episodes of care (EOC) and its conceptual and practical application to improving program performance and preparing for value based care.
As most of us know by now, any transition to bundled payment will necessarily involve episodes of care (EOC). This blog, however, is not about preparing for bundled payment ‒ rather, it will focus on the value of the EOC as a foundation for analysis leading to reduced costs and enhanced value, regardless of when (or if) bundled payment initiatives become commonplace.
