Healthcare budgets remain stable in tough economy
FACED WITH SHRINKING federal reimbursements and health reform provisions kicking in, most hospitals are maintaining or increasing their spending this year. In fact, 69 percent of healthcare leaders said their capital budgets for 2011 have remained flat or have increased compared with the year before, according to a Premier healthcare alliance survey. Where will most of the capital
investments go?According to 40 percent of the execs, health IT and telecommunications will be getting most of their increased healthcare spending. With the industry embracing accountable care, healthcare organizations will need health IT tools to coordinate clinical data across the care continuum.
For example,Geisinger Health
System and Summa Health System have geared a lot of capital investment toward new health technology tools and are now successfully integrating clinical data between their organizations, notes Premier. The flat and bigger healthcare
budgets reflect the executives’ confidence in rising healthcare utilization. 60 percent of the health leaders expect admissions to increase. Although 50 percent expect an increase of up to 5 percent, 18 percent of respondents think patient volume will grow by more than 5 percent. HB
Consider texting to keep in touch with patients, cut costs
remind them to make or confirm an appointment. Though the practice is overseas, a
trial text messaging approach launched by Union Brae and Norham Practice in the United Kingdom might be worth a look. Beginning in February, the practice will begin a three-month test of using text messages to remind patients to make appointments for regular health checks, inform patients immediately of any clinic closings or appointment cancellations, and publicize health campaigns such as annual flu vaccinations. In preparing for the experiment,
TEXT MESSAGING IS not only becoming the preferred mode of communication method among generation X and Y patients, but it also has one of the highest and fastest response rates compared to phone calls and email.What’s more,
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text messages can in many cases be automated and cost less money and staff time than postal letters or phone calls. For these reasons, it makes sense to reconsider the time you spend reaching out to some patients by phone, email, and even snail mail to
the practice is working on collecting accurate cell phone numbers for patients, which will also serve to better contact patients in case of
emergency.The system would use links to the practice’s medical system and will not send messages to patients who opt out, the Berwick Advertiser reports. HB
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