Staff at the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Santa Rosa, California, used whatever was at their disposal—including their own cars—to help patients quickly evacuate when massive wildfires quickly spread close to the hospital. At the same time she was helping those patients, nurse Julayne Smithson’s new home was burning down.

Communication-and-resolution programs (CRP) at four Massachusetts hospitals led to lower medical liability costs and improvements in patient safety after adverse events, countering concerns that telling patients about errors would motivate more to file lawsuits.

Sacramento, California-based Sutter Physician Services found success in helping to reduce readmissions at its affiliated Sutter Health hospitals by coordinating follow-up appointments and check-in calls with recently discharged patients, but communication and C-suite engagement have been critical to making the effort work.

Oct. 2 is the deadline for clinicians to start collecting performance data for the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and still be eligible for a positive payment adjustment in 2019. With multiple sources showing clinicians and healthcare finance professionals feel unprepared for the first year of the new payment track, some eligible providers may settle for simply avoiding a negative adjustment.

Overall star ratings on the CMS Hospital Compare website will not be updated in October as previously scheduled, according to the American Hospital Association (AHA).

A healthcare organization which employs 450 physicians could realize a 12.5 percent return on a $1 million investment to tackle physician burnout, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Saying “no” to procedures and treatments, even when they’ve been shown not to be helpful to patients, is easier said than done for physicians, threatening efforts like the Choosing Wisely initiative begun by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Beyond making practices more efficient and reducing administrative costs, offering new options for making payments and scheduling appointments may be the key for medical practices to attract new patients and keep them satisfied, according to a survey released at the 2017 Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) conference.