Since the fourth quarter of 2012, medical record requests from Medicare Recovery Auditors, or RACs, to hospitals have increased 47 percent, according to the American Hospital Association’s RACTrac Survey for the second quarter of 2013. Over the same six-month timeframe, Medicare RACs have boosted their complex audit denials to...

Only a couple of years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for healthcare experts to call accountable care organizations “unicorns.” Despite the excitement and discussion around the model, few people had seen one. ACOs have grown to become much more visible within the past three years, as more than half of...

The U.S. health system is plagued by fragmented care, variable quality, and high and rapidly growing costs. Underlying these problems is the prevalence of fee-for-service payment, in which health care providers are paid per visit, test, or procedure. Not only does fee-for-service payment fail to provide incentives for efficiency,...

Three and a half years ago, Doug Volinski, CFO of Duncan (Okla.) Regional Hospital, arrived at the small independent hospital with a growing plate of experience. He previously was the compliance officer at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas eventually becoming Valley Baptist’s interim CFO and ultimately its...

Last week, Moody’s Investors Service issued its annual medians report for nonprofit hospitals, finding that providers had a strong balance sheet in fiscal year 2012 but profitability metrics were down compared with FY 2011. For the first time since FY 2008, Moody’s found expenses outpaced revenue in nonprofit hospitals...