Next Generation Healthcare Facilities Summit Starts Feb. 23

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Health care professionals, engineers and architects will gather in Santa Monica to network and discuss more than $1 billion in health care facility construction projects.

The Next Generation Healthcare Facilities Summit will take place Feb. 23 – 25. This is the second year for the event.

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Longer Patient Stays Can Reduce Costs, Study Finds

NEW YORK — New evidence shows that keeping patients in the hospital one day longer can significantly cut readmissions, save patient lives and reduce costs.

Research from a September 2014 Columbia Business School study titled, “Should Hospitals Keep Their Patients Longer? The Role of Inpatient and Outpatient Care in Reducing Readmissions,” compared the impact of a longer length of stay in the hospital to the effects of outpatient care for Medicare patients.

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Study Shows Nursing Staff, Environment Reduces Readmissions

PHILADELPHIA — New provisions to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) penalize hospitals for an excess amount of preventable hospital readmissions, which cost Medicare more than $15 billion every year. However, in January, a study published in Medical Care says that improving nurses’ work environment can help reduce that number.

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Popular or Not, Electronic Medical Records March Forward

CHICAGO — The transition to electronic medical records (EMRs) has been less than seamless on a national level. Our last two presidents have been relatively unanimous in their support of the change. President George Bush signed an executive order in 2004, calling for all Americans to have their medical information stored electronically by 2014. President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act codified that goal into law. The medical community has been less united in embracing the change.

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