Healthcare Strategic Management articles from April 2003

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from April 2003

Market memo: PVD screenings offer revenue opportunities.(peripheral vascular disease)
April 1, 2003... Faced with continuing declines in reimbursement and the potential for new technology, such as drug-eluting stents, to further threaten revenue, cardiology programs are scrambling to find ways to stabilize their programs. A newly emerging...

HealthSouth scandal offers opportunities.
April 1, 2003... HealthSouth's $1.4 billion accounting scandal offers challenges and opportunities to its employees, physicians, competitors and hospitals that work with its some 1,700 rehab, surgery centers and diagnostic clinics. Strategists in hospitals...

HMA acquires two Washington state hospitals. (Strategic Notes).(Health Management Associates)(Providence Yakima Medical Center)(Providence Toppenish Hospital)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Health Management Associates (HMA) Inc. has agreed to acquire Providence Yakima Medical Center of Yakima, Wash., and Providence Toppenish Hospital of Toppenish, Wash., a 289-bed acute care hospital system. The transaction is expected to...

Triad Hospitals, Texas Health Resources collaborate on new $100 million hospital. (Strategic Notes).
April 1, 2003... Triad Hospitals, Inc. and Texas Health Resources have announced plans to build a 272,538-square-foot, $100 million hospital in Denton, Texas, north of Dallas. Groundbreaking is projected to take place in late summer 2003. Triad Hospitals...

SurgiCare opens endoscopy center in Houston. (Strategic Notes).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... SurgiCare Inc. of Houston has opened a new endoscopy center in Houston in collaboration with 15 physician partners. The company said the new facility has four procedure rooms that are fully operational, with expansion to eight rooms planned...

Nations Capital to open California surgery center. (Strategic Notes).(Nations Capital Group )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Nations Capital Group has announced a groundbreaking for a new surgery center in Ontario, Calif. The new, 14000-square-foot facility has five operating rooms. It is the fourth surgery center in southern California, joining existing ones in...

MedCath opens Louisiana Heart Hospital. (Strategic Notes).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... MedCath Corp. has opened the Louisiana Heart Hospital in St. Tammany Parish, La. The 58-bed facility serving the Northshore region of Louisiana will begin accepting patients immediately. The 101,000-square-foot Louisiana Heart Hospital...

Kindred Healthcare to acquire 31-bed long-term care unit within Albuquerque hospital. (Strategic Notes).(Albuquerque Regional Medical Center)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Kindred Healthcare Inc. plans to open a 31-bed, long-term acute care hospital within Albuquerque Regional Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M. Albuquerque Regional Medical Center is part of Sandia Health System, which is operated by Ardent...

Wellpoint Health's offer for CareFirst in doubt after Maryland regulators reject latest offer. (Strategic Notes).(Wellpoint Health Networks Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Wellpoint Health Networks Inc.'s plan to acquire CareFirst Inc., a rival Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, appears to have been derailed after Maryland regulators rejected the plan. Wellpoint can still appeal the decision. Wellpoint has...

Genesis Health Ventures to spin off its eldercare business, retain core pharmacy operations. (Strategic Notes).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Genesis Health Ventures Inc. of Kennett Square, Pa., has decided to spin off its eldercare business in a tax-free transaction to shareholders. Company officials say the newly independent eldercare company would include the Genesis...

Vast majority of hospital CEOs report bioterrorism plans in place, or will be within six months. (Statistical Notes).(chief executive officers)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Some 95% of the hospital CEOs surveyed said their hospitals already have, or within six months will have, a bioterrorism disaster plan in place, developed in coordination with local emergency or health agencies, according to a recent survey...

HHS awards $1.4 billion to states to prepare for bioterrorism, other public health emergencies. (Statistical Notes).(United States Department of Health and Human Services)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that $1.4 billion will be made available to states this year help them enhance preparations against terrorism or other public health emergencies. Of the total, about $870...

Study: shortage of staff in key surgical specialties is getting worse in non-urban hospitals. (Statistical Notes).
April 1, 2003... With one in six surgical positions unfilled and acute shortages in key surgical specialties in non-urban hospitals, indications are that staffing challenges prevalent in rural medicine are getting worse, according to a recent nationwide survey...

JCAHO calls for greater reporting of patient deaths resulting from contracted fatal infections. (Statistical Notes).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has issued an alert to hospitals calling for greater reporting of the deaths of patients who contract fatal infections while being treated for other illnesses or...

Study shows demand for inpatient services appears to be making comeback in NYC. (Statistical Notes).(New York City)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... In an apparent reversal of many years of steady declines, inpatient services seem to be making a comeback in New York City hospitals, according to Hospital Watch, a quarterly report on hospital utilization and financial performance issued by...

J.D. Power, Health Grades team up to rate hospitals for service and clinical excellence. (Database Notes).(J.D. Power and Associates)
April 1, 2003... J.D. Power and Associates and Health Grades Inc. have formed a strategic alliance to recognize hospitals for service and clinical excellence. In what the companies say is an industry first, the Distinguished Hospital Performance Program will...

Survey: Americans want to use web to make health care choices, but web info misses mark. (Database Notes).
April 1, 2003... While a majority of Americans are turning to the internet for the information they need before making important decisions, far fewer consult the web before making decisions about their health because what they find online is missing the mark,...

New web site launches to help companies assess their need for diabetes education, management. (Database Notes).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... A new web site, diabetesatwork.org, has been launched to help companies assess their need for diabetes education and management at their work sites. The web site also provide guidance on choosing a diabetes-friendly health plan and more than 30...

New web site debuts dedicated to providing `humor resources' to health care providers. (Database Notes).(Carolina Health and Humor Association [Carolina Ha Ha] )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The Carolina Health and Humor Association (Carolina Ha Ha) has a new, comprehensive web portal, www.thehumorcollection.org, dedicated to providing humor resources to health care providers and patients, community programs and others. The...

Hospital-linked care continuums can create provider feedback loop. (Hospital-Linked Care Continuums).
April 1, 2003... Medicare payment rates for long-term care remain depressed, some of the largest independent skilled nursing facility operators are bankrupt or just emerging from Chapter 11, and the credit ratings outlook for the industry is generally negative...

Survey: prices for assisted living units decline. (Hospital-Linked Care Continuums).
April 1, 2003... After rising for five years straight, the average price paid per unit for assisted living facilities plunged by more than 23% in 2002, according to a recent report from Irving Levin Associates Inc. The New Canaan, Conn.-based firm, which...

Fitch Ratings forecasts negative outlook for nursing homes, CCRCs. (Nursing Home Ratings Outlook).
April 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings says its outlook for the nonprofit nursing home sector is negative due to the severe financial pressures that are expected to weaken the sector over the near and long terms. The New York-based bond credit ratings agency said...

PwC sees hospital spending jump. (Hospital Care Spending).(PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.)
April 1, 2003... National spending on hospital care increased by $83.6 billion between 1997 and 2001, to $451.2 billion, largely as a result of increased patient volume, according to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The New York-based...

Solucient: study shows hospital margins rose in first half of 2002. (Hospital Margins).
April 1, 2003... Despite increasing labor and drugs costs, as well as a lagging economy, U.S. hospitals posted their highest operating margin average in five years in the second quarter of 2002, according to a recent report from Solucient. The Evanston,...

Community Health Network finds success with customer relationship management pilot project. (Worth Reading).
April 1, 2003... As marketing gurus everywhere know, it's much less expensive to keep an existing customer than it is to go out and recruit a new one. Still, it's often less than clear how to best keep those existing customers happy. Indianapolis-based...

Study in Health Affairs predicts health care spending will roughly double by 2012. (Worth Reading).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... U.S. health care expenditures will double to about $3.1 trillion by 2012, up from about $1.55 trillion in 2002, according to a recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the online edition of Health...

Expert: hospital target market area must be continually re-evaluated. (PVD Screenings).
April 1, 2003... Many health care administrators are laboring under a false sense of security, believing residents in their primary service area know as much about their brand as they do, according to Barbara Allan, CEO of SRA Research Group Inc., a Jupiter,...