Healthcare Strategic Management articles from August 2005

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from August 2005

Market memo: tele-health opportunities in health care markets.
August 1, 2005... Tele-health is already the dominant mode for disease and health risk management in third-party-sponsored and vendor-operated disease and health risk management coaching of employees and health plan members. Of course, it is focused on payers'...

Business environment looks up for hospitals.(medical care market)
August 1, 2005... Every now and then health care strategists take a look at the business environment and try to anticipate how changing markets will affect their hospitals and health care systems. The outlook for both investor-owned and not-for-profit...

BJC ponders dropping HMO because of new rules linking payments to doctor performance.(BJC HealthCare)(Health maintenance organizations)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Managed care companies are picking up on the government's efforts to link performance with medical reimbursements, and the trend is causing hospitals to rethink their relationships with insurance companies. BJC HealthCare, St. Louis, was...

Pennsylvania hospital to get new lease on life when it reopens as a cancer specialty hospital.(CTCA Philadelphia reopens)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The former Parkview Hospital, Philadelphia, 200 beds, closed by Tenet Healthcare Corp. in 2003, will reopen as a cancer specialty hospital. Now owned by Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), the new hospital will be named CTCA...

Officials say hospital will need intensive care to recover from lingering financial losses.(STRATEGIC NOTES)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Doctors Medical Center, San Pablo, Calif., 131 beds, is clinging to life following losses in May of nearly $1 million. Patient volume was down drastically, according to published reports, and the West Contra Costa Healthcare District board,...

Earthquake prevention regulations highlight shaky relationship between Sutter, district.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
August 1, 2005... A California law requiring earthquake-resistant construction has led to a public-private battle over control of a San Rafael hospital. Marin General Hospital, 235 beds, is owned by the public Marin Healthcare District, but operated by...

Columbia St. Mary's opts to build new hospital to replace two others; completion set for 2010.(STRATEGIC NOTES)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Milwaukee will have a new hospital in 2010, but will also lose one. Columbia St. Mary's, a subsidiary of Ascension Health, St. Louis, plans to merge two hospitals, Columbia St. Mary's Milwaukee Campus and Columbia St. Mary's Columbia...

Exercise of endoscopic surgery skills on tap at AORN's upcoming conference in Boston.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
August 1, 2005... Nurses will be able to develop skills in assisting at endoscopic surgery and laser use during a conference sponsored by the Assn. of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), Denver. The Educational Conference on Advances in Clinical Practice...

Surgical facility boosts bottom line by tracking costs, product lines, contracts with new system.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
August 1, 2005... The Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, selected Avega Health Systems, E1 Segundo, Calif., to provide software for tracking costs, contract management and product line analysis. Effective Aug. 1, the hospital, which specializes in...

Training nurses to be documentation specialists pays off in higher reimbursement for Holy Spirit.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
August 1, 2005... Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill, Pa., 328 beds, has increased insurance and Medicare reimbursement by at least $50,000 per month since implementing a new coding training method that improves documentation. In 2004, Holy Spirit Hospital...

Golf match proves healthy for children's hospital with obesity programs to benefit from donation.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
August 1, 2005... Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, N.Y., 4,000 beds, received its second $50,000 donation from AstraZeneca, Wilmington, Del., following the second annual Crestor Charity Challenge golf tournament. ...

New name, new rooms in store for Maryland hospital pending certificate-of-need approval.(North Arundel Hospital named as Baltimore Washington Medical Center)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... North Arundel Hospital, Glen Burnie, Md., 270 beds, has renamed itself the Baltimore Washington Medical Center. The hospital also has applied for a certificate of need from the state for a $112 million, 15,000-square-foot expansion to...

Hospital-acquired infections costly, and rising, studies comparing rates and types demonstrate.(STATISTICAL NOTES)
August 1, 2005... Hospital-acquired infections cause patient deaths, add to lengths of stay and hospitalization costs and put hospitals' reputations for quality at risk. To that end, recent studies aim to isolate specific types and causes of infections. A...

Hospital CFO compensation rose 7.7% annually since 1999, according to new HFMA research.(STATISTICAL NOTES)
August 1, 2005... Hospitals may be struggling with low margins, but the people who keep track of their finances are prospering. During the past six years, chief financial officer (CFO) compensation at hospitals and health systems has increased by 7.7%...

Nursing shortage gets Congressional attention; seen as affecting national health care system.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Congress is considering directing a study of reasons and solutions for the nation's nursing shortage. Introduced May 4 by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), the bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce,...

Residents, medical students claim excessive workloads despite rules limiting their hours.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Despite new regulations that limit workloads of medical residents, the American Medical Assn. reported that 44% of residents have experienced sleep deprivation during recent hospital shifts. Half of those said they were concerned about the...

Cardiology outcomes much worse if patients have complications or secondary conditions.(STATISTICAL NOTES)
August 1, 2005... Complications and co-morbidity were responsible for higher costs and worse outcomes for in the majority of cardiovascular procedures. Nationally, in 2003, the latest year for which data are available, 12,369 patients, or 12.15% of people...

Contract labor necessary to supplement staff, but hospitals pay dearly for the convenience.(STATISTICAL NOTES)
August 1, 2005... Up to half of the $7.8 billion spent by U.S. hospitals annually on contract labor could be saved through better management. That is the conclusion of a new study by American Hospital Directory, Louisville, Ky. Hospitals often feel they...

States developing their own health care reform experiments using innovative funding methods.(DATABASE NOTES)
August 1, 2005... States are not waiting for the federal government to tackle the cost and access problems of the nation's health care system. In Vermont, for example, the legislature is considering a $235-million, five-year plan proposed by Gov. Jim Douglas...

QIOs said to be falling short of mission to aid Medicare beneficiaries in getting better care.(Quality Improvement Organizations)
August 1, 2005... "Do Quality Improvement Organizations Improve the Quality of Hospital Care for Medicare Beneficiaries?" Probably not, is the conclusion of a study report of that name, published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. (JAMA....

Connecticut pediatric hospital cited for child safety lapses, placed on probation and fined.(DATABASE NOTES)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, 123 beds, has been placed on probation for two years with the state Dept. of Public Health because of patient safety concerns. The hospital also was fined $250,000 following an investigation...

Fix or build? Hospitals choosing to completely replace aging facilities, citing cost of rehab.(DATABASE NOTES)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Some hospitals are finding it is more economical to replace aging facilities than to try to renovate them. In one example, Catholic Health Initiatives, Denver, concluded it would cost too much to upgrade its 100-year-old St. Anthony Central...

Feds begin working toward financial assistance, technical standards for health care information.(DATABASE NOTES)
August 1, 2005... The Dept. of Health and Human Services plans to establish a federal advisory commission on technical standards to help design a national health information network. HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt said his office will issue requests for proposals...

Proposed CMS rule would punish hospitals for transferring patients out of acute-care facilities.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... If the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has its way, nearly 230 Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) would be subject to reduced payment for patients transferred to post-acute care facilities after a hospital stay. Currently, just 30...

Tracking reimbursement pays off for Duke, with recovery of $4.5 million in underpayments.(payment tracking software usage for tracking underpayments)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Duke University Health System, Durham, N.C., recovered $4.5 million in managed care underpayments in one year and successfully defended another $1 million in managed care refund requests by using payment tracking software. In July, Duke...

Managed care era sees reemergence of birth complications; HCA orders bilirubin screening.(DATABASE NOTES)
August 1, 2005... HCA, Nashville, Tenn., has reinstated a procedure for avoiding perinatal kernicterus, a complication of jaundice at birth. Since February, HCA has required bilirubin screening for jaundice at all 124 of its hospitals with birthing units....

Group purchasing enters new era as industry association changes structure, leadership.(Health Industry Group Purchasing Association dropping Robert Betz as its president)
August 1, 2005... After more than a decade, the Health Industry Group Purchasing Assn. is dropping Robert Betz as its president, establishing separate programs for its GPO and supplier members, and beefing up its public relations and education efforts as opposed...

Las Vegas bank gets into gambling mode with cash prizes popping out of train-riding ATMs.(BankWest Corp., Las Vegas Monorail Co.)
August 1, 2005... So, there's clutter in your advertising environment? Imagine being in dazzling, glittering Las Vegas! Trying to reach some of Las Vegas' 30 million annual visitors requires creative thinking. For example, how about placing your ATMs at...

Bariatric surgery is a big growth business for some hospitals.(BARIATRIC SURGERY)
August 1, 2005... Bariatric surgery looks like a growth market, according to an article published in the July-August issue of Health Affairs. Out of an estimated 11.5 million adults eligible for bariatric surgery in 2002, there were an estimated 70,124 adult...