Healthcare Strategic Management articles from December 2005

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from December 2005

Six Sigma: it's real, it's data-driven, and it's here.
December 1, 2005... When Jeffrey Burnich, MD, began leading his colleagues at Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus, OH, down the path of quality improvement based on Six Sigma principles, he was venturing into virtually unknown territory. That was June...

U.S. health executives need to recognize audience views when planning.(RESEARCH NOTES)
December 1, 2005... Ian Morrison, a founding partner of Strategic Health Perspectives in Palo Alto, CA, told an audience of 600 executives that healthcare costs are rising not because of the aging population, but because of technology and the "intensity of care"...

Studies offer more evidence of usefulness of Sirolimus-eluting stents from Cordis.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... A pair of clinical studies indicate the Cypher Sirolimus-eluting stent is effective for an increasing number of otherwise hard-to-treat cases. The Cordis division of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ, sponsored the trials and...

Stents gain popularity as alternatives to carotid artery surgery in many cases.(RESEARCH NOTES)
December 1, 2005... Carotid artery stents are a viable alternative to endarterectomy to prevent stroke in patients at high risk for surgery, a new study shows. The Cordis division of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, N J, sponsored the Sapphire trial of its...

Patient poll ranking gives Mercy Hospital top honors for third consecutive year.(RESEARCH NOTES)
December 1, 2005... Hospitals across the country recently received documentation of their patients' regard when J.D. Power and Associates, a consumer research firm in Westlake Village, CA, recognized them for service excellence in its Distinguished Hospital...

Oncology image management system links digital records across types of treatment.
December 1, 2005... Cancer departments and clinics now have an image management system designed especially for them. Varian Medical Systems in Palo Alto, CA, developed the Aria oncology information management system operating filmless and paperless cancer...

HSAs: a boon to the uninsured or a financial benefit for healthcare providers?
December 1, 2005... The growing adoption of high-deductible insurance policies augmented by health savings accounts (HSA) means providers have to change some of the ways they do business. A new survey by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) in...

ICUs can save both patients and dollars if they implement best practices for IV use.(STATISTICAL NOTES)
December 1, 2005... Central IV lines are a major source of infections in intensive care units (ICU); they harm patients and increase lengths of stay, which drive up costs. But hospitals participating in a two-year effort to curb medical errors have reduced central...

Texas hospitals follow proven procedures to reduce errors and patient mortality.
December 1, 2005... An effort to discover the best treatment practices for saving patient lives attracted 141 Texas hospitals to join the national 100,000 Lives campaign, founded by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Austin. "It's great that...

Kidney failure rates stop climbing, except in African-American population.
December 1, 2005... Kidney failure rates have stabilized after 20 years of annual increases of 5%-10%, according to new research from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. At the same time,...

Guidant takes merger dispute with J&J to federal court following device recalls.
December 1, 2005... Guidant Corp. in Indianapolis sued Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in New Brunswick, NJ, in New York District Court to prevent J&J from backing out of a deal to acquire Guidant. J&J reconsidered a planned $25.4 billion acquisition of the...

St. John hospitals to install software package to integrate patient data.(STRATEGIC NOTES)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... St. John Health, a nine-hospital system based in Warren, MI, awarded a contract to Avega Health Systems in El Segundo, CA, for administrative software designed to integrate clinical and financial information. In October, St. John Health...

California hospital upgrades computer systems to incorporate patient records.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Community Hospital of the Monterey (CA) Peninsula, 174 beds, went live October 12 with an upgrade of its Sunrise systems from Eclipsys Corporation in Boca Raton, FL. The hospital installed Sunrise Clinical Manager 4.0 XA and Sunrise...

Live surgery at El Camino broadcast to cardiovascular conference in Washington.(El Camino Hospital )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA, 426 beds, was one of 28 cardiac facilities featured during the October 17 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference in Washington, DC. James Joye, DO, director of the catheterization...

South Carolina hospital to install bar code specimen technology from Care Fusion.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Beaufort Memorial Hospital in Beaufort, SC, 169 beds, selected Care Fusion in McLean, VA, to provide mobile barcode technology at the point of care. Under an agreement that took effect in October, Beaufort will install the company's Wireless...

New company plans to acquire three rural hospitals in Arkansas and Texas from Triad.(Signature Hospital planned to acquire Triad Hospitals)(Gulf Coast Medical Center, Medical Park Hospital and Pampa Regional Medical Center)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Signature Hospital, a hospital management company based in Dallas and specializing in rural hospitals, plans to acquire three hospitals in Arkansas and Texas for $75 million from Triad Hospitals in Plano, TX. The hospitals are Gulf Coast...

In case of major flu outbrake, emergency departments would be ill-prepared, docs say.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... With the nation's emergency departments (ED) already overflowing, hospitals are nowhere near ready to cope with a flu outbreak of other healthcare crisis, according to the physicians who staff the emergency rooms (ER). According to an...

Hardship continues for hospitals, workers following hurricanes Katrina and Wilma.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Flood waters have receded and winds have died down, but hospitals in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Wilma continue to struggle to recover from damage while serving the healthcare needs of their communities. At Touro Infirmary in New...

HealthSouth names financial executive Jon Hanson as new board chairman.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
December 1, 2005... Jon F. Hanson took over October I as chair of a reorganized HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, AL. Jay Grinne is the CEO. Hanson has been on HealthSouth's Board since September 2002. He is the chair and founder of The Hampshire...

Terminating a patient: is it time to part ways?
December 1, 2005... When the therapeutic relationship between doctor and patient is repeatedly challenged, having a standardized process for dealing with the situation makes it easier for a physician to take appropriate action. Deanna Willis, MD, MBA,...

Focusing on consumers transforms Bronx ED.
December 1, 2005... Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY, has not always been known for patient-centered care or great customer service. Patients have a choice of emergency departments (ED) in the Bronx, and Montefiore wanted to differentiate itself in the...

Ten recommendations for reducing unnecessary emergency department visits.
December 1, 2005... In some hospitals, the inappropriate use of EDs has reached crisis levels. This overuse can jeopardize patient care, increase costs, and contribute to patient dissatisfaction. The Institute for Healthcare Advancement has come up with 10...

UPMC boosts ad spending in marketing strategy to raise national profile.(WORTH READING)
December 1, 2005... The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is buying ads in national newspapers and magazines to compete with other major health systems across the country for patients, physicians, and financial donors. The 2,500-bed health system spent...

Making the most of market intelligence.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Market intelligence can't be bought--it requires internal expertise and cooperation between external vendors, writes Deborah Eastman, chief marketing officer of Biz360 in San Mateo, CA. She suggests four ways to use market intelligence to...

To find a doctor, mine the data.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Now that millions of consumers surf the Web to research their own medical symptoms, many are taking the next step: comparison-shopping online for hospitals and doctors. Patients may compare such details as the number of patients that a...

Transform your organization into a five-star service provider.
December 1, 2005... Customer service excellence is more than nice to have--it's a must for physician practices and hospitals that want to control their liability and improve their bottom line. If patients believe they are important participants in their own...