Healthcare Strategic Management articles from December 2006

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from December 2006

Collect copays and deductibles up front to reduce bad debt and enhance your hospital's margins.(Finance)
December 1, 2006... The suggestion that hospitals should collect copayments and deductibles before providing service may seem like a lesson from Hospital Management 101. In theory, it's a given that hospitals would have processes and procedures in place to ensure...

Hospitals buy new equipment to care for obese patients.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... More hospitals are changing to accommodate the rising number of morbidly obese patients, offering bariatric surgery, and other obesity-related procedures and tests, according to a report by the Toronto, ON-based healthcare strategic information...

New line of hospital garb offers patients more dignity.(KN Ltd./Karen Neuberger)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... To boost patient satisfaction, hospitals have tried a range of initiatives, from improving physicians' bedside manner to improving food at the facility. The latest trend is to offer patients plush pajamas that provide full coverage in the back....

U.S. trails other countries in tools to provide patient care.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Primary care doctors in the United States are less likely than those in several other countries to offer patients access to care outside of regular office hours or to have systems that alert them to potentially harmful drug interactions,...

Portable system connects patients to interpreters.(Mercy Hospital )(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Miami's Mercy Hospital recently installed a system that allows physicians to communicate around the clock with non-English-speaking patients. The Language Access Network allows live, one-on-one communication with interpreters using a portable...

New service aims to ease appointment-making process.(DoctorsDirect.com)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... A new online service lets consumers book and pay for medical appointments online. DoctorsDirect.com claims to simplify the process of scheduling medical appointments for consumers, and reduce insurance and billing paperwork for doctors without...

Medicare final rule sets physician payment rates and policies.(Strategic notes)
December 1, 2006... In an effort to encourage increased communication, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will cut Medicare payments to physicians by 5% next year. The reduction is "to account for the combined growth in volume...

Computer programs help flag insurance fraud.(Strategic notes)
December 1, 2006... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and private health insurers are using computer programs that can flag potential fraud even before medical claims are paid, according to a November 7 article in USA Today. The computer programs...

AHA calls for medical device identification system.(American Hospital Association, unique device identifier)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... The American Hospital Association (AHA) is urging the U. S. Food and Drug Administration to develop a mandatory unique device identifier (UDI) system for medical devices, similar to the National Drug Code used for pharmaceuticals. A UDI...

Safer MRI scans for pacemaker and defibrillator users.(magnetic resonance imaging)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Currently, hospitals do not allow pacemakers and defibrillators in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, because they can cause serious problems such as burnt tissue and implant malfunction. According to an Associated Press article,...

Medical centers to pool information about HIV therapies.(National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Using a $2.45 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, seven U.S. medical centers will create the first electronic network to pool information about HIV...

Hospitals named to first-ever 'Leapfrog Top Hospitals' list.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Fifty-nine U.S. hospitals have been named to the "Leapfrog Top Hospitals" list based on their positive responses to a survey asking about their awareness of and action on the 30 safe practices for better healthcare endorsed by the National...

Few adults check for source of online health information.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Just 15% of 113 million American adults who search the Internet for information on health topics always check the source and date of the information they find to assess its quality, according to a survey released by the Washington, DC-based Pew...

EHRs still not routine part of medical practice.(electronic health record)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... In the most comprehensive study to date to reliably measure the state of electronic health record (EHR) use by doctors and hospitals, researchers from Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital and Washington, DC-based George Washington...

Some specialists' compensation shows double-digit increases.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Data show a double-digit increase in the average total cash compensation levels paid between 2004 and 2006 for nine specialty practices, according to a survey of 264 healthcare organizations by the Chicago-based human resource management firm...

Healthcare industry lags in supervision of employees.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Already facing significant work force shortages, U.S. healthcare companies must drastically improve both leadership and employee supervision, according to a study by Chicago-based employee research and consulting firm ISR. In the survey,...

Survey: U.S. doctors discouraged, have low morale.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Doctor fatigue and emotional burnout have led to family discord, depression, and even suicidal thoughts, according to a recent survey conducted by the American College of Physician Executives. The survey of 1,205 U.S. physicians found that ...

Physicians polled on 'pill splitting'.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Physicians are split on the practice of pill-splitting, according to a recent survey by Medical Economics. Physicians were given a scenario in which a patient requests a prescription for twice the actual dose he needs so that he can split...

Scarborough Research to better gauge health ad effectiveness.(Solucient L.L.P.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Scarborough Research, a media research and pattern agency in New York City, is teaming with Evanston, IL-based healthcare data information company Solucient to help advertisers better gauge the effectiveness of healthcare advertising....

Study: consumer-driven plans have mixed results.(Research notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Consumer-driven health (CDH) plans can reduce healthcare use and lower costs, but may also deter consumers from seeking needed care, according to a study by the Santa Monica, CA-based research firm the RAND Corporation. The researchers estimate...

Employers' enthusiasm for consumer-driven options cooling.(consumer-driven health plans)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... The growth of consumer-driven health (CDH) plans has cooled, although it will remain strong during this fall's open-enrollment period, according to a survey conducted by the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists...

Uninsured among Americans' top health concerns.(Research notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Rising costs and the problems of the uninsured are among Americans' top concerns, according to a Health Affairs study published online on October 17 (www.healthaffairs.org). The biggest perceived health threats are cancer, HIV/AIDS, and avian...

Fellowship program identifies, trains physician leaders.
December 1, 2006... The hospital medical board at Valley Baptist Medical Center (VBMC) in Harlingen, TX, suffered from a lack of continuity. New board members struggled to learn and assume their responsibilities. Some took up to nine months to feel comfortable...

Mentor programs help create leaders of tomorrow.(leadership development)
December 1, 2006... Across all industries, healthcare included, the practice of mentoring appears to be at an all-time low. We see this reflected specifically in the graying of existing leadership combined with the symptomatic high-profile lack of succession...

Hospital liability claims stabilizing.(Research notes)
December 1, 2006... Insurance claims against doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals have stabilized for the second consecutive year, although the average size of malpractice claims rose 6%, according to an annual study by the Chicago-based...

Study: education boosts mammography appointments.(Research notes)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... One-quarter of female patients in emergency departments (ED) who were educated about mammography screening for breast cancer received or scheduled a mammogram within one month of their ED visits, according to a study presented during the annual...

HIPAA security compliance low.(Research notes)
December 1, 2006... Only 56% of providers have implemented standards to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 security rule despite the deadline passing more than a year ago, according to a study by the Chicago-based...

Numbers of retiring nurse leaders to escalate within four years.(Research notes)
December 1, 2006... A new survey by the New York City-based employment recruitment firm Bernard Hodes Group shows that the number of retiring nurse leaders will begin to escalate in four years, with 75% of current leaders planning to retire by 2020. According to...

Hospital costs for children with flu higher than previous estimates.(Research notes)
December 1, 2006... A new study conducted by researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia reports that hospitalizing children for influenza may cost three or four times more than previous estimates. The researchers analyzed billing data for 727...

The quality equation.(electronic medical record )
December 1, 2006... Even providers who can afford expensive electronic medical record (EMR) systems discover that adapting them to improve care quality is a difficult undertaking. Members of the Concord (NH) Hospital Physician Group participated in a diabetes...

Market your practice by mailing a patient newsletter.(Worth reading)
December 1, 2006... Patient newsletters provide a valuable community service, informing readers of potential health threats and possible medical treatments, said Scott Hartman, director of communications and marketing at Burlington, MA-based Lahey Clinic. But they...

Atlanta's Emory Healthcare initiates multiple advertising efforts to maximize exposure.(Worth reading)
December 1, 2006... To reach three separate audiences, maximize exposure to their brand, and tout two specialty services with one overall image, Emory Healthcare in Georgia launched an aggressive multi-integrated campaign that advertised the women's care and...

'Incubate, physicians to boost recruitment, success.(Worth reading)
December 1, 2006... When a hospital wants to recruit a physician to practice in its community, it generally faces two problems. First, the Stark self-referral laws limit the means that the hospital can use to recruit a physician, such as paying for only certain...