Healthcare Strategic Management articles from January 2006

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from January 2006

Ten steps to enhance long-term sustainability.
January 1, 2006... When given a chance to think deeply about long-term viability, hospital CEOs point to three major barriers to success: lack of access to sufficient capital, difficulty identifying financially attractive but untapped patients, and the presence...

Overuse overwhelms emergency departments as hospitals take steps to turn crisis around.
January 1, 2006... The future of emergency departments and their ability to treat all visitors continues to look grim, warns a new report by the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, DC. But the study also revealed steps some hospitals have...

Patients with high blood pressure more likely to use medication in Kentucky or New York.(STATISTICAL NOTES)
January 1, 2006... High blood pressure is a leading health ailment in the United States, but the likelihood of patients seeking treatment depends in part on where they live. Scarborough Research in New York City conducted an analysis of Medicare participants...

Best-performing cardiology departments insist on angioplasty for heart patients.
January 1, 2006... The best-performing hospitals with cardiology departments have a policy of sending heart attack patients directly to the cardiac catheterization laboratory for angioplasty, a new study found. The study by Premier in Charlotte, NC, of its...

Budget bill amendment would ban referral to specialty hospitals by physician owners.(STATISTICAL NOTES)
January 1, 2006... Self-referral by physician owners of specialty hospitals would no longer be permitted under a version of the budget reconciliation bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee in November 2005. General hospitals have long objected to the...

Colorado seeks to build new generation of nurses; experts say education is key.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... The nation's nurse shortage is rising, with 8% of positions going unfilled in 2005, according to a recent survey of hospital CEOs by the American Hospital Association. Compounding the effects of the shortage are rising patient demand and...

Facing hospital objections, JCAHO drops plans to sell patient data to insurance companies.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) voted to drop its plan to sell patient data collected in accreditation surveys to insurance companies. The move ended a standoff over patient-specific data reporting...

Boston Scientific recalls cardiac catheters due to faulty shaft withdrawal complaint.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Hospitals using cutting balloon devices from Boston Scientific in Natick, MA, have been asked to return any in stock to the manufacturer. On December 8, Boston Scientific announced a voluntary recall of the following products used in...

AHA survey: hospital IT adoption mainly dependent on access to financial resources.(American Hospital Association)(Information technology )
January 1, 2006... Hospitals say they are willing to install the latest information technology (IT) systems as recommended by the government; for many, however, lack of financial resources has rendered the question moot. Most likely to have access to the...

VA earmarks additional $5 million for its hospitals to study illness in veterans of early Gulf War.(Department of Veterans Affairs)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in November 2005 agreed to fund 12 new research projects to identify causes and treatment of what has come to be known as Gulf War Syndrome. The total cost of the research projects is estimated at...

Small Pennsylvania community hospital leads in orthopedic implant research.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Sewickley (PA) Valley Hospital, 191 beds, has been the focus of hip replacement research for 25 years, including evaluation of the first synthetic bone-coated titanium-coated hip prosthesis introduced in the United States. Now it is the site of...

Education key to saving money, lives by preventing hospital-based pneumonia.(RESEARCH NOTES)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Studies have shown that ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the leading cause of death from infections acquired during hospital stays. Each case costs a hospital up to $13,340 per patient, according to Victoria Fraser, MD, chief of...

New VHA program aims to transform ORs into money-saving, life-saving operations.(operating room safety)(Voluntary Hospitals Association)
January 1, 2006... Surgical site infections (SSI) cost hospitals an average of $3,152 per incident, and postoperative pneumonia costs between $22,000 and $28,000 per admission, surveys have shown. That is reason enough for hospitals to sign up for a new...

Recovery begins: Kindred Hospital opens 17 beds in hurricane-battered New Orleans.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Two months after Hurricane Katrina caused damage that forced the evacuation of patients and staff, Kindred Hospital in New Orleans, reopened 17 of its 90 long-term acute-care beds. The hospital sustained wind damage and shut down temporarily...

Consultants help hospital supply music, comfort food to make patient stays easier.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
January 1, 2006... Hospital executives talk about patient-centered care, but it is not often that a hospital looks beyond clinical operations and financial policies to address the needs of people who find themselves in need of a hospital stay. Swedish...

Illinois hospital earns accreditation for quality of three laboratory specialties.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
January 1, 2006... Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, IL, 386 beds, earned accreditation for the quality of its nuclear medicine, vascular ultrasound, and echocardiography laboratories, one of only five hospitals in Illinois to achieve this status. The...

Maryland hospital gets nod to build OB center and expand ED services.(obstetric)(Baltimore Washington Medical Center)(emergency department)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... The Maryland Healthcare Commission in November 2005 approved a certificate-of-need request for a new patient tower and obstetric (OB) services at Baltimore Washington Medical Center (BWMC) in Glen Burnie, MD, 272 beds. The approval will...

Spreading improvement in hospitals requires commitment of senior-level executives.(WORTH READING)
January 1, 2006... One of the critical ideas of successful "spread" improvement is obtaining buy-in and leadership from senior hospital leaders. Speeding up the process of spreading and driving improvement through the building of an appropriate organizational...

Focus on strategic performance to achieve competitive advantage.
January 1, 2006... Increasing your investment capital without requesting more funds or cutting costs is now possible, writes Hindin, president of Hindin Healthcare Advisors, LLC, a management consulting and executive coaching firm located in Hoboken, NJ. New...

Hospital pricing transparency.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Hospital pricing transparency is being introduced to the public for the first time--a trend that's making some in the industry nervous. Patients may soon be able to compare and contrast the prices charged for services across many hospitals. For...

Comparing high- and low-performing hospitals using risk-adjusted excess mortality and cost inefficiency.(WORTH READING)
January 1, 2006... High-performing hospitals are more likely to be for-profit, have higher occupancy rates, and use fewer patient-care personnel per admission, according to a new study by McKay, an associate professor of health services research, management, and...

Manufacturing's prescription for improving healthcare quality.(WORTH READING)
January 1, 2006... The quest for quality healthcare is getting a shot in the arm from the power of Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Six Sigma. Consumerism is driving a return to traditional values for evaluating quality with an emphasis on...