Healthcare Strategic Management articles from January 2007

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from January 2007

A quest for a magical approach to physician relations: overcome major barriers to a successful sales program.(Physician relations)(Column)
January 1, 2007... What makes some physician-relations programs so successful, whereas others seem to hit every bump in the road and constantly struggle? Unfortunately, there is no magic solution. A successful program comes from a combination of strategic...

HFMA identifies key challenges for the year ahead.(Statistical notes)(Healthcare Financial Management Association)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Consumer-focused health system changes and a rapidly evolving competitive landscape are key issues for healthcare finance leaders in 2007, according to a new report from the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Hospitals...

Survey: Americans support hospital growth.(Statistical notes)(Survey)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Americans overwhelmingly support hospital growth, development, and expansion, according to a national survey by the Boston-based Saint Consulting Group, which specializes in the politics of land-use planning issues. A sample of 1,000...

Americans dissatisfied with healthcare industry.(Statistical notes)(Survey)
January 1, 2007... A nationwide survey of 1,000 Americans about their perceptions of the U.S. healthcare system found dissatisfaction with the direction in which the industry is heading, according to a release from the New York City-based consulting firm...

Rankings show slight improvement in Americans' health.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Americans as a whole are 0.3% healthier than they were at this time last year, which keeps pace with the 0.3% average annual improvement since 2000, according to this year's edition of America's Health Rankings released by the Minnetonka,...

Hospital palliative care programs continue rapid growth.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... A recent analysis shows that 1,240 hospitals nationwide provide palliative care programs, compared with 632 programs in 2000, according to a release from the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). This represents a 96% increase in...

Not meeting to improve patient satisfaction.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... At Michigan's Spectrum Health, all managers--from President Matt Van Vranken to frontline supervisors--have two hours blocked out of their calendars three to five days times per week in which meetings are not allowed. A no-meeting...

AAMC launches campaign to increase diversity in medicine.(Strategic notes)
January 1, 2007... A new marketing campaign from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) encourages more minority students to choose medicine as a career. Representatives from the AAMC said the organization established the campaign in response to the...

Aetna launches tool to improve cross-cultural awareness.(Strategic notes)
January 1, 2007... Aetna of Hartford, CT, announced that it is offering healthcare providers free access to the online, evidence-based courses Quality Interactions: A Patient-Based Approach to Cross-Cultural Care. The e-learning program offers case-based...

Health insurance plans addressing gaps in care for minorities.(Strategic notes)
January 1, 2007... Two-thirds of consumers receive their health coverage from an insurer or health maintenance organization that collects data on the race and ethnicity of its members. That number is up from three years ago, when about half of all consumers...

Serving up a healthier meatball.(Strategic notes)(Swedish Covenant Hospital )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The Swedish meatballs at Chicago's Swedish Covenant Hospital just got a little healthier, thanks to the kitchen's switch to pure grass-fed beef that is raised without supplements or growth hormones. Following a national trend toward offering...

Plan could close several New York hospitals.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century has recommended closing nine hospitals in New York and restructuring approximately 50 others, resulting in a 7% reduction of hospital beds statewide, according to an article in The...

Americans have high hopes for medical records.(Strategic notes)(Survey)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Americans want to have electronic copies of their medical records and believe having greater access to their information will reduce healthcare mistakes and costly repeat procedures, according to a survey conducted by the New York City-based...

Mayo Clinic introduces biopsy-assisting device.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Mayo Clinic has introduced a new device that will allow doctors to obtain more accurate lung and upper-abdominal biopsies, or needle-drawn tissue samples, according to a story published in The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. The...

The Joint Commission names recipients of quality awards.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The Joint Commission announced this year's organization and individual winners of the 10th Annual Ernest Amory Codman Award. The award recognizes excellence in the use of outcomes measurement to achieve improvements in the quality and...

How the brain sees brands.(Research notes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Well-known brands activate positive emotional responses in the brain, according to the results of a "brain branding" study led by Christine Born, MD, a radiologist at University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich in Germany. ...

Search engines as diagnostic tool?(Research notes)
January 1, 2007... It turns out that media reports that Google can out-diagnose doctors are greatly exaggerated. But the authors of a controversial study on the topic do say that physicians could use the popular search engine as a diagnostic aid. According...

FDA approves return of silicone breast implants.(Research notes)(Food and Drug Administration )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved on November 17, 2006, the return of silicone breast implants made by two manufacturers to the U.S. market, according to a press release from the FDA. The products are manufactured by Allergan...

Women's reasons for CAM use: racial/ethnic differences.(Research notes)(complementary and alternative medicine)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... In an increasingly diverse society, understanding differences in rates and reasons for using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) could explain cultural and social factors influencing health behaviors, and hasten healthcare...

Clinical IT gaps persist between large, small practices.(Research notes)(information technology)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Physicians in smaller practices continue to lag behind physicians in larger ones in the availability of clinical information technology (IT) in their offices, according to findings of a study released by the Washington, DC-based Centers for...

Governance reinvented.(Worth reading)
January 1, 2007... In a rapidly changing industry filled with outside pressure for greater business oversight, effective governance is more vital than ever to a nonprofit healthcare organization's success. Gone are the days when nonprofit boards existed to...

Creative with compensation.(Worth reading)
January 1, 2007... If paying physicians is expensive, replacing them can be downright exorbitant. That's why group practices are getting more sophisticated about designing physician compensation arrangements that not only set clear expectations, but also take...

Five best practices to improve your work and reduce spending.(Worth reading)
January 1, 2007... Good materials managers are always looking for ways to improve their performance. One of the more effective ways to improve performance is to model yours after other organizations' successful practices. Incorporating the following best...

Learn to coexist with clinicians you can't stand.
January 1, 2007... Out-of-control conduct by clinicians is so rampant in hospitals that discouraging disruptive behavior is again on the list of the Joint Commission's potential goals for 2008. But beyond that, bad behavior in the workplace can hurt your...

Radio ads increase call center volume by 48%.(Worth reading)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Since fall 2005, call volume at University of Southern California (USC) University Hospital of Los Angeles' call center has increased by nearly 50%. How? The hospital embarked on a long-term radio campaign to promote its presence as a...

Use call centers to ensure accountability, demonstrate ROI.(Return on investment)
January 1, 2007... In an era of shrinking hospital budgets and limited resources, healthcare executives are increasingly holding managers accountable for expenses and profits. Marketers, in particular, need to show that their campaigns generate revenue for...