Healthcare Strategic Management articles from July 2001

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from July 2001

Market Memo: Hospitals can control patient days to stem nurse demand.
July 1, 2001... Nursing and other staff shortages in hospitals will be eased, if not eliminated, as hospitals implement systems that reduce the rate of growth in patient days and the number of nurses needed to safely serve their patients. Changes in health...

Last 25 years proves that little will change.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Although no one can predict with any certainty what the next 25 years will bring for hospitals, and it's always dangerous to use the rearview mirror to foretell the future, I believe the last five to 25 years provide some pretty clear...

Rural residents use urban hospitals, which are more expensive.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... To the Editor: Re: "Rural health markets needs restructuring" (June 2001 HCSM). I disagree with the conclusion drawn (clarified during our phone conversation), that is, the structure of rural health care markets is responsible for...

Hospitals benefit from hiring former welfare recipients for entry-level jobs.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Nine hospitals that are members of VHA Inc. have benefited from hiring former welfare recipients, according to a book published by the VHA Health Foundation. Welfare-to-Work Strategies for Health Care Work Force Development focuses on the...

Oncology nurses join profession's call for relief from the growing nursing shortage.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) published an 18point position paper calling for the public and private sectors to address and resolve the growing nursing shortage in the United States. In The Impact of the National Nursing Shortage on...

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to invest $625 million in facilities over five years.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... During the next five years the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia will invest $400 million in renovating its facilities and another $225 million on a 1.2 million-square-foot expansion project. The construction project will nearly double the...

Baylor expands cardiovascular services and quality improvement research.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, has established two endowed chairs for cardiovascular research and an endowed chair for health care research and improvement. In addition, as part of a continued focus on medical education, Baylor will...

Most diabetes patients are poorly informed about their high risk of heart disease.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Heart disease is the leading complication and cause of death among diabetes patients, yet many of them do not understand the risk or its cause, according to a survey by the American Heart Assn. It found that 63% of diabetes patients experience...

Pharmaceutical industry reports 400 medicines in development to treat cancer.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) said more than 370 new medicines have been added to the medicine chest in the last 10 years and more than 400 medicines are in development to treat cancer. This year the industry is...

One in four adults have mental health or substance abuse disorder in any given year.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... An advocacy group for the mentally ill published a survey that found more than one in four U.S. adults (28%) experiences a mental health or substance abuse disorder in any given year. The sponsor of the report was Community Voices: HealthCare...

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants are in more demand.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants are experiencing improved employment conditions, according to two March 2001 employment surveys conducted by the American Physical Therapy Assn. (APTA). "We are now seeing the best job...

Gastrointestinal diseases cause direct and indirect costs of $42 billion a year.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... A study conducted by the American Gastroenterological Assn. (AGA) shows that gastrointestinal diseases present a monumental burden of more than 283 million cases with direct and indirect costs of $42 billion each year. The study, conducted...

Cancer rates and deaths from cancers continued to decline between 1992 and 1998.(in the US)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... The rates for new cancer cases and deaths from all types of cancers combined continued to decline in the United States between 1992 and 1998, according to a report by the North American Assn. of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR); the Centers...

BCBSHealthIssues.com offers consumers and professionals health care news.(Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association web site)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The national Blue Cross & Blue Shield Assn. relaunched www.BCBSHealthIssues.com as a Web site offering consumers, opinion leaders and decision-makers "a comprehensive array of balanced and credible news and opinions on health care issues." The...

Providers will spend $20 billion on information technology in 2001.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Purchases of health care information technology by hospitals and other providers will increase in 2001 by 5.2%, to a projected $20 billion from $19 billion expended in 2000, according to Sheldon I. Dorenfest & Associates, Ltd., a Chicago-based...

MDchoice.com acquires HealthScout health portal and content provider.(RX Remedy Inc. health web sites)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... MDchoice.com, Inc. announced has purchased, from Rx Remedy Inc.,HealthScout.com and the HealthScout Network of co-branded affiliate Web sites. The HealthScout Network consists of over 200 affiliates including Yahoo, USAToday.com, InfoSpace,...

Krames licenses health education content for Web and print redistribution.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Krames Health & Safety Education, a division of StayWell and part of the global Vivendi Universal Publishing organization, is making its entire archive of scientifically accurate health and safety content available for licensing. Krames'...

Drug industry study finds direct-to-consumer ads help consumers.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Coalition for Healthcare Communication (CHC), a group of advertising agencies and medical publications dependent on drug advertising, said that an analysis of leading published consumer surveys provides strong evidence that...

CancerSource introduces CancerNeighborhood.com.(cancer education and support web site, in collaboration with Priority Healthcare Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... CancerSource, a publisher of personalized cancer information and resources, and Priority Healthcare Corp., a national specialty pharmacy and distribution company, have created a strategic partnership to develop a Web site dedicated to educating...

Staff, patients' parents and industry leader discuss causes of drug dispensing errors.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... How do hospital systems break down, allowing smart physicians, nurses and pharmacists to make near-fatal errors in dispensing drugs to pediatric patients? Read the one-act play, "Anatomy of an error," then the story of a parent who happens to...

Reality check on war against cancer from The New Yorker Magazine.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Barron's, Time and other financial and consumer publications are celebrating success in the 30-years war against cancer, but The New Yorker cautions that there's a long way to go. In its June 4 issue, Jerome Groopman, M.D., a cancer researcher...

Purchasing groups develop focused portfolios for disease management.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Group purchasing organizations have made significant advances in developing disease management-focused product portfolios by working closely with suppliers, according to the July issue of Hospital Materials Management. For cardiovascular...

Baby testimonials are used to market a hospital's new maternity facility.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Somerset Medical Center, Somerville, N.J., is using "testimonials" from babies recently delivered at its new maternity facility to build patient preference and name recognition for the medical center, according to Healthcare Advertising Review....

Cleveland Clinic television series enhances institutional branding in active market.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Cleveland Clinic and an NBC affiliate have teamed up to produce an information-packed series of programs showcasing the clinic's most advanced medical practices, according to Profiles in Healthcare Marketing. Each program highlights a...

How cancer centers of excellence lose money on 2nd opinion patients.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Leading cancer research centers are losing so much money on operations that they are turning hopelessly terminal cases away, because Medicare won't pay the full cost of diagnosing and treating seriously ill cancer patients. That M.D....

Cardiovascular services are great opportunities and risks for hospitals.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Cardiovascular services represent great opportunities for hospitals, but they also can be risky because new technologies and competitors will change the market during the next 10 years. That is the promise and warning in "Cardiovascular...

Boards have important strategic decisions to make in 2001.
July 1, 2001... Boards of directors will play important roles in deciding on the strategies that their hospitals and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) will use to cope with tight budgets, nursing shortages, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability...

Clinical care coordinators help hospitalists cut ALOS by up to 50%.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Hospitalists help reduce the average lengths of stay in hospitals for their patients and reduce the number of readmissions. And when they are assisted by clinical care coordinators, hospitalists can cut ALOS by as much as 50% for stroke and...