Healthcare Strategic Management articles from July 2007

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from July 2007

Retail clinics: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.(Market strategy)
July 1, 2007... Just about every American has a medical horror story. They'll tell you about the time their child developed a fever on a holiday weekend, forcing them to go to a crowded ER and wait hours for care. They'll tell you about the time they waited...

Giving patients the alternative: hospitals find success integrating holistic medicine into service lines.
July 1, 2007... Editor's note: This is part one of a two-part series about integrative medicine and how hospitals are finding success by implementing alternative therapies in their service lines. This month, we discuss the research that shows the rising...

Is 'relationship' an overworked term?(Physician relations)
July 1, 2007... Have you counted the use of the word "relationship" in recent brochures or publications? In some respects, it's become a word that's lost its meaning. However, it's still a word that holds important power in creating a strong strategy in your...

Medical group posts rates online for consumers.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... HealthCare Partners Medical Group in Torrence, CA, which serves more than 500,000 patients, posted prices online for 58 of its most common medical procedures, such as chest x-rays, baby vaccinations, and Pap smears, to encourage consumer...

New doctors learn old lessons.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... First-year residents at the Medical College of Virginia, a branch of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, are learning the finer points of bedside manner, says the Washington Post. In a collaboration between the medical and theater...

Hospitals act more like hotels.(Strategic notes)
July 1, 2007... Located within miles of one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world, two Orange County, FL, hospitals are taking steps to make their facilities more "tourist friendly," says the Orlando Sentinel. Although many hospitals around the...

Hospital introduces interactive TVs in patient rooms.(Strategic notes)
July 1, 2007... These aren't your grandfather's television sets. The new TVs installed in most rooms at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, MA, are interactive entertainment and communications devices. With the click of a remote, patients can watch movies, use...

Surgery with a guarantee.(Strategic notes)
July 1, 2007... Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA, is offering a 90-day warranty on its surgeries in an effort to improve quality and promote safety, says The New York Times. The health system charges a flat fee for surgeries, plus half of the historical...

Doctor shortage a serious problem for CEOs.(Strategic notes)(Survey)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... More than two-thirds of hospital CEOs who responded to a recent survey say physician shortages are a serious concern, and three out of four express the same concern about the number of nurses entering the field. Of those surveyed, 96%...

Wellness on Wheels van helps meet medical needs.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... By the time the van pulls into the parking lot of a DeKalb, GA, apartment complex, there are already three dozen people waiting for it. This isn't the school bus, but a van delivering free medical care to DeKalb's residents who need it most....

More retail clinics in central Texas.(Strategic notes)
July 1, 2007... RediClinic, LLC, a company that partners with retail stores to open healthcare clinics inside stores, announced in May that it would partner with Austin, TX-area chain H.E. Butt Grocery Co. to open seven new retail clinics this year. The...

Consumers give hospitals one chance to win their business.(Statistical notes)
July 1, 2007... A white paper released by The Beryl Companies in May says that 75% of callers who try to reach your hospital and don't succeed on the first try will not make a second attempt. The white paper, It's Not Just a Call, It's a Customer, explores why...

Baby boomers to challenge tomorrow's healthcare system.(Statistical notes)(Report)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Aging baby boomers will add new demands and challenges to an already stressed-out health system, says a new report from First Consulting Group of Long Beach, CA. The growing over-65 population, combined with a shortage of clinical...

As the use of technology grows, so does the reluctance to pay.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... As technology, such as positron emission tomography (PET), evolves and helps doctors to diagnose patients more quickly and easily, insurers are beginning to balk at the growing costs, says the Baltimore Sun. For example, the number of PET...

Americans anxious about their health security.(Research notes)(Survey)
July 1, 2007... High costs, fear of losing their health coverage, and concern about managing chronic diseases drive Americans' insecurity about their health and healthcare, according to a national survey by Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), the nation's...

Medication errors more likely with pediatric cancer patients.(Research notes)
July 1, 2007... A new study finds that children who have cancer are more likely to receive the wrong dose of chemotherapy or be given the drug at the wrong time, requiring extra treatment. These errors are due in large part to a lack of universal standards for...

Fewer U.S. women get mammograms.(Research notes)
July 1, 2007... For the first time, the proportion of U.S. women getting mammograms to screen for breast cancer has dropped, say federal researchers. The rate of women undergoing regular mammograms fell by 4% between 2000 and 2005, says a study from the...

Video game helps train students.(Research notes)
July 1, 2007... A video game specially designed to help train medical students to be more effective in their home visits to older patients has been proven successful, according to a study that was presented at the American Geriatric Society's 2007 Annual...

Journal: cardiac devices likely to fail after 10 years.(Research notes)(Survey)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Only one in five cardiac devices--including defibrillators--works properly after 10 years, according to a recent study done by researchers at Herzzentrum Ludwigshafen in Germany and published in May in the journal Circulation. The results...

Medical center develops productivity-based incentive plan.(Worth reading)
July 1, 2007... Like many academic facilities across the country, Carolinas Medical Center (CMC), an academic medical center affiliated with Carolinas Health Care System in Charlotte, NC, has faced pressures in recent years to increase clinical production in...

'Brown Bag Day' provides public service.(Worth reading)
July 1, 2007... The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler (UTHCT) recently held its second annual prescription Brown Bag Day. The event is designed to allow members of the community to come to the hospital to speak with pharmacists about their current...

Comprehensive press rooms help you get your message out.(Worth reading)
July 1, 2007... When dozens of Central Floridians were diagnosed with E. coli after attending a local festival in March 2005, phone calls from the media were coming into Florida Hospital with the intensity of Florida mosquitoes at dusk. The five-person media...