Healthcare Strategic Management articles from March 2005

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from March 2005

Hospitals reach out to employers for new revenues.(Market Memo)
March 1, 2005... Hospitals are focusing on establishing relationships with privately insured employers in an effort to improve their payer mix, add revenues and boost their profitability. Most hospitals, generally receive 50% to 60% of their net revenues from...

Computerized physician order systems questioned.
March 1, 2005... Do computerized physician order entry (CPOE) software products reduce medication errors or just help clinicians make new ones? After years of development and installation under pressure from the quality improvement gurus, the effectiveness...

FAH takes aim at doc-owned specialty hospitals for monopolizing high-revenue patients.(STRATEGIC NOTES)(American Federation of Hospitals )
March 1, 2005... Newly-appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt declined to predict what his policy will be on physician-owned specialty hospitals, while addressing the annual public policy conference of the American Federation of Hospitals...

New CMS director wants to build business case for better outcomes with payment incentives.(STRATEGIC NOTES)
March 1, 2005... Easily the nation's largest insurer, with 25% of Americans dependent on it for health care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is especially sensitive to rising costs. Now, it is facing the added challenge of federal...

California health policy played out in courts as hospitals battle financial impact of laws.(STRATEGIC NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... California nurses won another round in their efforts to enforce a new law mandating a higher nurse-patient ratio in hospitals, when a Sacramento Superior Court judge issued a preliminary ruling March 3 that an executive order suspending that...

Disease management seen as growing industry, thanks to accessibility of internet content.(STRATEGIC NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Disease management is now a $750 million industry that serves 2 million Americans suffering from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and other chronic conditions, according to a study by Cutting Edge Information, Research Triangle...

Hospitals move to expand emergency services despite having to scratch for financial resources.(STRATEGIC NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... While some hospitals are closing emergency departments, others are expanding theirs or opening new ones. The issue is always public need versus available funds. In January, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center St. Margaret,...

Doctors report ER violence a growing problem; many have resorted to arming themselves.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Workplace violence has become an occupational hazard for staff in hospital emergency rooms, and doctors have begun packing guns or knives for protection while saving lives on the job. A study by the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians...

Voters, seniors oppose cuts to health care programs, according to federation survey.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Federation of American Hospitals )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... When members of the Federation of American Hospitals met in Washington in early March, they arrived armed with a survey showing patients and voters agreed with their objections to further reductions in Medicare and Medicaid spending, as...

Majority of U.S. hospitals say they plan to install electronic medical records systems in 2 years.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The move to create electronic medical records appears to have reached critical mass. In a recent survey of 550 hospitals and other health care facilities, 62% said they plan to go electronic within two years. The survey, sponsored by the...

Most hospitals will not be ready when HIPAA compliance deadline for patient privacy arrives.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Despite the publicity surrounding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 and the long lead time for compliance, the majority of hospitals will not be able to meet the April 20, 2005 deadline for patient privacy...

Foregoing primary care results in more costly hospital admissions for diabetic patients.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Americans with diabetes are not being treated early enough to prevent serious complications, and as a result are being hospitalized more frequently, at an excess cost of $2.5 billion in 2001, a new report indicates. A report from the...

Medical expenses responsible for half of U.S. bankruptcies, according to new survey.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... It has often been alleged that medical bills are the main cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. Now an academic study has verified that about half of personal bankruptcies are due to medical expenses. In addition, even insured Americans are...

Nearly half of patients undergoing surgery don't receive antibiotics within 60 minutes: study.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... One simple way to prevent post-surgical infections is to administer antibiotics within an hour of surgery, yet surprisingly few patients receive such timely medication. A study sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS)...

U.S. hospital finances 'fragile' and growing more so; AHA calls for more investment.(STATISTICAL NOTES)(American Hospital Assn)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Nearly a third of U.S. hospitals are losing money, according to a February report by the American Hospital Assn., "The Fragile State of Hospital Finances." The AHA reported that 60% of hospitals lose money on providing patient care, 36%...

Hospitals steamed at federal transfer policy that lowers payments for early discharge.(DATABASE NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... While it generally supports Bush administration policies, the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) is about to go head-to-head with the government on the issue of Medicare patient transfer rules. The arcane reimbursement rules apply to...

Medicaid reductions swell uninsured ranks as governors, hospitals seek to renew funding.(DATABASE NOTES)(Health and Human Services )
March 1, 2005... Hospitals may expect to see more uninsured patients in future years as Medicaid cuts lead states to continually eliminate benefits. But if they want to preserve funding for health care for low-income Americans, they will find allies in...

AMA takes cautious stance in new guidelines on pay-for-performance programs for doctors.(DATABASE NOTES)(American Medical Association)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... With the federal government joining many insurers in pegging reimbursement to outcomes rather than the cost of treatment, the American Medical Assn. has published guidelines for its physician members on participation in pay-for-performance...

Life expectancy rising, and women losing lead on men, according to new NCHS report.(DATABASE NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The National Center for Health Statistics reported that U.S. life expectancy has risen to 77.6 years. Women, on average, can expect to live 80.1 years, or 5.3 more years than men. The life expectancy gap between women and men has been...

Utah lawmakers investigating market clout of Intermountain Health Care in state.(DATABASE NOTES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Intermountain Health Care, Salt Lake City, has been the target of critics who say its 19 hospitals and 450,000-member HMO have too much power in Utah's health care marketplace. Now the state Senate is investigating whether that is true. The...

Mississippi hospital installs software to track medication throughout patient care system.(DATABASE NOTES)(Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... By late March, Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center, Meridian, Miss., 260 beds, expects to complete installation of the Omnicell, Palo Alto, Calif., MedGuard system. MedGuard utilizes bar code scanning technology to track treatment...

Hospitals seeing increase in number of severely obese patients, requiring 'super-sized' products.(WORTH READING)
March 1, 2005... Severely obese patients are showing up in emergency rooms and at admissions desks at an ever-increasing rate, and the result is a heavier burden on materials management. Sixty-four percent of U.S. hospitals polled in a recent survey...

St. Jude Children's promotes research in effort to attract donors for uninsured patient services.(WORTH READING)
March 1, 2005... St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn., has created public service announcement artwork for its Memorial and Honor Department targeting readers interested in supporting the hospital's pioneering research. Two sets of PSAs...