Healthcare Strategic Management articles from March 2006

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from March 2006

Magnet makes an attractive marketing tool.(standard nursing practice)
March 1, 2006... The Magnet Recognition Program[R]--the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) program that sets quality indicators and nursing practice standards--is a long, arduous, and expensive undertaking. But it's also a marketing tool with the...

Benchmarking advice for budget professionals online.(Research notes)(Best Practices, LLC)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The Chapel Hill, NC-based consulting firm Best Practices, LLC, released a white paper about benchmarking budgets that hospital and other industry executives can use to help determine whether they are hiring the right number of people, funding...

Don't stop preventing errors when the patients leave the hospital.(maintaining of complete medical records)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... With hospitals making strong efforts to reduce or eliminate medication errors, it is an unfortunate irony that those efforts (e.g., bar coding, bedside verification, tracking software) could be wasted if a patient transfers to another care...

Medicare drug plan progress report: room for improvement.(Research notes)
March 1, 2006... To make the new Medicare drug program more effective, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and private health plans will extend transition coverage for a beneficiary's current drugs to 90 days and also reduce call-waiting times....

Americans not impressed with chronic care.(Research notes)(Survey)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The American public is not impressed with the performance of its healthcare system in treating chronic conditions, according to a new survey by the Washington, DC-based National Consumers League (NCL). The telephone survey found that...

Retirees in substance abuse treatment overwhelmingly addicted to alcohol.(care and treatment report of retirees)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... A new report shows alcohol is by far the most common reason for retired persons to seek treatment for substance abuse. The findings were released February 9 in a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)...

Safety-syringe spending to grow.(Research notes)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Hospitals worldwide will spend $2.49 billion on safety syringes by 2009, according to a new study from market research firm Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com in New York City. The study predicts that the market will grow by...

Legislators criticize Sutter Health on charity care, executive pay.(Strategic notes)
March 1, 2006... The largest integrated delivery network in northern California, the nonprofit Sutter Health, has come under fire for its excessive profits and low levels of charity care, prompting a hearing in December 2005 by the state assembly's Revenue and...

New surgical tower for Arlington.(Strategic notes)(Arlington Memorial Hospital)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Construction is underway on a $76 million, 64-bed surgical tower at 369-bed Arlington (TX) Memorial Hospital. The 20-month project is expected to be completed in September 2007. The project will increase the hospital's total bed count by...

Atlanta hospitals work to preserve pediatric services.(contract for child care)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Grady Health System have signed an agreement for Children's to manage Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital. The two hospital systems made the arrangement to preserve the downtown children's hospital. ...

UMass, Saint Vincent lead region's healthcare market.(growth of health care industries under new management)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Two healthcare systems in the Worcester, MA, area are emerging as market leaders after embarking on growth campaigns. All 12 hospitals in the Worcester area are either owned by or affiliated with either UMass Memorial Health Care or Saint...

Illinois hospitals protest charity care legislation.(Strategic notes)
March 1, 2006... Hospitals in Illinois have been vocal in their opposition to proposed legislation that they say would cost them $739 million. The Illinois Hospital Association (IHA), Catholic Conference of Illinois, and Illinois Chamber of Commerce made a...

Medical centers contract with specialist to run hospitals within correction facilities.(Strategic notes)(McFarland Community Correctional Facility)(The GEO Group Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... McFarland (CA) Community Correctional Facility's 224-bed medical center awarded a contract to the GEO Group in Boca Raton, FL, to house minimum-security adult male inmates. The contract took effect at the start of 2006 and runs for five...

Banner Health spurs growth with $449 million project.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Directors of Banner Health in Phoenix, which owns or manages 20 hospitals in western and midwestern states, approved $449 million in construction projects that will add more than 300 beds to the greater Phoenix area and further expand the...

Fewer AIDS patients need hospital care.(improved reports in drug therapy for AIDS)
March 1, 2006... New and improved drugs helped keep AIDS patients out of hospitals and reduced mortality during the past decade, according to the latest statistics from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). U.S. hospital admissions...

Study finds med school faculty suffer from stress, depression.(Psychological report on medical school faculty)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... A study reported in the January Academic Medicine found that 20% of faculty members at U.S. medical schools have symptoms of clinical depression attributed to job stress. The report was based on survey responses from 1,951 academic...

Obesity surgery to skyrocket.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... America's growing obesity problem is evident in the growing number of hospitals gearing up to meet the demand for bariatric surgery, and the trend is adding to the cost of healthcare. A recent survey by the AHRQ projects that the demand for...

Lung cancer strikes women more often than men, but danger not widely recognized.(Statistical notes)
March 1, 2006... Women are 1.5 times more likely to contract lung cancer than men, even if they do not smoke, a panel of healthcare experts reported during a recent meeting at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Led by the Society for Women's Health...

Drug plan will cost less than estimated.(Statistical notes)
March 1, 2006... The cost to taxpayers for the new Medicare drug coverage program will be about 20% lower in 2006 than previously estimated, reports the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The reason is that there has been more competition than...

Poll: women in denial about heart disease.(women opinion on Cardiovascular diseases)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... A growing number of women now understand that heart disease is the number one killer of women, but they also do not believe that they are personally in danger and rarely discuss the topic with their doctors, a poll sponsored by the Lifetime...

Traditional advertising out the door for St. Luke's Episcopal Health Systems.(Worth reading)
March 1, 2006... St. Luke's Episcopal Health Systems in Houston is straying from the standards of healthcare advertising, which usually features images of doctors, nurses, and sick patients in a hospital's white-walled rooms. In collaboration with Adams...

Reno's Washoe Med uses patient testimonials to build its image.(public relations of Washoe Medical Center of Reno)
March 1, 2006... In early 2005, Washoe Medical Center of Reno, NV, asked its public relations agency, Estipona Vialpando Partners (EVP), to build a campaign positioning the center as a comprehensive, all-inclusive healthcare system relevant to consumers who...

Network security: protecting patients and patient data.(Worth reading)
March 1, 2006... Healthcare organizations face serious challenges when implementing information technology (IT). IT professionals are familiar with scenarios in which a security attack can set an organization back weeks or months and cost hundreds, thousands,...

Log on to the benefits of patient, visitor Internet access.(internet service by health care industry benefits patients)
March 1, 2006... Although Internet-access configurations may vary in cost and security, the benefits of offering access to patients and visitors may make it a worthy investment to an organization. Internet access offers an educational resource and a marketing...

Hospitals, med staff plan for surge capacity, surveillance in case of avian flu pandemic.(epidemiologists service to control flu)
March 1, 2006... Epidemiologists worldwide are carefully tracking flu cases to head off what could be a deadly avian flu pandemic, and medical staff nationwide are beginning to discuss which policies and procedures they should adopt in preparation for a...

The peer review quandary: from a volunteer board to an arbitrator.(rules governing internal affairs of hospital management)
March 1, 2006... Sometimes it doesn't become clear that a hospital's bylaws require reform until they are in use--even in an area as pivotal as peer review. Sigrid C. Haines, an attorney with the Bethesda, MD-based law firm Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chtd.,...

The role of food service in patient satisfaction.(prompt food service to patients keeps them comfort)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Consistently bad meals during a hospital stay may affect a patient's morale and outlook as he or she moves through the medical process. With that in mind, several U.S. hospitals are working to make hospital dining more upscale. ...