Healthcare Strategic Management articles from November 2001

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from November 2001

Market Memo: health insurance shock may prompt changes.(public upset about health care costs)
November 1, 2001... Health insurance premiums for small businesses are rising as much as 51%, and many large businesses are seeing increases of 25% to 50% over a year ago, putting the health care delivery system back in the bull's-eye of every angry employer and...

Hospitals are more ready for bioterrorism.(Emergency management funding and education)
November 1, 2001... Hospitals and the public health system have come a long way since terrorists massacred nearly 6,000 workers and travelers in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11. The most important progress so far is that the American Hospital...

Resurrection Health Care acquires its eighth Chicago area catholic hospital. (Strategic Notes).(Saint Elizabeth Hospital)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Resurrection Health Care, the largest Catholic health system in Chicago, added Saint Elizabeth Hospital, Chicago, as the eighth hospital in its integrated health care delivery network. The transfer of sponsorship from Ancilla Services, Inc.,...

M. D. Anderson will help create cancer-related programming for internet and TV. (Strategic Notes).(University of Texas. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center contract with Healthology Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Healthology Inc., a health media company and producer of physician-generated health information on the Internet, has signed a contract with The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center to create cancer-related programming for both the...

Health Management Associates expands Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center. (Strategic Notes).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Health Management Associates Inc. plans to add 40 acute-care beds to the existing 75-bed acute-care hospital at Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center in Greater Haines City, Florida. This marks the second bed-addition approval within a...

VHA says that health care providers are not moving fast enough to reduce medical errors. (Strategic Notes).(VHA Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... While hospitals are making strides to address and reduce risk in their facilities, hospital managers attending a seminar on reducing medical risks co-sponsored by VHA Inc. said medical errors aren't being reduced quickly enough. Those...

Credentialing alliance would save time and money for providers as well as for health plans. (Strategic Notes).(Aperture Credentialing Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Aperture, a national credentials verification organization (CVO), is driving several major health plans in New York to establish a credentialing alliance that it says saves health plans money, increases the quality of care for their members,...

California hospitals face financial crisis that threatens viability of weaker institutions. (Statistical Notes).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... The financial health of California's hospitals has deteriorated to the point that a confluence of risk factors now threatens the viability of a significant number of the state's hospitals, according to a new study conducted by Shattuck Hammond...

Number of patients awaiting kidney transplants exceeds 50,000 for first time. (Statistical Notes).(United Network for Organ Sharing)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... The number of people waiting for a kidney transplant in the United States has exceeded 50,000 for the first time, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which maintains the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation...

Vehicular crashes involving pregnant women leading cause of traumatic fetal deaths. (Statistical Notes).(report of University of Pittsburgh. Center for Injury Research and Control)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... Motor vehicle crashes involving pregnant women are the leading cause of traumatic fetal death, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Injury Research and Control (CIRCL) reported in the Journal of the American Medical...

American Public Health Assn. says $10 billion needed over five years to fight bioterrorism. (Statistical Notes).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... The American Public Health Association called on President Bush and Congress to provide $10 billion over the next five years for the nation's public health departments to prepare for and respond to the sudden surge in acts of bioterrorism. APHA...

Humana reports 28.6% increase in earnings per share as medical costs rise 9%. (Statistical Notes).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... Humana Inc., Louisville, Ky., reported earnings of $.18 per diluted share for the third quarter ended September 30, 2001, versus $.14 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2000. Earnings per diluted share for the first nine months were...

Anthrax or smallpox treatment would cost $36.4 million for vaccines, $24.3 million for antibiotics. (Database Notes).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... A report from Frost & Sullivan, "Challenges and Threats from Bioterrorism: Is the U.S. Prepared?," says that the cost to treat one city within three weeks of an anthrax or smallpox attack would be $36.4 million for the vaccines and $24.3...

Stanford's SKOLAR biological and chemical terrorism database available as public info tool. (Database Notes).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Stanford SKOLAR MD, an online medical knowledge system and Stanford University's first Internet venture, today announced a new database immediately available for physicians and consumers on biological and chemical terrorism. Existing...

Premier databases to support FDA surveillance related to drug safety. (Database Notes).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... To improve its knowledge about the use and effects of new drugs once they have reached the market, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will tap into the most extensive hospital database in the nation. The Perspective[TM] database and its...

Capitated plan finds elimination of gatekeepers has little impact on patients' use of specialists. (Worth Reading).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... "On April 1, 1998, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a large, multispecialty, capitated group practice previously known as Harvard Community Health Plan, eliminated a gatekeeping system that had been in place for over 25 years," according to...

The real reason people won't change is their psychological `competing commitment'. (Worth Reading).(Review of a Harvard Bisness Review Article)(Brief Article)(Review)
November 1, 2001... So you're trying to figure out why it is difficult to get people to change how they do things. Take a look at "The real reason people won't change," by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey in the November 2001 Harvard Business Review. "Resistance...

HMM: Global Health Exchange finds that slow and steady wins e-exchange race to e-success. (Worth Reading).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... As Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) nears its second birthday, it has lured 17 suppliers to its original roster of five major investors, now has 35 integrated systems and 300 hospitals in its buyer rolls, and has begun collaborating with...

M.D. Anderson produces top annual report in profiles in Healthcare Marketing competition. (Worth Reading).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Profiles in Healthcare Marketing has selected 19 annual reports for recognition in its fifth Annual Report Competition. Again, as last year, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, received the top honor; second overall...

Facility capacity constraints present a strategic planning opportunity. (Planning).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Many hospitals are experiencing facility capacity constraints that threaten their ability to provide enough care to meet the needs of their communities. Since an organization's strategic business model should drive facility development, not...

Hospital consultants see more interest in ER and other facilities expansion projects. (Planning).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Facilities planning consultants are seeing growing demand for their services from hospitals that need to add beds, emergency departments and ambulatory care services. The new interest in expanding facilities reflects both increased use of...

Medical schools and hospitals adopt handheld personal data assistants. (Productivity).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Handheld computers are being used by more than 40,000 physicians, residents and medical students as well as by allied health care professionals and managers, presenting hospitals with new strategic opportunities and political problems. Led...

Harvard Medical School faculty provides credibility to Aetna-owned Web site. (Internet Strategies).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... InteliHealth[R], an Aetna-owned health information Internet site, says it is easier to navigate. However, a quick review of the site finds that its interactive tools are almost invisible, masked by barely visible pastel headlines that are hard...

Hospitals' capitation reinsurance war exclusions will be toughened. (Capitation Reinsurance).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Hospitals with capitation contracts should pull out their reinsurance contracts covering those capitation deals and take a close look at the policy exclusions that might prevent the hospital from recovering any money if they have huge losses...