Healthcare Strategic Management articles from November 2004

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from November 2004

Market memo: demand for imaging services is growing robustly.
November 1, 2004... Patients' demand for imaging services continues to grow robustly, especially at freestanding imaging centers, according to Neil Peyser, vice president of the Chicago-based health care consulting firm, Tiber Group. Research done by Tiber...

Bush will promote market-based reforms.
November 1, 2004... The 2004 elections answered important questions for the medical and health care fields. As long as Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), appeared to have a chance to win the White House, there was a small probability that he would be able to move the country...

Donation allows Cleveland Clinic to create institute to study heart-brain connection.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Cleveland Clinic will establish an institute to study medical connections between the heart and the brain, using a $17.2 million gift from The Earl and Doris Bakken Foundation. The gift was announced Sept. 1. The new center will be...

Tenet defends doctor payments in federal court following charge that moving fees were bribes.(Strategic Notes)
November 1, 2004... Despite its efforts to have charges dropped, Tenet HealthSystem Hospitals, Santa Barbara, Calif., was in federal court Oct. 26 on charges of bribery. The trial is expected to last 12 weeks. The charges stem from efforts to recruit doctors...

Collaboration is the answer for Minnesota IDNs facing questions of community health care.(Strategic Notes)(Integrated Delivery Network )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Two Minneapolis integrated delivery systems are in talks about a proposed collaboration. Park Nicollet Health Services and Allina Hospitals & Clinics signed a letter of intent to explore with the Maple Grove community the best ways to meet the...

New Beaumont addition features contemporary styling, latest technology in health care delivery.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Mich., 929 beds, has begun moving patients into its new $227-million, 432-bed addition. The 656,000-square-foot South Tower replaces 50-year-old facilities in the original 1955 hospital with contemporary...

In newly-built maternity center at N.C. hospital, amenities and atmosphere welcome families.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Reflecting pools and landscaped courtyards give the new new maternity center at Gaston Memorial Hospital, Gastonia, N.C., 442 beds, an inviting atmosphere. Called simply The Birthplace, it was designed by architectural firm KMD, San...

New women's hospital is outcome of alliance between two IDNs facing closure by Tenet.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... It took government intervention to save a Pennsylvania hospital slated for closure by owner Tenet Healthcare, Dallas. Gov. Edward G. Rendell and Sen. Arlen Specter worked with Philadelphia officials to save the facility. by creating Woman's...

Arkansas hospital agrees to host long-term acute care addition for seriously ill patients.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Northwest Medical Center of Washington County, Springdale, Ark., 222 beds, on Sept. 29 began hosting a long-term acute-care facility. The 25-bed Regency Hospital of Springdale is operated on-site by Regency Hospital Co., Alpharetta, Ga. It...

Hurricanes cost hospitals more than building damage, injury; revenue was also blown away.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The wave of hurricanes that struck Florida this fall took its toll on the state's hospitals. Not only were buildings damaged, but operations suffered from evacuations of clinicians and patients, and cancellation of elective procedures starting...

Technology is costly, but will save hospitals more in long run, survey of experts indicates.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Expensive new technology often is blamed for the increasing cost of health care, and many hospital executives and caregivers still believe new devices are making care less affordable. But a definite majority say new medical technologies and...

Greatest quality improvements seen in hospitals with highest standards, new research verifies.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A statistically significant link exists between top performing hospitals and those that show the greatest improvement in performance, according to a new research report. Solucient, Evanston, Ill., conducted a study under its 100 Top...

With addition of nasal spray, HHS says total flu vaccine availability will rise to 61 million doses.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson reassured health care providers in late October that more influenza vaccine is on the way. On Oct. 21 he announced the company MedImmune will make a total of 3 million doses of the FluMist...

Obstetrics, cardio procedures top frequency list; vaccinations, blood transfusions increasing.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Hospitals looking for ways to position themselves to meet future health care demands need look no further than the maternity ward. National statistics released by the Dept. of Health and Human Services' Healthcare Cost and Utilization...

JCAHO set to raise fees in 2005; hospitals and IDNs will see highest increases over 3 years.(Strategic Notes)(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is raising its fees, and hospitals will bear the brunt of the hikes at an estimated average of $900 per year, or $2,700 over the three-year review cycle. Only integrated...

If HMA has its way, admissions, surgeries, revenue will be up in 2005 for its hospitals.(Strategic Notes: Health Management Associates)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Health Management Associates, Naples, Fla., expects to increase hospital admissions by 2% to 4% in 2005, according to a list of goals it released in late October. Also on the agenda for next year are the following: * Growth in same...

MetroHealth helps NASA assess cardiac health of astronauts in zero-gravity research program.(Strategic Notes)
November 1, 2004... MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, 728 beds, is the test site for a NASA program to develop a method of measuring whether astronauts are more susceptible to serious cardiac episodes the longer they are in space. Ultimately, NASA...

Survey of CEOs shows future hospitals will have to fight for funding, patient loyalty to survive.(Database Notes)
November 1, 2004... There will be no standing still in the coming decade for hospitals that want to succeed, no matter how firmly they are entrenched in their markets today, and planning in the face of uncertainty will be a necessary skill. That was the...

Expect more concentration of genomic data in future technology and medical practice.(Database Notes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The next big advance in clinical technology may well be genomics, according to a report by Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets. In 2003, the Human Genome Project completed the sequence of all human genetic material, in addition to an...

Hospitals can look to JCAHO scrutiny for help in selecting outside staff recruiting companies.(Database Notes: Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
November 1, 2004... The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., in October launched a certification program for health care staffing firms. The new certification aims to help hospitals verify the...

New HHS unified financial system promises savings through efficiency, better management.(Database Notes: Department of Health & Human Services )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... If hospitals are behind other industries in automation of operations, so are their government regulators at the Dept. of Health and Human Services. HHS is taking a step to remedy that situation, by converting to a new centralized financial...

Benchmarks key to gaining negotiating leverage with suppliers, but diplomacy help.(Worth Reading)
November 1, 2004... Sherman Hospital, Elgin, Ill., 241 beds, saved $3.9 million in the first year of a contract overhaul, and is now paying an average of nearly 20% less for medical-surgical and other supplies. While standardization and contract optimization...

The new survivors: Latest crop of annual reports represent hospitals left standing after mergers.(Worth Reading)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Designers and writers in this year's Annual Report of the Year Competition heeded the old admonition, "You've got to ac-cent-u-ate the positive." The pessimistic tone seen in previous years seems to have gone away. Several of this year's...

Trumping patient experience in health care strategy.(Marketing)
November 1, 2004... It has long been known in loyalty marketing that satisfaction with past experiences is an essential but incomplete foundation for customer repetition and retention. Studies have found that as many as 85% of customers who change product or...

Metaphors help architects get into the minds of hospitals' patients.(Architecture)
November 1, 2004... Metaphors are beginning to be recognized as powerful influences on the designers of hospitals and other health care facilities. This is because many consumer products marketers are using metaphors in their market research and branding programs,...