Healthcare Strategic Management articles from November 2006

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from November 2006

Partnership between IL hospitals, cardiologists, a model of competitive cooperation.(collaborates)
November 1, 2006... The growth of for-profit, physician-owned specialty centers has the potential to hurt hospitals by funneling patients away from community facilities. But a recently formed healthcare partnership between two hospitals and a group of...

NHMA urges U.S. leaders to fund training for minority doctors.(Strategic notes)(National Hispanic Medical Association)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) representatives said the looming doctor shortage--a result of the increasing population and aging of baby boomers--will be particularly troublesome for minorities who tend to seek care from minority...

Labor board rules on unionization rights for nurses.(Strategic notes)
November 1, 2006... The National Labor Relations Board ruled in October that nurses with full-time responsibility for assigning fellow hospital workers to particular tasks are supervisors under federal labor law, and thus are not eligible for union representation....

MinuteClinic receives JCAHO accreditation.(Strategic notes)
November 1, 2006... Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic has announced that it is the first provider of retail-based healthcare to achieve accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for its retail sites, according to a...

MA coalition launches initiative to reduce medication errors.(Massachusetts Medical Society)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... In October, a Massachusetts coalition launched a statewide initiative to reduce medication errors, providing a medication list for patients and providers, as well as promoting tips for patients and their families on wise medication use. ...

Improving patient care through evidence-based practice.(Behavioral medicine)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) presents a serious threat and significant complication for patients on ventilator support. For staff at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, these facts were of grave concern. Despite...

New ads seek to repair damaged Kaiser Permanente reputation.(Strategic notes)(kidney transplant program)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Kaiser Permanente, headquartered in Oakland, CA, launched three new TV spots in September in an attempt to counteract negative perceptions stemming from a controversy over its kidney transplant program. The crisis, which came to light in May,...

New hospitals will stay in tune with Mother Nature.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... With healthcare construction booming, hospitals are taking a serious look at how to construct more environmentally friendly buildings. For example, a new medical center being built in Modesto, CA, by Kaiser Permanente will feature solar panels...

Paper cuts not always painful.(Strategic notes)(Regional Medical Center)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Although predictions of a paperless office that were popular at the dawn of the computer have yet to come true, it is possible to drastically reduce the amount of paper that a hospital uses. Materials managers can take the lead in reducing...

Nation's hospital bill approaches $800 billion.(Statistical notes)
November 1, 2006... The country's hospital bill, representing 39 million hospital stays, totaled more than $790 billion in 2004, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Performance (AHRQ), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health...

The new face of the uninsured.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... More than 9 million children in the United States lack health insurance, and a majority of them come from families in which at least one parent works, according to a study by Families USA, a nonprofit healthcare advocacy group. The report...

Healthcare providers struggle to attract, retain workers.(Statistical notes)
November 1, 2006... More than two-thirds of healthcare providers surveyed by the Washington, DC--based financial consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide reported having moderate to significant difficulty retaining critical-skill workers, according to a release. ...

Electronic health records still not routine part of medical practice.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Although one in four doctors uses electronic health records (EHR) to improve patient care, only one in 10 uses a fully operational system that collects patient information, displays test results, allows providers to order prescriptions, and...

Top drivers of patient satisfaction include attention, information.(Statistical notes)(Survey)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... More than 2.2 million U.S. hospital patients said their healthcare experiences were most influenced by staff's ability to respond to their concerns and complaints, according to the results of a survey conducted by the South Bend, IN-based...

Study: patients want to communicate with doctors online.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Most people say they WoUld like to have access to online medical records and other electronic means of communicating medical information, according to a Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive poll of 2,624 adults. If given a choice...

Study finds doctor errors play malpractice role.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Doctor error played a role in nearly 60% of 181 closed medical malpractice cases, according to research results released by Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health, both in Boston. The most frequent breakdown...

AAFP predicts a shortfall of family physicians by 2020.(Statistical notes)(American Academy of Family Physicians)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The Leawood, KS-based American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) predicts a serious shortage of family physicians in at least five states by 2020, according to an article in The New York Times. Population growth and the rising number of...

Tougher policies needed on immunization requirement.(Research notes)(vaccines usage)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... States that give nonmedical exemptions to those who want to avoid immunization for pertussis, or whooping cough, have a higher incidence of the illness, according to the October 11 Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers...

Maryland to release stem cell grant applications.(Research notes)(Research funding)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The first Maryland state grant for stem cell research should be ready by March 2007, according to an article in The Gazette of Maryland. The $15 million in state money earmarked for stem cell studies will be divided into two groups. One set...

Study: patients stop taking meals soon after they're prescribed.(Research notes)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Nearly one in eight heart patients stop taking some or all of the medications that his or her doctor prescribes, according to a new study headed by P. Michael Ho, MD, PhD, at the Denver Medical Center. By doing so, these patients...

Study: criminal violations often go unpunished.(Research notes)(Physicians behaviour)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Physicians disciplined by state and federal agencies during the 1990s for conduct involving criminal activity often received minimal punishment, and many are still practicing today, according to a study published by Health Matrix, the...

Leading market research professionals focus efforts.(Research notes)
November 1, 2006... Representatives from the Chapel Hill, NC-based research firm Best Practices, LLC, said results from a recent study show that leading market research organizations focus their professionals on small product clusters, according to a media...

Medical spending improves American's lives.(Research notes)
November 1, 2006... Despite rapidly increasing costs, medical spending has significantly extended the lives of Americans in recent decades, according to the authors of a joint study by Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, and the University of Michigan in Ann...

Individual insurance not a better option than employer coverage.(Research notes)
November 1, 2006... Individual health insurance is not a realistic or affordable alternative to employer-based coverage, according to a recent Commonwealth Fund study. About 89% of working-age adults either found the insurance to be too expensive or were...

As diabetes rises, number of endocrinologists falls.(Research notes)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Recent reports show that the number of doctors specializing in endocrinology is shrinking just when instances of the diseases that they are trained to treat are rising dramatically, according to a September 13 article in The Philadelphia...

Almost half of hospitals experience crowded emergency departments.(Research notes)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Between 40% and 50% of U.S. hospitals experience crowded conditions in the emergency department (ED), with Worth reading almost two-thirds of metropolitan EDs experiencing crowding at times, according to a report issued by the Centers for...

Online answers for scheduling woes.(Worth reading)(scheduling nurses online)
November 1, 2006... Some hospitals struggling to fill nursing shifts, such as Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen, TX, have found relief with the help of high-tech computer programs. In 2004, Rio Grande was experiencing a 20% nurse vacancy rate and had to...

The connected patient.(Worth reading)
November 1, 2006... From scheduling appointments to viewing lab results, more healthcare consumers are demanding access to information 24 hours per day. Some innovative providers are using interactive online services to open their data stores to an increasingly...

Revenue base management: the foundation of the pot of gold.(Worth reading)(Hospital profit management)
November 1, 2006... Profitability is a pervasive issue for healthcare organizations facing declining reimbursement, increasing costs, and customer concerns about quality and safety. Although many organizations have gone through repeated cost-reduction cycles,...

ED epiphany: good things don't come to hospitals that make patients wait.(Worth reading)(Emergency Department)(Rapid Medical Evaluation)(Express Care Program)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Hospital executives have finally begun to see emergency department (ED) wait times as a serious threat to customer service as well as a clinical concern. The advent of consumer-driven care has added to the urgency to find best-practice...

Communication alternatives prove to be a prime lesson for hospitals.(worth reading)
November 1, 2006... Hurricane Katrina, the storm that devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, exposed numerous communication problems from which hospitals can learn today, says Jack Heifner, vice president of operations at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic in New...

Kidney scandal at Kaiser Permanente highlights need for organizations to create effective image repair strategies.(crisis communications)
November 1, 2006... What would cause Kaiser Permanente to pump up its budget for this year's "Thrive" advertising campaign by roughly 12.5% to the tune of about $45 million? The bad press that the Oakland, CA-based health maintenance organization (HMO) received...