Healthcare Strategic Management articles from November 2007

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from November 2007

Is your brand a communications strategy or a business strategy? To succeed, the entire community must fulfill promise.(Branding)(WellStar Health System)
November 1, 2007... As any good marketer knows, a brand is more than a logo used in your print advertising. It's more than a slogan heard by radio listeners. It's a promise to consumers that your hospital will deliver the kind of care they need. If implemented...

How will physician extenders affect our need for physicians?(Healthcare trends)
November 1, 2007... In last month's Healthcare Strategic Management, DGA Partners provided a set of physician-to-population ratios. Although these standards allow for a relatively simple calculation of physician demand, quantifying physician supply is not an...

Changing times call for changing roles.(Physician relations)
November 1, 2007... We've all seen the numbers and know they paint a future with too few physicians to meet the ever-growing need for healthcare. The Council on Graduate Medical Education projects a shortage of 96,000 doctors by 2020. Obviously, the implication...

Crafting physician surveys: know what you're looking for.(Worth reading)(Survey)
November 1, 2007... Keeping tabs on what troubles physicians on the medical staff can be a tricky endeavor. Complaints and issues will arise, of course, but there comes a time when an organized assessment of what truly bothers medical staff members needs to...

It's all about the service.(Worth reading)
November 1, 2007... As chair and CEO of Loews Hotels, Jonathan Tisch understands the importance of customer satisfaction. His recent book, Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience, stresses the importance of making the customer...

Passport to the OR.(Worth reading)
November 1, 2007... When faced with a need for surgery, a growing number of Americans are deciding to seek treatment outside the country. The reasons they cite typically include cost savings, little or no wait time, first-class accommodations, and the ability...

Study: rise in prescription drug injuries.(Statistical notes)
November 1, 2007... The AMA says the number of serious drug-related injuries more than doubled between 1998 and 2005, and deaths nearly tripled in the same time period. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the rise in adverse events indicates a number of...

Northeast spends most on healthcare.(Statistical notes)
November 1, 2007... Compared to a national average of $5,283 per person, annual healthcare spending totaled $6,409 per person in New England and $6,151 in the rest of the Northeast, according to a report in USA Today released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...

Studies: men more likely to receive heart devices.(Statistical notes)
November 1, 2007... Researchers at Duke University have concluded in two studies that men are more likely to receive implantable defibrillators to prevent cardiac arrest, The Wall Street Journal reports. One study examines Medicare claims records from 1991 to...

Study: reducing docs' hours won't reduce death rate.(Statistical notes)
November 1, 2007... Two studies have concluded that reducing the work hours of doctors-in-training has no significant effect on reducing patient death. According to Newsday.com, death rates dropped in only one of four groups. Authors of the study call it the...

U.S. life expectancy hits new high.(Statistical notes)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... According to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a child born in 2005 can expect to live nearly 78 years. The report, which was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, is based on approximately...

Majority of women unaware of cholesterol level.(Statistical notes)
November 1, 2007... A recent survey by the Society for Women's Health Research revealed that 80% of American women aged 18-44 don't know their cholesterol level, even though cholesterol can contribute to heart disease, the number one killer of American women. ...

Parental surveys boost diagnosis capabilities of doctors.(Research notes)
November 1, 2007... A survey developed by researchers at the University of Oregon has been credited with a 224% increase in the referral rate of toddlers with minor developmental disabilities. According to Medical News Today, the questionnaire can be filled...

Study: women less likely to change habits, decrease heart disease risk.(Research notes)
November 1, 2007... A recent study published in the American Heart Journal concluded that women are less likely to quit behaviors like smoking and infrequent exercise and are more likely than men to engage in harmful lifestyle choices, even when they have a family...

Cleveland Clinic uncovers new heart disease trigger.(Research notes)
November 1, 2007... Researchers at Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute have discovered a mechanism that leads to arterial hardening and may explain why heart disease strikes different segments of the population. According to a study to be published in...

Internet of little use for hospital data.(Research notes)
November 1, 2007... Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine have found that patients who depend on the Internet to gauge the quality of a hospital prior to their surgery often receive conflicting and incomplete information. ...

Majority of Americans unsatisfied with healthcare.(Research notes)
November 1, 2007... According to the 2006 National Healthcare Quality Report conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, less than half of Americans say they receive great healthcare when visiting a doctor's office or medical clinic. The study,...

Poor bedside manners lead to poor communication with patients.(Research notes)
November 1, 2007... A study released by researchers at McGill University in Montreal reveals that doctors who perform poorly on the communications portion of their clinical exams have a high likelihood of butting heads with patients in the future. According...

Ohio billboards turning heads.(Strategic notes)
November 1, 2007... Marketing and PR specialists at Akron (OH) General Medical Center were looking for a way to grab the public's attention. Based on the surprised reactions of some motorists, they got it. According to Mary Brackle, director of marketing at the...

Healthcare direct marketing goes online.(Strategic notes)
November 1, 2007... Both the business-to-business and consumer segments of healthcare marketing have seen a rise in e-mail marketing. Concern about return on investment, coupled with online information-seeking, is leading more healthcare professionals to make the...

Hospital facelifts help patients, families.(Strategic notes)
November 1, 2007... Efforts to improve the experience of both the patient and his or her family have begun in earnest as construction continues at SSM St. Clare Health Center in St. Louis, mirroring a nationwide trend. The ground-breaking ceremony for the hospital...

Chicago hospital consolidates women's care.(Strategic notes)
November 1, 2007... Northwestern Memorial Health-Care's $500 million Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago is indicative of a growing trend--providing medical care at one location for every stage of a woman's life, the Chicago Tribune reports. The new...

Hospital features self-check-in kiosks for ER department.(Strategic notes)
November 1, 2007... In an effort to combat long waits in the emergency department (ED), Parkland Memorial Hospital in Texas has introduced kiosks where patients can check in. More serious cases, such as a gunshot victim or a patient suffering a heart attack, will...

Virtual welcome center lets patients preview hospital.(Strategic notes)(University Hospital in Memphis)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... A Tennessee hospital has found a new way to let patients and their families tour the grounds before they have been admitted to the facility. According to a press release issued by the hospital, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has launched a...

Hospital recovers by boosting patient satisfaction.(Strategic notes)
November 1, 2007... Thanks largely to new patient satisfaction strategies, a hospital went from the brink of bankruptcy to becoming a major player in the same league as some of the country's big name hospitals, The Kansas City Star reports. Prior to the...