Healthcare Strategic Management articles from October 2004

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from October 2004

Market memo: hospitals are creating sport medicine centers.
October 1, 2004... Many hospitals are creating sports medicine centers of excellence to cash in on the 7 million sports-related injuries occurring in the U.S. annually. They're also positioning themselves as key players in society's increased emphasis on physical...

How will hospitals work with concierge docs?
October 1, 2004... A growing number of primary care physicians are becoming "concierge physicians." These "retainer docs" are signing up 200 to 300 patients as clients at annual fees of between $1,500 and $20,000 per year and promising 24/7 access and service,...

Ailing Alameda County Medical Center holds fast in union talks following Aug. 30 job action.(Strategic Notes)
October 1, 2004... Officials at Alameda County Medical Center, Oakland, Calif., 308 beds, are continuing talks with representatives of the Service Employees International Union Locals 250, 535 and 616, following a one-day strike Aug. 30 protesting a planned...

CMS and JCAHO will work together to align requirements for setting quality measures.(Strategic Notes)(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) have agreed to work together to set common hospital quality measures, meaning hospitals will have more consistent...

New VA hospital will offer medical specialties using land once held by Defense Supply Center.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... New VA hospital will offer medical specialties using land once held by Defense Supply Center The Dept. of Veterans Affairs awarded a contract to NBBJ, Columbus, Ohio, to design a new $95-million, 295,000-square-foot VA clinic, that will offer a...

Lack of access to capital investment hurting hospitals that need to upgrade IT investment.(Strategic Notes)(information technology)
October 1, 2004... Hospitals with limited access to capital are falling further behind in the struggle for survival, new research shows. Not being able to raise or borrow money can lead to facility closures, and cause quality to suffer in those institutions...

Robot-assisted heart surgery allows Central DuPage Hospital to take cardiology lead.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Robot-assisted heart surgery was performed in August at Central DuPage Hospital by cardiovascular surgeon Marc Gerdisch, MD, making him the first to perform closed-chest, robot-assisted cardiac bypass in Illinois. Most patients having...

MedCath chairman resigns; Casey now holds all three top jobs at cardiac specialty IDN.(Strategic Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... MedCath Corp., Charlotte, N.C., named John Casey chairman following the resignation of Stephen R. Puckett in August. Casey also is president and CEO. MedCath runs 13 hospitals totaling 759 beds, plus 26 separate diagnostic and...

With reimbursements down and expenses up, nation's hospitals facing uncertain future.(Statistical Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... San Jose Medical Center, San Jose, Calif., 328 beds, will close Dec. 9, becoming the seventh California hospital to do so in 2004. Its predicament--underfunding and rising expenses--is shared by a growing number of U.S. hospitals, according to...

Federation weighs in on physician-owned hospitals, warns of harm to community health.(Statistical Notes)
October 1, 2004... The ban on physician-owned specialty hospitals should be made permanent, and doctors should not be allowed to refer patients to hospitals in which those doctors are investors. The reason is that the self-referral system causes unfair...

Children, adults are hospitalized for different reasons, according to HHS agency report.(Statistical Notes)
October 1, 2004... Americans had 36 million hospital stays in 2000, and about 18% of these stays were for children and adolescents age 17 years and younger. Young children are most likely to be hospitalized for infectious disease, while their older siblings who...

Hospitals willing to share quality information in return for no reduction in Medicare payments.(Statistical Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Hospitals across the country are taking advantage of a new Medicare provision that pays them to make public their scores on measures of quality. Fifty-Four Washington hospitals and 324 California hospitals are among those meeting the Aug....

Florida hospitals build on disaster plans, call on state, federal agencies in wake of storm series.(Statistical Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... By the time Hurricane Frances arrived in Florida, hospitals, through reeling from Charley and soon to face Ivan, were better prepared to cope. Still, there was room for improvement. The Florida Hospital Assn. worked with the state...

Uninsured will still be present no matter who wins in November; Lewin group reviews plans.(Database Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Regardless of who wins the election, there will still be millions of uninsured people in the U.S. in 2006. The only difference will be the actual number. That is one conclusion of an independent comparative analysis of the proposed health...

Inova uses database to identify and reach populations at higher risk of cardio diseases.(Database Notes)(Inova Fairfax Hospital)
October 1, 2004... Inova Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, Va., 151 beds, earned back $803,613 from its investment in a cardiology marketing campaign, and increased patient visits by 10%. The strategy was to define ethnic differences in heart health risk, and reach...

Kidney transplant adds to risk of first-time diabetes, study by kidney foundation shows.(Database Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... A kidney transplant increases the risk of diabetes, new research shows. The September issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, a publication of the National Kidney Foundation, contains a report that patients are more likely to...

CMS issues revised payment schedule for 2005 for inpatient services under Medicare Part A.(Database Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is changing deductibles and coinsurance payments for Medicare Part A. Effective Jan. 1, 2005, the inpatient hospital deductible will be $912, up from $876 in 2004. The daily coinsurance...

Hospitals funding threatened by growing use of outpatient clinics, ambulatory surgery centers.(Database Notes)
October 1, 2004... The growth in specialty hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and outpatient clinics is eating away at the revenue margins of acute-care hospitals. Now, investors and bond holders are taking notice of the divergence, making it even more...

Osteoporosis responsible for increasing need for hip fracture treatment, devices and drugs.(Database Notes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Hospitals can expect to spend increasing amounts on hip-fracture treatment and products related to the treatment of osteoporosis during this decade. One reason, a new study shows, is that the condition often is not diagnosed until an...

Critical impact analysis of how providers affect lives builds loyalty.(Patient Experience Management)
October 1, 2004... The "Critical Incident Technique" (CIT) has long en a significant tool in analyzing customer experience and identifying the "moments of truth' that are major factors in determining customer satisfaction[MJ Bitner et al, "The Service Encounter:...

Hospitals search for better ways to collaborate with their physicians.(Physician Relations)
October 1, 2004... A hospital's success is increasingly dependent on its physicians but physicians have less time and interest in participating in the success of the hospital. Old medical staff structures and medical directorship arrangements are no longer...