Healthcare Strategic Management articles from September 2007

Healthcare Strategic Management archives from September 2007

Transparency: it's about the customers.
September 1, 2007... Few days go by without another news report about one of the 50 states requiring its hospitals to post quality, cost, or patient satisfaction data online. Web sites now contain data about infection rates, mortality rates, and which doctors...

Creating large group relationships.(Physician relations)
September 1, 2007... Large group practices are often thought of as powerful and important when hospital leaders consider their relationships and referral potential. Although leaders focus their personal attention on business deals that will ensure long-term...

Why is tracking ROI more challenging in healthcare?
September 1, 2007... A common theme among healthcare marketers is that healthcare does indeed differ from other sectors of the economy, and marketing in healthcare differs from the marketing in other areas. Many of the techniques used by marketers in other fields...

Low health literacy increases patients' chance of death.(Research notes)
September 1, 2007... People with inadequate health literacy--or the inability to understand basic, health-related materials--are more likely to die, says a study printed in the Archives of Internal Medicine. David Baker, MD, one of the authors of the study,...

Computerized prescriptions reduce medication errors.(Research notes)
September 1, 2007... Electronic prescription writing services are saving the eyes of pharmacists everywhere who are used to the scrawling scribble of physicians. Those hospitals that have made the switch to the computerized programs have seen a 66% drop in...

New robotics device may help stroke patients.(Research notes)
September 1, 2007... A new device called the Myomo e100, developed by researchers with the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Massachusetts, is helping stroke victims regain the use of their arms, says The New York Times. Worn like an arm brace, the Myomo...

Med students call for reform and technology adoption.(Research notes)
September 1, 2007... In the second annual survey from the Future Physicians of America, 1,000 medical students ranked healthcare reform and technology adoption as their top priorities and concerns. The survey revealed that the students feel technology would...

Study of ER trainees reveals racial bias in care.(Research notes)
September 1, 2007... Trainee doctors in Boston and Atlanta were the subjects of a test designed to detect overt and implicit prejudice. Conducted by Harvard researchers, the study looked to identify the root of the disparity of care that African-Americans and...

Study: religion not a motivating force for docs.(Research notes)(Report)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Physicians with strong religious beliefs are no more likely to care for the poor than those who do not identify with a religion, says a new study done by a team at Yale-New Haven (CT) Hospital, printed in the July/ August edition of the Annals...

Millions not taking prescription drugs properly.(Research notes)
September 1, 2007... The National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) says that millions of Americans who suffer from chronic conditions either do not take their medications correctly or stop taking them completely. According to the study, those...

CA surgeons performing close to state's expected rate.(Statistical notes)
September 1, 2007... After nearly four years of analysis, the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development released a list this summer of bypass death rates for 121 hospitals and 302 heart surgeons. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune,...

ACHE poll shows what's on leaders' minds.(Statistical notes)
September 1, 2007... A poll of chief executive officers by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) is shedding light on just what is on the minds of hospital leaders. According to Modern Healthcare, 511 CEOs took part in the survey, which asked...

Most newborns now receive recommended tests.(Statistical notes)
September 1, 2007... Almost 90% of newborns in the United States are screened for more than 20 medical conditions, according to an annual report card from the March of Dimes. New state laws requiring infant testing appear to be causing their desired result: The...

The more consumers spend, the less they use prescriptions.(Statistical notes)
September 1, 2007... The more patients have to pay for prescription medication, the less likely it is that they will use it, spurring more serious illnesses over time, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Individuals...

Study: antidepressants the most prescribed drug in United States.(Statistical notes)
September 1, 2007... Antidepressants have become the most commonly prescribed drug in the nation, even more than blood pressure and asthma drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A recent study looked at the 2.4 billion drugs...

Medicaid patients may soon be struggling to find a provider.(Statistical notes)
September 1, 2007... For the millions of Americans that rely on Medicaid, a crisis over healthcare may be on the horizon. Increasingly, doctors are declining to take new Medicaid patients and are reducing the numbers they treat due to the huge payment cuts to...

Doctors, nurses distributed unevenly, aggravating shortage.(Statistical notes)
September 1, 2007... The federal government predicts that by 2020, the United States will be short 24,000 doctors and almost 1 million nurses, and will be spread out unevenly across the nation, according to a new report by New York City-based professional services...

Prescription for poor penmanship.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... After it was revealed that one-third of prescriptions given to patients contained illegible writing and banned abbreviations that could compromise patient safety, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority of Manitoba, Canada, decided to launch a...

Robot gives doctors an edge.(Strategic notes)
September 1, 2007... A videoconferencing robot is allowing doctors to monitor their patients from anywhere in the world, The Washington Post reports. At Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, the $150,000 unit allows doctors to visit patients remotely at night or after...

Hospital upgrades patient rooms.(Strategic notes)
September 1, 2007... As part of a $250 million renovation, Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, IL, is building an eight-story addition that will feature balconies on each floor and computers in every room. The new single rooms will also have bedside...

Johnson & Johnson nursing campaign enters new phase.(Strategic notes)(Website overview)
September 1, 2007... A long-running nurse recruitment campaign has started a renewed push. Johnson & Johnson, founders of the Campaign for Nursing's Future, will expand its campaign to include television spots and a new Web site, www. campaignfornursing.com. Both...

Hospital system's ads advocate for healthcare reform.(Strategic notes)
September 1, 2007... One of the largest hospital systems in California is running a series of advertisements asking state legislators and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to pass a healthcare reform bill. Catholic Healthcare West is based in San Francisco and...

Web site rates local hospitals on cardiac care.(Strategic notes)
September 1, 2007... A new government Web site is giving Ohio residents access to information about how a hospital ranks in terms of treating those with a heart attack or heart failure. The site allows patients to see how hospitals in their area compare to...

ICU welcomes families.(Strategic notes)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Emory University Hospital, in Atlanta, is bucking a decades-long trend by inviting family members to play a direct role in the care of its ICU patients. According to The Wall Street Journal, Emory is one of a few hospitals redesigning its ICU...

Anonymous blog draws fire from Texas judge.(Strategic notes)
September 1, 2007... Since March 2005, an anonymous Weblog writer has posted several pieces criticizing Paris (TX) Regional Medical Center. Now, Essent Healthcare, the Nashville-based owner of the hospital, is hoping a judge will order the blogger to reveal his or...

Bronx hospital says 'SHHH'.(Strategic notes)
September 1, 2007... Hospital hallways tend to be anything but quiet, but at one Bronx-based hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, physicians and staff members are saying "SHHH" and keeping mum as they walk about. SHHH stands for Silent Hospitals Help Healing, a...

RediClinic to aggressively recruit older patients.(Strategic notes)
September 1, 2007... The Houston-based retail chain RediClinic is looking to expand its patient base by actively and aggressively recruiting Medicare patients 65 or older through extensive direct mailings and signs in and around the stores that contain the clinics....

Strategies for recruiting and retaining top hospitalists.(Worth reading)
September 1, 2007... Early this spring, Robert Bessler, MD, director of Sound Inpatient Physicians of Tacoma, WA, and a member of the Hospitalist Management Advisor editorial advisory board, joined Aaron Gottesman, MD, director of the hospitalist program at Staten...

Seize your one chance to make an impression.(Worth reading)
September 1, 2007... You've got all the advertisements in place. Direct mail pieces are ready to go out. Your hospital's new marketing plan is ready to go. But is your organization equipped to handle the swell of responses that your marketing will bring? You'd...