Modern Healthcare articles from December 2008

Modern Healthcare archives from December 2008

Plan (b); New 403(b) tax rules are more difficult to navigate, experts say, and employers, workers will find them more difficult to manage.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Joe Carlson When the Internal Revenue Service issued 131 pages of new rules last year governing 403(b) tax-deferred retirement plans, Judy Winslow didn't have to understand all the nuances to know what it meant. "We're looking...

New rules.(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The IRS issued regulations that go into effect Jan. 1, 2009, governing 403(b) plans-a tax-deferred employee retirement program used at about three-quarters of all hospitals. Among the significant effects: * Centralized accounting: Employers...

PLANNING FOR DISRUPTION.(The Week in Healthcare)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... THE PROBLEM: Hospitals agree that a new Joint Commission standard intended to reduce intimidating or disruptive behavior will help create and maintain a patient-safety culture, though doctors fear it may be a weapon to be used against them. ...

Winner's Playbook; Winner's Playbook is a series of podcasts that feature exclusive interviews with recipients of Modern Healthcare's many awards and honors programs. With each edition of Winner's Playbook, listeners hear directly from leading healthcare executives and learn lessons that they can take back to their own institutions and organizations.(The Week in Healthcare)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... * Kevin Churchwell, chief executive officer of Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, was one of 25 healthcare executives recognized in 2008 by Modern Healthcare in its second biennial listing of the Top 25 Minority...

Late news.
December 1, 2008... Obama links healthcare IT to economic recovery plans President-elect Barack Obama said he would tie parts of his economic recovery package to modernizing healthcare and announced that a key figure in the cost-vs.-quality debate would lead...

Time for sacrifice; With proposed deal on coverage, insurers say they'll do right-if they're paid.(Opinions Editorials)(Report)
December 1, 2008... Byline: David Burda If you want to make health insurers flinch, reach for their wallets. To prove the point, you need look no further than the Nov. 19 announcement by the health insurance lobby regarding pre-existing medical conditions....

Drawing high interest; alternative financing deals, guidance from GPOs playing bigger role in tech purchases.(Special Report)(Report)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Shawn Rhea When Novation completed its shopping for CT and MRI equipment in September, the Irving, Texas-based group purchasing organization noticed some significant changes in how its member hospitals are buying such technology....

Cutting back; Downturn not necessarily to blame for layoffs.(The Week in Healthcare)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Shawn Rhea Medical-device makers and pharmaceutical companies continue to report plans to lay off workers, but healthcare industry experts said the job cuts are not necessarily a direct result of the current economic downturn. ...

A timely save; Citigroup bailout aids big player in municipal bonds.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Melanie Evans As Citigroup's fortunes faltered late last month, so did healthcare borrowers' prospects. The giant bank's taxpayer-funded bailout, hastily unveiled on Nov. 23 after a weekend of negotiations, delivered a reprieve to...

Difference of opinion; AMA, AHA at odds on behavior standards.(The Week in Healthcare)(Standards)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Andis Robeznieks On Jan. 1, a new Joint Commission standard will take effect that states hospital "leaders must address disruptive behavior,'' and while the American Hospital Association is on record as supporting the measure, the...

Auction-rate endgame; restructuring debt has cost hospitals millions.(Strictly Finance)(Report)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Melanie Evans Hospitals caught in one of the year's earliest credit crises have emerged after months of further turmoil with fewer options for borrowing and little expectation that debt markets will resume lending as freely and...

Fighting to survive in Tulsa; OSU Medical Center may be made a public trust.(Regional News)(Report)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Jessica Zigmond Without state funding and a commitment to keep its current residency program intact, the struggling for-profit Oklahoma State University Medical Center is at risk of closure, according to Tulsa-area healthcare...

A good year; AHIP profits soar, but below '05 level.(America's Health Insurance Plans)(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Rebecca Vesely America's Health Insurance Plans experienced a substantial increase in profits in 2007 over the prior year, according to its annual Internal Revenue Service Form 990, thanks to fatter government contracts and...

Debt for debt? Payment-in-kind bond options present new wrinkle.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 1, 2008... Byline: Matthew Monks The leveraged buyout boom is dead. But its ghost haunts the debt markets, thanks to a financial tool that gives dozens of companies the option to skip cash interest payments on more than $33 billion worth of junk...

On the move...(News Makers)
December 1, 2008... HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS Dan Kennedy, president and CEO of Riddle Memorial Hospital, Media, Pa., will retire by January 2009. Kennedy, who was named CEO in 2001, joined Riddle Memorial in 1979. In a memo to staff, Kennedy, 60, said no successor...

West.(Regional News)
December 1, 2008... LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.-St. Joseph Health System last month won the bid on South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach, which Adventist Health put up for sale in September. Adventist Health will now enter into confidential negotiations with St....

Northeast.(Regional News)
December 1, 2008... FARMINGTON, Conn.-The University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, unveiled plans to partner with Hartford Healthcare to create a two-campus teaching hospital. Michael Hogan, the university's president, said the partners hope to...

South.(Regional News)
December 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE, N.C.-Carolinas HealthCare System said it agreed to sell 15 medical office buildings in the Charlotte area to Healthcare Realty Trust, Nashville, for $162 million. Carolinas hopes to close the deal by year-end, said Greg Gombar,...

Other voices.(Opinions Editorials)
December 1, 2008... "Report fatigue may be one reason why a groundbreaking healthcare report released... by the National Priorities Partnership... didn't generate enough headlines nationally. That's unfortunate. This report is likely to have a real impact.......

Outliers; Asides & insides.
December 1, 2008... Looking to boost your memory? Maybe marijuana can help out Generally, medical news is not kind to baby boomers. For those who remember the '60s and are now in their 60s, each year brings a few more pains and a few less working body...

IN THE SPOTLIGHT.(News Makers)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Joe Carlson If deciding to walk away from a C-suite executive salary to pursue a new life in missionary work was difficult, A. David Jimenez doesn't show it. Jimenez, 56, said few people who know him well were surprised by the...

A family affair ending; HCA's Frists took the lead in the healthcare industry.(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Charles S. Lauer The cliche "end of an era'' is used much too often and is seldom apropos to the reality of a given situation. But in this case, in my opinion, the phrase does apply to Thomas Frist Jr. and his plans to retire from...

Healthcare 'swaps' out; industry pays millions as hedges fizzle in market.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Melanie Evans Deals designed to buffer healthcare borrowers against interest-rate changes are the latest culprit to drain much-needed cash from balance sheets. Hospitals and health systems with such deals, called "swaps,''...

On the move...(News Makers)
December 8, 2008... ASSOCIATIONS Christopher Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health, San Diego, was nominated as chairman-elect of the American College of Healthcare Executives for 2009-10. If confirmed at its annual meeting in March, Van Gorder, 55,...

Sleeping in order; while the IOM eyes more rest for resident doctors, some decry costs, say patient risk would rise.(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Andis Robeznieks Any thought of relaxing the 5-year-old rules that limit medical-resident duty hours was put to rest last week by an Institute of Medicine report that called for even stricter limits on how hard to work residents at...

Other voices.(Opinions Editorials)
December 8, 2008... "A new report by experts at the (Institute of Medicine) draws much-needed attention to another source of potential errors: the demands of residency programs, on-the-job training in medical specialties and patient care for new doctors. Residency...

Patient-safety efforts narrowed; new study questions rapid-response teams' efficacy.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Jean DerGurahian A study that found little impact on hospital deaths through the use of rapid-response teams calls into question their use in patient-safety initiatives recommended by groups like the Institute for Healthcare...

Radiologists study prevention; Society's annual meeting focuses on 'doing no harm'.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Jean DerGurahian While the healthcare industry has focused on patient safety in general this year, ensuring patients don't come to harm while undergoing radiological treatment was a big theme as well at the Radiological Society of...

AHIP: surely 30% possible.(America's Health Insurance Plans)(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Rebecca Vesely Providers expressed cautionary praise for the healthcare reform proposal put forth last week by the powerful lobbying group for health insurers. America's Health Insurance Plans said its proposal unveiled Dec. 3...

Outliers; Asides & insides.
December 8, 2008... Humana: Hello, Dolly guests; here's some Medicare info Insurance giant Humana has inked a deal with the "Iron Butterfly.'' Country music legend Dolly Parton earned the nickname for her business savvy and steel. The Tennessee native...

No time for napping; time to wake up those in charge of fixing healthcare, let young providers get their rest.(Opinions Editorials)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Neil McLaughlin Notes on the news: Some recent newspaper stories show that in addition to achieving universal or near-universal health coverage, a lot of policymakers are becoming increasingly concerned about medical costs. The...

Pushing back the curtain; Cleveland Clinic, UPenn disclose doc agreements.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Shawn Rhea Two academic health systems last week announced plans to disclose consulting and research agreements that their physicians have with medical products companies, opening the door to similar actions by other providers. ...

Late news.
December 8, 2008... Medicare Advantage plans to get small boost in '09... Medicare Advantage plans are expected to get paid 14% more than traditional fee-for-service Medicare in 2009, a slight uptick from 2008, according to new data released at the Medicare...

Release point; release of information industry still trumping EHRs.(Electronic health-record systems)(Information Edge)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Joseph Conn Electronic health-record systems won't soon put an end to a niche industry that has grown up around outsourcing the release of medical records to patients and other organizations, according to both providers of and...

Pension problems; systems, hospitals forced to make contributions.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Melanie Evans Hospital and health system pension funds hit by investment losses are adding to the industry's financial woes. Pension assets have shrunk along with the stock markets, fanning concerns that cash used to restore...

Raising the industry to the bar; Chassin hopes to reproduce other industries' levels of effectiveness.(physician and educator, Mark Chassin)(Special Report)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Jean DerGurahian Channeling his background as a physician and educator, Mark Chassin, president of the Joint Commission, explains to an audience of quality and patient-safety professionals just how the changes to his organization...

Doc-execs with power?(The Week in Healthcare)
December 8, 2008... Nominations for the fifth annual ranking of the 50 Most Powerful Physician Executives in Healthcare are now being accepted. Modern Healthcare and sister publication Modern Physician co-sponsor this annual recognition program. To submit a...

Mark of zero; providers, patient-safety advocates brainstorm on decreasing errors, bad attitudes.(Special Report)(Report)
December 8, 2008... Byline: Jean DerGurahian This year might be remembered for any number of historical moments, but for healthcare, perhaps this year will best be remembered for the idea of "zero'' being a sense of accomplishment. Patient-safety...

Winner's Playbook; Modern Healthcare online.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Winner's Playbook is a series of podcasts that feature exclusive interviews with recipients of Modern Healthcare's many awards and honors programs. With each edition of Winner's Playbook, listeners hear directly from leading healthcare...

Stopping the bleeding; St. Francis Medical Center stanches staff turnover.(Special)
December 15, 2008... Eight years ago, St. Francis Medical Center, a 145-bed regional facility in Grand Island, Neb., struggled to keep enough staff to meet patients' needs, and some needed to be turned away from the hospital, leading physicians to consider moving...

Safety net frayed; with budget deficits totaling $140 billion, 43 states eyeing cuts: report.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Jessica Zigmond A new report last week highlighted what healthcare providers have known for some time: The nation's healthcare safety net programs are far from safe. In another example of the economic recession's strain on...

Teamed up for reform; as Obama looks to solve healthcare's problems, Daschle, Lambrew healthcare team makes sense, industry executives say.(President-elect Barack Obama)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Matthew DoBias and Vince Galloro President-elect Barack Obama's official selection of Tom Daschle as his head of HHS along with Obama's plans to create a new White House Office of Health Reform was generally hailed by industry...

Turning frowns upside down; Tenn. children's hospital allows patients to rate pain.(Special)(Report)(Brief article)
December 15, 2008... The lack of consistent pain-management protocols was putting the hurt on patient-satisfaction scores at 152-bed East Tennessee Children's Hospital, a Knoxville-based facility that provided care for more than 70,000 kids in its last fiscal year....

Taking responsibility; Baptist Health involves patients in chronic care.(Special)(Report)
December 15, 2008... The combination of patients not taking charge of their regimens and the vagaries of Medicare reimbursement policies too often result in home-based chronic care that cyclically morphs into expensive acute care as diseases progress and spike. ...

Something to talk about; communication is key at Rivington House.(Special)(Report)(Brief article)
December 15, 2008... Rivington House, a 206-bed skilled-nursing facility in New York for people living with HIV/AIDS, introduced a leadership training institute in 2006 to boost lagging job satisfaction among employees. To provide an improved environment for...

A side order of sensitivity; Memorial Hermann's food staff helps with recovery.(Special)(Report)
December 15, 2008... The food and nutrition services staff at the Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center, a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Houston, once did less than they could have to further its mission: to make patients feel loved, accepted and...

Becoming 'biocitizens'; high-tech tools help, but who'll interpret the data?(Payers and Purchasers)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Rebecca Vesely At Kaiser Permanente's Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center, tucked away in a nondescript office park in San Leandro, Calif., Lonny Brooks was talking about the future on a recent sunny morning. ...

Positive aggression; Manatee Memorial increases stroke care measures.(Special)(Report)(Brief article)
December 15, 2008... In the 31/2 years since 502-bed Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bradenton, Fla., focused on quality-improvement measures in stroke care, the facility has achieved a number of enviable results along the way to becoming accredited as a primary stroke...

Late news.
December 15, 2008... IRS grants hospitals delay on 403(b) requirements The Internal Revenue Service granted a reprieve to not-for-profit hospitals worried about complying with complicated documentation requirements for 403(b) tax-deferred retirement plans that...

Open the curtain on PQRI: docs; CMS told program needs to be more transparent.(The Week in Healthcare)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Jennifer Lubell The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative was meant to encourage doctors to practice better medicine, yet CMS officials at a meeting last week heard that they needed to infuse more transparency into the program....

Exception to the rule; Summa to control costs, charity care with physicians.(Opinions Commentary)(Viewpoint essay)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Tom Strauss and Tom Knoll While modern medicine is dependent upon precision instruments like scalpels and lasers, too much of the debate over healthcare reform is still rooted in the politics of the meat cleaver. Rather than...

Patients before profits; a doc-owned hospital would raise costs, utilization.(Opinions Commentary)(Viewpoint essay)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Alan Bleyer Why would a major health system such as Akron (Ohio) General Health System oppose a new hospital in another part of Summit County-a 100-bed, for-profit facility with physician ownership that promises healthcare and jobs...

Scrutiny on bonds; public repository to hold annual data.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Melanie Evans Starting next July, healthcare borrowers in municipal bond markets will see more sun shining on their financial performance. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said last week it will consolidate financial...

Outliers; Asides & insides.
December 15, 2008... Newest 'ER' star: College of American Pathologists The College of American Pathologists would like people to be more aware of the laboratory's role in patient-centered care, and they're using the culmination of the popular TV show "ER'' to...

Click for savings; web tutorials set realistic patient expectations.(From the C-Suite)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Jeffrey Driver One of the chief financial goals of the healthcare industry is to reduce insurance and claims-related costs. The industry is paying much more in malpractice premiums today than five years ago and, although the number...

Ill. governor's healthy thoughts; Healthcare at center of Blagojevich allegations.(Governor Rod Blagojevich)(News)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Gregg Blesch As President-elect Barack Obama introduced former Sen. Tom Daschle as his pick for HHS secretary, the nation's mind was on another man who federal prosecutors say dreamed up a scheme to get the job by granting Obama a...

Payment disclosure push; experts say device exemption clouds Mass. proposal.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Shawn Rhea The Massachusetts Public Health Council last week issued draft regulations for what many healthcare experts believe could become the most stringent physician-payment disclosure law in the country. But some observers say...

A little off the top; executives urged to take pay cuts, freeze salaries.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Joe Carlson Hospital executives who lead by example may find themselves with smaller paychecks next year. As a handful of executives around the country are volunteering to cut their pay, one major East Coast hospital association...

ERs in distress: ACEP; report cites states for not enough support, resources.(American College of Emergency Physicians)(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Jennifer Lubell Officials for the nation's emergency departments last week called on the government to provide more resources to help prevent overcrowding, yet some experts argue that additional quality measures need to be...

Eating troubles addressed; swallowing disorders center stage at N.J. hospital.(Special)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Nearly 5,000 children from 32 states and four countries with 171 different etiologies have been treated at the 8-year-old Center for Pediatric Feeding & Swallowing at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Paterson, N.J. These patients, who...

Employee outreach; KP California focuses on local shelters, food banks.(Special)(Report)(Brief article)
December 15, 2008... Organizations ranging from the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank to the Salvation Army to local homeless shelters have received armies of volunteers thanks to a focused employee volunteering effort undertaken in early 2007 by KP California, the...

Finger on community's pulse; Pa. hospital offers local CPR, AED device training.(Special)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Two lives have been saved, and more than 250 automated electronic defibrillators, or AEDs, have been purchased to save others, since the St. Vincent Health Center, Erie, Pa., began Project Heart Start in 1999. Knowing that the chances of...

Battling injuries; orthopedists build safe playgrounds for children.(Special)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Members of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, based in Rosemont, Ill., treat the kinds of musculoskeletal injuries that result from accidents because of old, unsafe playground treatment. For the past nine years, the academy has...

Edging closer; cash erodes, weak hospitals risk defaults.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Melanie Evans As the year closes, the strain on struggling hospital balance sheets continues to mount. The year's jarring financial and economic unrest has exposed fault lines on the balance sheets of U.S. hospitals and health...

Joining reform push; hospital exec group wants to work with lawmakers.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Rebecca Vesely Six leading healthcare executives are jumping on the bandwagon of healthcare reform in a more formal way by creating an organization that aims to work closely with lawmakers on specific policy goals. It's the...

It's never too early; excellence in education is key, whether it's grammar school or medical school.(Opinions Editorials)(Viewpoint essay)
December 15, 2008... Byline: David May Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of To Err is Human, the Institute of Medicine's sobering tally of the human cost attributable to errors committed in America's hospitals and a look at the safety shortcomings of...

5 million lives? ... Not quite; critics say clear standards needed to assess efficacy.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Jean DerGurahian Participants in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 5 Million Lives Campaign were not disappointed when the program concluded without a firm estimate of the degree to which it reduced incidents of harm in...

LETTERS.(Opinions Letters)
December 15, 2008... Runaway corruption Yet another sad day ("Feds say Ill. governor tried to leverage his position for top HHS post,'' Daily Dose, Dec. 9). I now contend that anyone who wants to run for political office truly believes it is the path to...

HIT budgets taking a hit: study; majority deferring purchases, extending timelines.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Joseph Conn Both President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama assigned healthcare information technology a key role in the movement to reform healthcare, but one increasingly missing participant may be hospital-based...

Other voices.(Opinions Editorials)
December 15, 2008... "With many of his ideas for a public works program, President-elect Obama is going beyond just pouring concrete. Investments in energy efficiency, modern schools and information technology offer hope for longer-term prosperity..... We like the...

On the move...(News Makers)
December 15, 2008... HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS The troubled West Penn Allegheny Health System named David Kiehn as CFO to replace David Samuel, who retired in March. Kiehn, the associate director of finance and operations for Swedish Medical Center/Ballard Campus,...

In the spotlight.(News Makers)
December 15, 2008... Byline: Vince Galloro Integrated Healthcare Holdings launched itself by buying four hospitals from Tenet Healthcare Corp., and now a former Tenet executive has become Integrated's new chief executive officer. Integrated, Santa Ana, Calif.,...

That's the spirit! Annual awards program sees record 241 entries.(Special)
December 15, 2008... Byline: David Burda, editor Modern Healthcare congratulates the winners and honorable mentions of the 16th annual Spirit of Excellence Awards, co-sponsored by Sodexo Health Care Services. This year's winners and runners-up are profiled on...

Winner's Playbook; Modern Healthcare online.(The Week in Healthcare)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... Winner's Playbook is a series of podcasts that feature exclusive interviews with recipients of Modern Healthcare's many awards and honors programs. With each edition of Winner's Playbook, listeners hear directly from leading healthcare...

Top nine health industry issues in 2009: Outside forces will disrupt the industry.(Advertising Supplement)
December 22, 2008... Byline: PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute External forces will buffet the health industry in 2009, forcing organizations to react and prepare for new financial realities, regulations, and technology.

By the Numbers supplement: Contents.(Supplement: By the Numbers)(Editorial)
December 22, 2008... Byline: David Burda, editor Welcome to Modern Healthcare's 10th annual By the Numbers supplement, our annual numerical look at what's happening in the healthcare industry. It's hard to believe we've been publishing this supplement for a...

Critics assail HHS initiative; Framework described as lacking privacy protections.(The Week in Healthcare)
December 22, 2008... Byline: Joe Conn The new HHS privacy and security initiative comes up short in providing any new protections for patients, privacy experts say. Last week, in a keynote address to the fifth Nationwide Health Information Network Forum in...

Feds' last-minute blitz; 'Conscience' rule, nursing home ratings released.(Late News)
December 22, 2008... Byline: Joe Carlson and Jessica Zigmond As the year rolled to a close, the federal government released a flurry of rules and reports, not all of them welcome. The CMS launched its previously announced five-star rating system for...

Allegations of Medicare fraud, political corruption make headlines.(Special Report)
December 22, 2008... The year is marked by trouble for hospital mergers and acquisitions. The Federal Trade Commission successfully tanks the acquisition of Prince William Hospital in Manassas, Va., by five-hospital Inova Health System, Falls Church, Va. In May,...

Meltdown affects for-profit hospitals; Changing of guard at HCA.(Special Report)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... The economic meltdown takes its toll on the normally recession-resistant healthcare industry. The stock market's huge drop hammers for-profit chains' securities along with those of the rest of the market. Other highlights: The...

Public display; New Web site aims to track health progress.(The Week in Healthcare)
December 22, 2008... Byline: Rebecca Vesely How do you measure the total health and well-being of an individual, a community, a nation? The Institute of Medicine has attempted to paint such a picture, based on available data, and is working with a new...

Reform a la carte; CBO weighs the costs, savings of more than 100 reform proposals, giving lawmakers a foundation to work from.
December 22, 2008... Byline: Matthew DoBias and Jennifer Lubell There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are more than a 100 ways to reform healthcare, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which last week laid out scores of ideas as a way to...

Top Women nominations.(The Week in Healthcare)
December 22, 2008... Modern Healthcare is seeking nominations for its third biennial Top 25 Women in Healthcare recognition program, honoring those female healthcare executives who are making a positive difference in the industry. The magazine is seeking nominees...

In memoriam: Remembering nine healthcare pioneers.(Special Report)(J. Alexander McMahon)(Ronald Davis)(Kent Clapp)(Obituary)
December 22, 2008... J. Alexander McMahon, 87, who led the American Hospital Association through a tumultuous period in which federal payment systems came under attack in the 1970s. McMahon was the first person to hold the job of president of the AHA, serving in...