Modern Healthcare articles from February 2005

Modern Healthcare archives from February 2005

On the agenda; State of the Union address stresses malpractice issue.(The Week In Healthcare)(Column)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong The president's continuing commitment to change the medical malpractice system drew applause from providers reacting to his State of the Union address last week. In an address dominated by the Iraqi conflict and...

Team effort; McLeod uses 'patient rounds,' leadership meetings to boost quality.(Case Study)(Column)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Robert Colones Every weekday morning for 30 minutes, the senior leadership team at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, S.C., conducts what we call our "daily patient rounds.'' We're not doctors, but our patient rounds...

L.A.'s loss; Drew/King is stripped of JCAHO accreditation.(The Week In Healthcare)(Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Laura B. Benko In the latest setback for the only public hospital serving south Los Angeles, troubled Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center was stripped of its accreditation last week after repeated lapses in patient care. ...

Late News; HealthSouth indictments hit 18.
February 7, 2005... James Bennett, president and chief operating officer from 1995 to 2000 of HealthSouth Corp., Birmingham, Ala., became the first former company employee accused of insider trading and the 18th charged in connection with a $2.64 billion...

Study shows smoking nurses create cloud of side effects.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)
February 7, 2005... A study has found that nurses who smoke can create "a war between the smokers and nonsmokers'' on staff, a situation that can even affect interactions with patients. The first-of-its-kind report, the result of focus groups with nurses in...

Looking for perfection.(Case Study)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed This is the second of a five-part series on a healthcare quality-improvement project called Pursuing Perfection, a joint initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, N.J.,...

Wrapping up; Closing arguments end in Tenet kickback case.(Late News)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Vince Galloro Closing arguments in the criminal kickback case of a Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospital in California were wrapping up in U.S. District Court in San Diego, with the case expected to go to the jury at deadline. In...

Price of leadership; Execs reap financial perks while serving on board.(The Week In Healthcare)(Becton, Dickinson and Co. appointed Gary Mecklenburg and Alfred Sommer)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor Two prominent healthcare executives last week were named to paid board positions at a medical technology company, adding to the growing list of such cozy arrangements between executives and companies that sell goods and...

Cynicism or realism? Is true reform behind the president's support of healthcare IT?(Opinions)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor Op/Ed I have been pondering what is behind President Bush's messianic campaign to hard-wire the U.S. healthcare system. It's not that I disapprove in principle; achieving a national health data...

Audit condemns Fairview; Minn. attorney general calls billing practices illegal.(The Week In Healthcare)(Minnesota, Fairview Riverside Medical Center)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Melanie Evans Though Julia Douglas carried insurance to cover a workplace injury, a Minneapolis health system's debt collector aggressively pushed the Minnesota woman to pay an outstanding $2,538 bill that Fairview Health Services...

Briefly: Finance.(The Week In Healthcare)(HCA Inc., Iasis Healthcare Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... HCA profits drop 6.4% in '04 * Profits at HCA fell 6.4% in 2004, affected by a 2003 gain of $41 million from a change in Medicaid cost-report estimates. The Nashville-based chain earned $1.25 billion, or $2.58 per share, in 2004, compared...

Other Voices.(Opinions)(John Kerry's speech about medical services)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... "John Kerry's first significant speech since he lost to President Bush in November was about medical services. From all indications, he learned nothing from his defeat. (He) is as good as stuck with being a proponent of a socialist healthcare...

Making a leap; Deal puts Extendicare in top five for assisted living.(The Week In Healthcare)(Extendicare Health Services acquired Assisted Living Concepts Inc.)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Joseph Mantone Extendicare Health Services is not just a nursing home company anymore. The for-profit senior-care provider completed its acquisition of Assisted Living Concepts, Dallas, last week, making Extendicare one of the...

Paid to perform; CMS announces first bonus program for doctors.(The Week In Healthcare)(Medical Board of California)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong When a coalition of six California health plans announced in 2002 they would give out bonuses to doctors who took better care of their patients, the reception from many doctors was about as warm as a block of ice. ...

Trusting leadership; Governance education available to trustees.(The Week In Healthcare)(American Hospital Association's Center for Healthcare Governance)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Paul Barr At a time when hospital governance is being scrutinized like never before, the American Hospital Association plans to give hospital trustees a shot in the arm with a new education and research group, the Center for...

It's a seller's market; Insurers turn to managed care.(News)(Centene Corp. acquired SummaCare Health Plan)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Laura B. Benko SummaCare hadn't planned to sell its Medicaid business, but then it received an offer it couldn't refuse. Over the past year, the Akron, Ohio-based HMO, owned by Summa Health System, had rebuffed several unsolicited...

Unwelcome advance; Beverly Enterprises rejects unsolicited buyout offer.(The Week In Healthcare)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Joseph Mantone In what could be just one of a number of volleys, the board of directors from Beverly Enterprises last week unanimously rejected an unsolicited $1.53 billion offer from a group of shareholders to buy out the company....

The art of conversation; Communication with others affects business and personal affairs.(Publisher's Letter)(Editorial)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Charles S. Lauer In Live Your Dreams, Les Brown urges people to talk to as many people as possible and as often as they can. For many of us, this advice is a no-brainer, but for those who are shy or introverted, talking to others...

Country living.(Physician Affairs)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Country doctors of all specialties averaged greater buying power than their city-slicker counterparts when the lower cost of living in rural areas was taken into account, according to a recent report by the Center for Studying Health System...

Upon further review; 'External review' of medical claim denials is now the law of the land nearly nationwide. But the system has its fans and foes.(Special Report)(medical law)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Laura B. Benko Consumer advocates assailed the decision as a seminal step backward for patients' rights. Health insurers hailed it, saying it would help stem the nation's soaring healthcare costs. But now that the dust has...

Making room for technology; NQF creates division for healthcare IT groups.(Physician Affairs)(National Quality Forum, information technology)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician The National Quality Forum, the Washington-based not-for-profit organization that develops benchmarks for clinical quality-improvement programs, is adding a division for health information technology organizations....

Study documents boom in number of hospitalists.(Physician Affairs)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician The number of hospitalists-physicians who specialize in caring for inpatients-has increased from just several hundred in the mid-1990s to more than 8,000 in 2003, according to a new report by the Center for...

Texas system barred from dropping competing docs.(Physician Affairs)(Baptist St. Anthony's Health System, doctors ownership stake rights cases)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician A Texas judge temporarily barred Baptist St. Anthony's Health System, Amarillo, Texas, from dropping two orthopedic surgeons with ownership stakes in a competing specialty hospital from Baptist St. Anthony's PPO...

States of emergency; As fiscal challenges increasingly overwhelm their budgets, states brace for the Bush administration's Medicaid plan.(health policy)
February 7, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker With two wars, Social Security reform, a swelling deficit and tax breaks crowding the national agenda, the political and economic landscape is shifting against Medicaid, the nation's overstretched safety net for the...

Balancing act; Bush budget reveals healthcare funding priorities.(medicare and medicaid spending)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong and Ralph Loos Rick Pollack calls it "only the top of the first inning.'' As someone who's been in Washington for presidential budgets for more than two decades, the executive vice president of the American Hospital...

Putting a price on care; California coalition may expel high-cost providers from plan.(The Week In Healthcare)(California Healthcare Coalition)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Laura B. Benko Healthcare purchasers in the Golden State are expanding their offensive against alleged hospital overpricing. The California Public Employees' Retirement System launched the first major salvo last year when it...

Holding out hope; CMS study to review payments to LTAC facilities.(The Week In Healthcare)(long-term acute-care hospitals, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Joseph Mantone Operators of long-term acute-care hospitals are holding their breath to see what will come of a CMS study that will evaluate and possibly refine their payments. Late last month, the CMS proposed regulations for...

Getting the whole story; Don't assume that all published research is objective.(health care reform)(Editorial)
February 14, 2005... Byline: David Burda, Editor Do you like to read the final pages of a mystery novel before reading the first chapter? I don't because I like surprises. But when I pick up a new study, survey, report or white paper about the healthcare...

The place to be; Naysayers are wrong about the future of the healthcare industry.(Publisher's Letter)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Charles S. Lauer Healthcare is definitely the place to be today. There are so many opportunities out there, and things are getting better every day. But to hear others tell it, you would think that healthcare is ready to implode....

Other Voices.(Opinions)(health coverage for low income Pennsylvanians)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... "Gov. Edward Rendell and the state's four Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans have taken a welcome step toward providing coverage to thousands more low-income working Pennsylvanians who cannot afford health insurance. Following months of talks......

Stealth fighter; Abdominal aortic aneurysms can kill quickly and silently. Some say the best prevention is increased screening and surgery to implant sophisticated grafts.
February 14, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker Some medical technologies, such as drug-eluting stents, seem to practically sell themselves, while others need a little boost from a public policy standpoint. When that happens, industry and professional medical...

Tailoring a device; Building grafts is a hands on, labor-intensive process.(Medical Advances)(Zenith AAA Endovascular Graft from Cook Inc.)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker At about $12,800 each, Cook Inc.'s Zenith AAA Endovascular Graft is priced like an economy car, but the analogy stops there. "It takes a lot less time to make a Hyundai,'' says Barry Thomas, Cook's director of...

Consortium uses education to encourage e-prescribing.(Physician Affairs)(Maryland Safety through Electronic Prescribing Initiative )(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician A Maryland healthcare consortium plans to use workshops and other educational outreach efforts to push doctors toward electronic prescribing as a way to improve patient safety. The Maryland Safety through...

Quality in an academic setting; Cincinnati Children's teams execs, physicians, families to improve care system.(Case Study)(Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center)
February 14, 2005... Byline: James Anderson and Uma Kotagal Academic medical centers committed to transforming their quality of care may draw inspiration and knowledge from the experience of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. This institution...

The series, the authors.(Case Study)(health care improvement)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed This is the third installment of a five-part series on the Pursuing Perfection quality-improvement project, a joint initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, N.J., and...

Dis-integration; Intermountain may sell HMO to avoid backlash.(The week in Healthcare)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Laura B. Benko Intermountain Health Care is entertaining the idea of selling off its insurance business to quell a mounting political backlash against the company's dominance over Utah's healthcare market. The not-for-profit...

Corrections & Clarifications.( )(Correction Notice)
February 14, 2005... * Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, says its costs for the first two episodes of "Mini-Med School TV'' airing on PBS (Outliers, Jan. 31, p. 36) were $30,000.

Short on progress; Joint Commission jumps into medical liability debate.(Late News)(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Michael Romano The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, acknowledging that too little progress has been made in patient safety since the release five years ago of the Institute of Medicine's report on...

Briefly: Post-Acute.(meshed briefs)(National Quality Forum)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... NQF backs quality indicators * The National Quality Forum last week endorsed 15 of 28 home-health quality indicators proposed in July 2004. A spokesman for the NQF said the CMS had indicated it may use some of the measures on its Home...

Competitive duel; FTC lawyer says Evanston deal caused 'sea change'.(Federal Trade Commission)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor The third time was the charm, according to Chul Pak, assistant director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition. Pak, the lead litigator for the agency's antitrust lawsuit against Evanston (Ill.)...

Take the money and run; Bon Secours Health System tries to cut its losses by clearing out of the Garden State altogether.
February 14, 2005... Byline: Melanie Evans In mid-January, St. Mary Hospital in Hoboken, N.J., became the latest of Bon Secours Health System's struggling operations to end up on the market. The 401-bed hospital hemorrhaged $34.5 million in 2002 and 2003,...

LifePoint battles Carilion.(The Week In Healthcare)(LifePoint Hospitals L.L.C. in case against Wythe County Community Hospital on breach of contract)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Vince Galloro LifePoint Hospitals wants to buy Wythe County Community Hospital in Wytheville, Va., and the chain is willing to make a federal case to do so. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based company sued the hospital for breach of...

New staffers join Modern Healthcare.(appointment of newspaper editors)(Editorial)
February 14, 2005... Byline: David Burda, editor We recently welcomed a number of new people to our editorial staff and said farewell and thanks to several others. Ralph Loos is the new chief of Modern Healthcare's Washington bureau. Loos, 37, is the...

Plugged in; Memorial Healthcare readies wireless hospital.(Special Feature)(electronic medical-records systems usage at Memorial Healthcare System)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Joseph Conn For two years, Memorial Healthcare System has waded deeper and deeper into the waters of clinical information technology. All four hospitals of the Hollywood, Fla.-based not-for-profit organization have installed...

Prescription for reducing paperwork; Medicare electronic prescriptions could be a step closer to reality.
February 14, 2005... Byline: Joseph Conn Think of an 800-pound gorilla with a tiny silver iPaq in its hand. On Jan. 27, new HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt put some life in that vision, announcing the release of a first set of proposed, final "foundation''...

No more procrastinating; Industry must eschew excuses and move fast on electronic health records.(Column)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Molly Joel Coye In 2001, H&R Block and other leading tax-preparation companies proposed a way to make doing business with the IRS easier, more accurate and cheaper. Just a few years later, more than two-thirds of us were filing our...

On the move ...(News Makers)(briefs of appointments)
February 14, 2005... HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS Mark Eustis has been named president of St. Louis-based Ascension Health's Great Lakes/Mid-Atlantic States Operating Group. Eustis, 51, will be responsible for overseeing the operations of Ascension Health facilities in...

Labor's success; Unions make strides recruiting healthcare workers.(The Week In Healthcare)(National Labor Relations Board)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Melanie Evans Labor's clout continues to wane as fewer U.S. workers join unions, but organizers' success wooing healthcare workers remained strong in 2004. Unions doggedly pursued nurses, radiology technicians and hospital...

Changing of the guard.(Late News)(Crain Communications Inc. appointed Charles Lauer and promoted Fawn Lopez)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Crain Communications has named Charles Lauer, corporate vice president and longtime publisher of Modern Healthcare and Modern Physician magazines, to the position of publishing and editorial director, and has promoted Associate Publisher Fawn...

Diversifying healthcare; Bridging the gap of care, treatment for minorities.(The Week In Healthcare)(Commission to End Health Care Disparities, National Hispanic Medical Association)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Michael Romano Six months after the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce unveiled its findings on the sorry state of healthcare for minorities, a new alliance is targeting the problem at its logical...

Residents not exempt from FICA.(The Week In Healthcare)(Federal Insurance Contributions Act, Mount Sinai Medical Center to pay tax refunds in a case with Internal Revenue Service)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor There was nothing heartening for medical residents or the hospitals that employ them in last month's decision by a Miami federal judge that ordered a Florida hospital to repay the Internal Revenue Service $2.3 million...

This time they really mean it; Annual survey shows healthcare organizations are committing more money to IT and installing EMRs is now their top priority.(Special Feature)
February 14, 2005... Byline: John Morrissey After years of declaring but not acting on their intentions to invest in clinical information technology, hospital executives finally are sounding like they mean it. The march toward an electronic medical record...

Changing venues; Scruggs' billing lawsuit moves to state courts.(The Week In Healthcare)(Richard Scruggs)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Paul Barr The legal fight between plaintiff attorney Richard Scruggs and the not-for-profit hospital industry over hospitals' uninsured billing practices has shifted to state courts, where Scruggs' consortium of lawyers may find...

In Texas auction MBIA seems to have forgotten something.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)(Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas)(briefs)
February 14, 2005... The Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas property in Fort Worth has turned into a multimillion-dollar windfall for a Texas attorney, thanks to some strange maneuvering by MBIA, an Armonk, N.Y.-based bond insurer. MBIA had insured about $71...

Paperbound.(Physician Affairs)(healthcare IT systems use by physicians)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Even tech-savvy physicians still overwhelmingly rely on paper when it comes to recording their charges. According to a recent survey of 102 physicians who use and are familiar with healthcare IT systems, only slightly more than one in five were...

Elder ER; First geriatric emergency medicine fellowship launched.(Presbyterian Hospital)(William Beaumont Hospital)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician It's a sign of the times, or the age, or the aging of the U.S. population. New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center said this month it will launch the first fellowship in geriatric emergency...

ACR offers guidelines for overseas radiologists.(Physician Affairs)(American College of Radiology)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician Overseas radiologists should be licensed by states and credentialed by the U.S. hospitals that contract for their services, according to new guidelines from the American College of Radiology published Feb. 4. ...

Computer crisis; Docs wary after computer glitch causes payment delays.(Physician Affairs)(AdminaStar Federal services)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician Physicians in Indiana and Kentucky are hoping that the fix is in after a computer glitch clogged the cash flow of Medicare payments to their practices in December and January. Indianapolis-based AdminaStar...

Researchers find key data missing from patient files.(Physician Affairs)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician Crucial health information was missing from patient files in nearly 14% of visits studied by researchers in Colorado. Results of the study, published in the Feb. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical...

Transcription-services firm buys dictation company.(Physician Affairs)(Transcend Services acquired Medical Dictation)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician Transcend Services, an Internet-based provider of dictation and transcription services to hospitals and physician practices, announced late last month that it had acquired Medical Dictation of Brooksville, Fla.,...

In the spotlight.(News Makers)(appointment briefs)
February 14, 2005... * New Jersey Banking and Insurance Commissioner Holly Bakke announced her resignation, effective March 1, citing a desire to spend more time with her teenage son and to become more involved in her community. Bakke was appointed in March...

First of many? Vaccine probe may extend beyond Connecticut.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor Last week's settlement by a Connecticut hospital could be just the first as state Medicaid fraud-control units explore allegations that hospitals, physicians and other providers may be billing Medicaid and private...

Device costs go under the knife; With four hospitals having won HHS' approval for gain-sharing to shave supply costs, some observers say it's just the beginning.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker A flurry of advisories issued by HHS' inspector general's office in recent weeks has cracked open the door to solving one of the most nagging problems driving up hospital expenses and eating into profit margins: the...

Under scrutiny; Feds investigate devicemaker's sales tactics.(medical equipment industry)
February 21, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor In 2004, HHS' inspector general's office began warning the medical device industry that its business practices would face increased federal scrutiny. Last week, the agency showed it wasn't bluffing when Plano,...

Best defense is a good offense; Kindred expands pharmacy services to insulate itself.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Joseph Mantone With looming changes to long-term-care reimbursements, Kindred Healthcare is attempting to insulate itself from fluctuating payments by expanding its pharmaceutical division. The Louisville, Ky.-based...

Specialty facilities thrive.( )(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong Physician-owned specialty hospitals recorded operating margins 10 times higher than those of community hospitals, according to a report sponsored and released last week by the American Hospital Association. The AHA is...

More bad news for HealthSouth.(cases regarding accounting practices)
February 21, 2005... Byline: Joseph Mantone HealthSouth Corp., Birmingham, Ala., was hoping to stay out of the spotlight once the criminal trial began for Richard Scrushy, the company's founder and former chief executive officer. But about a month into...

Courtroom deadlock; Prosecutor ponders options after mistrial in Tenet's Alvarado case.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Vince Galloro Tenet Healthcare Corp. and the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego are like two teams stalemated in a tug-of-war match only to have someone cut the rope with a chainsaw. After all the pulling, there is no resolution...

Help for some; Class-action law not likely to affect billing lawsuits.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor While the legislation President Bush signed last week to change class-action lawsuits pleased executives and lobbyists with medical device manufacturers and prescription drugmakers, it offers little relief to the...

Quality without a pointed gun; Some providers find they can make their own case for reinventing healthcare.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor Op/Ed As you may have been reading in this magazine in the past few weeks, some healthcare providers aren't waiting for the day when they are told they must improve their quality of care or...

The series, the authors.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed This is the fourth installment of a five-part series on the Pursuing Perfection quality-improvement project, a joint initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, N.J., and...

Looking up; HIMSS survey reveals big IT plans.(Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society)
February 21, 2005... Byline: Joseph Conn and Michael Romano Sixty-two percent of hospitals and other providers plan to have electronic medical records within two years, according to a survey of technology directors from 550 healthcare organizations by the...

ANA asks Rumsfeld to probe nurses' possible role in abuse.(American Nurses Association)
February 21, 2005... The American Nurses Association has endorsed further investigation into medical professionals' possible role in reported abuse of detainees at U.S. military detention facilities. In a letter dated Feb. 3 to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald...

Park your egos at the door; Admitting your mistakes is the first step in using a valuable learning tool.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Charles S. Lauer Nobody really likes to admit they have made a mistake. For some, admitting error is a sign of weakness and/or lack of self-confidence. In healthcare, admitting error carries with it the added threat of exposure to...

COPAing with antitrust rules; Just three systems have used certificates of public advantage seeking antitrust immunity. Experts now say they're regulatory dinosaurs.( )
February 21, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor Robert Burgin remembers when he first became interested in a little-known law creating the certificate of public advantage--commonly known as a COPA--which offers merging hospitals a means of avoiding antitrust...

Adding it all up; Medicare, Medicaid spending will keep skyrocketing.
February 21, 2005... Byline: Ralph Loos Maybe everything lawmakers need to know about the future of Medicaid spending can be learned from a kindergartner. Members of the Senate Budget Committee paid close attention last week when Jeffrey Brown, an...

Other Voices.(employees sacked for not following smoking bans)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... "How does freedom slip away? It doesn't happen one day... it erodes in stages. One day you read that an employer has fired four employees because they refused to follow the company's no-smoking policy- including not smoking in their own...

When quality means business; N.J. hospital finds that efficiency and effectiveness of care add to the bottom line.(Case Study)
February 21, 2005... Byline: John Ferguson Improving care in healthcare institutions seldom happens unless it can be justified financially. However you view that reality, the truth is that a business case for quality is easy to make: The process of achieving...

Other Voices.(Opinions)(federal budget proposal)(Brief Article)
February 28, 2005... "There's good, bad, and just plain ugly in President Bush's $2.57 trillion federal budget proposal.... The president wants to take $60 billion out of Medicaid. Rather than cut healthcare for the poor, he should reform the new Medicare drug...

Healthcare's talking points; Healthcare associations are ready to press their case in Washington with medical liability, specialty hospitals, Medicaid leading the pack.
February 28, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong and Ralph Loos Let the lobbying begin. Earlier this month, the American Hospital Association released a scathing report saying specialty facilities leech profits from community hospitals, leaving them financially...

Honest assessment; Reports give nation's healthcare system mixed reviews.(The Week In Healthcare)
February 28, 2005... Byline: Michael Romano As a snapshot of the U.S. healthcare system, two reports from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality last week provided a mixed view of overall quality and patient safety. Still, it's only part of a...

Holy tort! A reasoned JCAHO study; Analysis of malpractice issues a good start to a larger debate on medical errors.(Opinions)(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
February 28, 2005... Byline: Neil McLaughlin, Managing Editor The reward for having low expectations is the occasional pleasant surprise. And when you think of low expectations, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations naturally comes...

A new CFO hits town.(The Week In Healthcare)(Chief Financial Officer)
February 28, 2005... Byline: Vince Galloro Robert Shapard may not have any healthcare experience, but the new chief financial officer of Tenet Healthcare Corp. does know what it's like to work for a company that's expected to deliver service 24/7. ...

Nominations sought for doc executive ranking.(Physician Affairs)(Brief Article)
February 28, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician Some say executives are the most powerful people in the healthcare delivery system. Others say it's physicians. But what if you combine the two? With your help, Modern Healthcare and Modern Physician will...