Modern Healthcare articles from July 2005

Modern Healthcare archives from July 2005

Not Dead Yet; New technology has not completely eclipsed the medical transcription industry, but its many problems put the industry at risk.(Special Report)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Joseph Conn Technology is supposed to make medical transcription obsolete, but like Mark Twain's premature obituary, the demise of the medical transcription industry is greatly exaggerated. It also is an industry with wounds,...

Nurse agency sues state group.(Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association)(staffing agency, Healthcare Enterprises)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor An Arizona nurse-staffing agency hopes to prove that the state hospital association is violating antitrust laws by the way it negotiates temporary nurse fees for its hospital members. The staffing agency, Healthcare...

After the fall; Deposed CEOs rarely want back in.(News)(AHERF hospitals)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Melanie Evans Ousted chief executives typically remain tight-lipped after an abrupt, painfully public dismissal and rarely do they return to a former employer. But Richard Scrushy wants to return as the chief executive officer of...

Sending out shock waves; UnitedHealth to add PacifiCare's Medicare market.(UnitedHealth Group Inc)(PacifiCare Health Systems Inc)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Laura B. Benko The health insurance industry continued its steady march toward consolidation last week as UnitedHealth Group announced plans to acquire Medicare giant PacifiCare Health Systems in a $9.2 billion deal that sent...

Other Voices.(Opinions)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... "I would like Florida legislators who have ratcheted down Medicaid drug options to know closely some of the amazing people who suffer from depression so disabling they can hardly dress themselves (much less) battle over insurance issues.... As...

Accreditation complication; Four Lovelace Sandia hospitals denied JCAHO nod.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Paul Barr Four of five hospitals in the Lovelace Sandia Health System, owned by Ardent Health Services, were jointly handed a preliminary denial of accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations....

West.(hospital news)(Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital)(Benefis Healthcare)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... GREAT FALLS, Mont.-The largest hospital in Montana, Benefis Healthcare, will soon become larger as plans were announced recently to build a new heart hospital. Construction is expected to start within 18 to 24 months, cost $9 million to $11...

Vista wins important convert.(Midland (Texas) Memorial Hospital)(FOIA Vista)(Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture)(Whiles)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Joseph Conn It may be a mouthful to explain, but a bit of history in healthcare information technology is being made at Midland (Texas) Memorial Hospital. Midland Memorial is likely the first U.S. acute-care hospital outside...

New York gets rattled; St. Vincent's bankruptcy puts local hospitals on edge.(St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers )
July 11, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker New York state's largest ever hospital bankruptcy filing, made last week by St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, rippled through New York City, unsettling an already tenuous economic environment for hospitals. ...

Calculating what it's worth; Value analysis pros making mark in healthcare.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker As a critical-care nurse with 16 years' experience in the intensive-care unit, orthopedics and general surgery, Karen Miguel said she often found herself wondering if "the people that bought the mattresses were talking...

In the spotlight.(Dimensions Healthcare System)(St. Thomas Health Services)
July 11, 2005... * G.T. Dunlop Ecker has returned to the Washington-area hospital market, taking over the troubled Dimensions Healthcare System, the parent of money-losing Prince George's Hospital Center. He had held the post of president and CEO of the...

Scrushy plots a comeback; As HealthSouth works hard to put a fraud scandal in the past, its acquitted founder studies how he can regain the company.(Richard Scrushy)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Paul Barr With 36 not-guilty verdicts in hand, Richard Scrushy is planning a Napoleon-like return from exile to lead HealthSouth Corp., the company he founded, muddying what is otherwise an improving outlook for the rehabilitation...

Brailer's HFMA advice; Attendees told to plan IT strategy.(Healthcare Financial Management Association)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Paul Barr The Healthcare Financial Management Association held its 2005 Annual National Institute in Las Vegas, its best-attended conference ever, with approximately 2,400 attending and 1,300 others there as exhibitors, according...

Fantastic voyage; New treatments will lead us to a land of more effective care.(Lauer's Letter)(Editorial)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director I am one of those people who played competitive sports way past the time when more cautious (read: sensible) souls had retired to simply reading the sports pages. My...

Battle in Alabama; Agency, system fight for control of Cullman hospital.(Healthcare Authority of Cullman County)(Baptist Health Systems Inc)(Regional Medical Center of Cullman)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Michael Romano A local hospital authority in northern Alabama is going head-to-head against Birmingham-based Baptist Health System in an attempt to gain total control of 115-bed Cullman (Ala.) Regional Medical Center. The...

Looking up; Credit rating upgrades again outpace downgrades.(Moody's Investor Service)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Melanie Evans Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded more not-for-profit healthcare debt issuers than it downgraded in the second quarter, the second straight quarter that upgrades have outpaced downgrades. Should...

Medicaid panel chosen.(Late News)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt named 13 voting members and 15 nonvoting members to a Medicaid review panel that must recommend $10 billion in federal Medicaid cutbacks by Sept. 1. The one-year commission, mandated by...

Lessons from the debacle; The Scrushy verdict is hardly the end of enforcing corporate accountability.(Richard Scrushy)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed As absurd and disheartening as the verdict in the Richard Scrushy trial was, it shouldn't have a deleterious effect on business ethics, future financial fraud prosecutions or the...

Taking measure; New study quantifies problem of adverse drug events.(Physician Affairs)(Chunliu Zhan report on adverse effects of drugs)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Modern Physician Adverse drug events-although sometimes difficult to detect, define or classify-remain a significant threat to patient safety in the U.S., according to a report by Chunliu Zhan, M.D., in the July issue of the Joint...

Web sites linked to insurance magnate with ties to Forbes.(HospitalVictims.com)(WheretheMoneyGoes.com)(Orlando (Fla.) Regional Medical Center)
July 11, 2005... Two Web sites--HospitalVictims.com and WheretheMoneyGoes.com--have been stirring things up recently on the uninsured billing issue, but less well-known is that they are backed by a foundation headed by Patrick Rooney, chairman of Medical...

High stakes in Evanston case; If FTC loses, hospital merger enforcement may lag.(Highland Park (Ill.) Hospital)(Federal Trade Commission)(Evanston Northwestern Healthcare)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor Healthcare antitrust lawyers said both sides have a lot riding on the Federal Trade Commission's administrative trial that challenges the 2000 merger between Evanston (Ill.) Northwestern Healthcare and Highland Park...

Lost in translation; Many errors traced to physicians' sloppy speech.(Special Report)
July 11, 2005... Byline: Joseph Conn Doctors' poor handwriting is a well-recognized source of medical errors, but their sometimes sloppy speech habits are a less well-known contributor. A study based on a sample of 220 dictated medical records totaling...

South.(Regional News)(North Arundel Hospital is renamed)(Renaissance Women's Hospital is to close)(West Tennessee Healthcare expands)
July 11, 2005... ALABASTER, Ala.-Shelby Baptist Medical Center will appeal a court decision issued last week that could shut down a highly profitable, year-old open-heart surgery unit, officials said. The ruling by the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals-the latest...

Midwest.(Regional News)(merger of Columbia St. Mary's Milwaukee Campus and Columbia St. Mary's Columbia Campus)(Truman Medical Centers)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... MILWAUKEE-Columbia St. Mary's will merge two hospitals, Columbia St. Mary's Milwaukee Campus and Columbia St. Mary's Columbia Campus, into a new $417 million hospital. Columbia St. Mary's Lake Drive Hospital, a 513-bed facility expected to open...

On the move ...(News Makers)(David Zechman promoted at Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services)(Barry Mousa appointed at Medical Center at Lancaster)(Group Health Cooperative promotes Ernie Hood)
July 11, 2005... HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS David Zechman has been promoted to president of four-hospital Jewish Hospital Health Network and senior vice president of parent Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services, Louisville, Ky. Zechman, 49, had been vice president...

LifePoint adds five HCA hospitals.(The Week In Healthcare)(LifePoint Hospitals L.L.C.)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Mike Romano Fast-growing LifePoint Hospitals, which paid $1.7 billion just three months ago to acquire 20-hospital Province Healthcare Co., will spend another $285 million to add five more facilities to its roster of rural...

For Scrushy, civil suits remain; Government drops pursuit of perjury charges.(Late News)(Richard Scrushy)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Joseph Mantone With Richard Scrushy's criminal problems officially behind him, his lawyers will now focus on the civil lawsuits that have been filed against the founder and former chief executive officer of HealthSouth Corp. ...

Researching the truth; Debunking Medicaid and Medicare myths.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Emily Friedman One of the myths associated with the creation of Medicare and Medicaid is that it also created what is known as health services research, or HSR-the study of nonclinical aspects of healthcare, such as economics,...

Other Voices.(concerns for impending bird flu epidemic)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... "The risk of a global flu pandemic should have been, but wasn't, at the top of the Group of Eight's agenda in Scotland last week. The world is ill-prepared for the millions of deaths and economic dislocation that could occur if a lethal strain...

Wellpoint settles with docs; $198 million closes long-running civil lawsuit.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor Although hospitals will neither pay nor be paid from last week's settlement of a civil lawsuit filed against WellPoint on behalf of 700,000 physicians, they had a stake in the fight nonetheless, according to the...

Pa. releases infection data.(Pennsylvania hospital's report hospital-acquired infection figures)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker Pennsylvania last week attempted to satisfy the public's hunger for information on hospital-acquired infections, but a large number of hospitals in the state apparently declined to participate. In a...

Same outcomes, different costs; Study finds bypass surgery less costly in Canada.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Andis Robeznieks Further proof of higher hospital prices in the U.S. comes from a new study of costs and outcomes from coronary artery bypass graft surgery. CABG surgery and its associated in-hospital treatments and related...

Sign of the times; Medicare is a great program, but even a good thing should be updated.(Department of Health and Human Services' secretary Mike Leavitt's speech)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Mike Leavitt Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of the Medicare and Medicaid anniversary issue of Modern Healthcare. This publication has been a critical voice for improving the quality and delivery of healthcare to the...

Texas hospital executive found angling for publicity.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)(East Texas Medical Center)
July 18, 2005... If you're a billion-dollar urban health system trying to reach patients where they live, Denny Brauer probably isn't your first choice as a marketing spokesman. However, if you're the East Texas Medical Center, Brauer is the best bait...

Learning from history; Old adage about not repeating past mistakes actually holds some wisdom.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Neil Mclaughlin, Managing Editor It's good to reflect on the past and how it brought us to the present. This is an exercise that's foreign to most Americans. We are future-oriented and have little patience for the remembrance...

More dollars for doctors; Proposed formula may increase Medicare payments.(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong The Medicare physician payment formula, long a source of grief for doctors, has gotten the attention of members of Congress who are pushing to change the formula. Last week, Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), chairman of...

Securing the hospital food chain; Food safety emerges as another homeland-security challenge as hospitals, vendors update disaster plans and tighten procedures.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor It might sound like the plot of an Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick, a futuristic horror film with a timely twist: Terrorists attack the food supply at a company party, poisoning prominent guests and striking fear...

Late News; Bill would ease 75% rule.(hospitals to get some relaxation after the new Medicare bill)
July 18, 2005... The hospital industry applauded a bill that would loosen the restrictions of the 75% rule, which specifies criteria that inpatient rehabilitation facilities must meet to qualify for higher Medicare payments. The bill would lower the percentage...

Modern perspective; Medicare milestone offers perfect time to regroup.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Richard Davidson Forty years old seems to be a time in life when many adults begin to reassess things. They take a hard look at where they've been, where they are, where they want to go and whether they are on the right road to get...

Enjoying the silence; The art of communication includes knowing when to stop talking and be quiet.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director We all know the feeling. You see someone coming who you know never stops talking, and you either seek cover or tell the person you have an urgent problem that has to be...

Mired in the past; Medicare, Medicaid need a big dose of modernization.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Newt Gingrich and James Frogue Medicare and Medicaid are 40-year-old systems created in 1965. The world has changed a lot in those 40 years, and it is time to modernize and improve both programs. America needs a 21st century...

Payment reform needed; Looming cuts may exacerbate access crisis for seniors.
July 18, 2005... Byline: J. Edward Hill Medicare has been making sure our nation's seniors and disabled have access to healthcare coverage for the past 40 years-but what does the future hold? The most recent change-a much-needed prescription-drug...

Compensating nurses; Geography, intangibles factor into pay disparities.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Melanie Evans At first glance, for-profit hospitals appear more stingy than not-for-profits when it comes to registered nurses' pay, according to a new comparison from the U.S. Labor Department. The average hourly pay for a...

Malpractice not the issue; Study finds other factors are driving medical costs.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Michael Romano Why do Americans pay more for healthcare than the residents of other countries do? The answer may sound like a punch line, but it's no joke: We pay more because prices are higher. That's the simple,...

States of relief; Appeals board says five states won't have to repay.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Joseph Mantone An HHS appeals board ruling in favor of programs in five states offering grants and tax credits to nursing home residents is not a signal for any state to institute similar programs, a lawyer involved in the case...

Assessing four decades of Medicare, Medicaid; LBJ signed the bill creating the programs in 1965. Today they're bigger than ever, and their critics have bigger complaints. But proponents call them crucial to the aging and uninsured.(Lyndon B. Johnson)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill on July 30, 1965, creating the Medicare and Medicaid programs, it was the culmination of a decades-long effort, marked by political infighting, false starts and near misses...

Off the hook; Former McKesson CFO acquitted in fraud case.(chief financial officer, Richard Hawkins)
July 18, 2005... Byline: Joseph Conn Former McKesson Chief Financial Officer Richard Hawkins was acquitted of all criminal charges relating to overstated earnings after the drug wholesaler's 1999 purchase of healthcare software maker HBO & Co. In the...

Cover Story Intro.
July 18, 2005... This week's cover story explores the 40th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. The legislation creating these landmark programs was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 30, 1965. The ramifications of that act for patients and...

HOLDING STEADY; Specialists are still seeing biggest paychecks, but raises are flat, and some generalists are gaining ground, Physician Compensation Survey shows.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Michael Romano For America's doctors, it's pretty much the status quo for salaries. Continuing a trend that has spanned the past several years, physicians are working longer and harder to maintain mostly modest annual salary...

Data trackers; The groups providing salary survey information.
July 18, 2005... American Medical Group Association * The Alexandria, Va.-based trade group's Medical Group Compensation and Financial Survey was conducted in December 2004 in partnership with the Minneapolis-based accounting and consulting firm RSM...

Congress mulls nurse databank.(Safe Health Care Reporting Act of 2005)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Michael Romano Some lawmakers would like the National Practitioner Data Bank to extend its oversight to nurses and other healthcare professionals, a change that gained momentum after the public outcry over the case of Charles...

Bonds under scrutiny; IRS audit to look at how the proceeds are used.(Internal Revenue Service)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor The Internal Revenue Service is launching another audit initiative-this time looking at how tax-exempt bond proceeds are used-that healthcare tax lawyers said will give hospital executives something new to worry about....

Hospitals say it's not enough.(unhappy over low rate of increase in hospital outpatient payment services)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Tony Fong The hospital industry reacted lukewarmly to the CMS' Medicare payment update for hospital outpatient services for 2006, saying that the payment increase is less than the rate of hospital inflation and that a proposed...

Joint Ventures; Hospitals seek creative solutions to grapple with the unbending costs of orthopedic implants.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker Coaxing orthopedic surgeons to help minimize the skyrocketing costs of supplies has always been one of the most troublesome problems confronting hospital materials managers. But now, two apparently unrelated forces out...

Healthcare's rosy outlook; S&P paints healthy financial picture for hospitals.(Standard & Poor's Corp.)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Paul Barr Ratings agency Standard & Poor's issued three reports last week that together describe the healthcare industry as doing well and likely to keep on doing so through 2006. Hospitals and systems have benefited from...

From the top; Looking at how CEOs of top facilities make impact.
July 25, 2005... Byline: David Burda, Editor Does putting a new person in charge really make a difference? At some healthcare organizations, changing the CEO is little more than window dressing if the organization is a well-run operation staffed by...

The employer's role in quality; Companies must work harder to make pay-for-performance work for everyone.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Andrew Webber Congress is considering a number of proposals aimed at introducing true pay-for-performance into Medicare. At the heart of these programs are efforts to develop more sophisticated systems to measure quality of care....

All part of the plan; CEO's ascent was years in the making.(chief executive officer succession planned to perfection at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Linda Wilson Transitions in key leadership positions have occurred in an orderly fashion for decades at Pomona (Calif.) Valley Hospital Medical Center. Consider this: The current president and chief executive officer-Richard...

Studies link care, reporting.(hospitals improve on counts of patient care)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Joseph Conn Quality is improving in U.S. hospitals, based on 15 of 18 measures, but there are statistically significant differences in quality between for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals, regionally and within individual...

The long-term problem; Solution to caring for elderly boomers must not rend the social safety net.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed Those looking to rein in the costs of Medicaid have long-term care in the crosshairs. It's a tempting target. A program that was initially intended for the indigent is now a form of...

Other Voices.(bilinguals for better care of elderly patients)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... "When it comes to healthcare, no patient's question should remain unanswered, no detail should be left to doubt. Yet, this is the case for thousands of elderly and low-income central Floridians, many of them minorities, for whom English is a...

Doctoring the problem; CEO's top concern: healthy physician relations.(chief executive officer)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Linda Wilson When Bruce Hagen became president of Riverside Methodist Hospital in 2003, he had three prerequisites in mind for his senior team: physicians, physicians and more physicians. About one-third of the 13 members of...

System Failure; Most U.S. hospitals have never filed a report with the databank that records doctor suspensions; critics say it's time for a new method.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Michael Romano When it debuted in 1990, the National Practitioner Data Bank was billed as the nation's central repository for hospital-based disciplinary actions against U.S. physicians-the most complete, authoritative collection...

N.Y. CEO has heart-to-heart with fast new CT scanner.(New York, chief executive officer, computed tomography)
July 25, 2005... Hospital chiefs in the intensely competitive New York metropolitan area work feverishly to get the edge on their neighbors, but no one throws his heart into the job like Michael Dowling, president and chief executive officer of the North...

Inner Strength; Top-performing hospitals are more apt to promote from within and take a more strategic approach when recruiting executives.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Linda Wilson In the business life of a hospital chief executive officer, few people are as important as the other members of the senior management team, the so-called C-suite. That's why a new study takes a look inside this...

A profit-thinner; Hospitals, docs await substitute for risky warfarin.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Cinda Becker No drug probably is cheaper and more effective in preventing strokes in a large and growing patient population than the anticoagulant warfarin, more commonly known by its brand name Coumadin, and probably no drug is...

Team players; Solucient-Cejka research focuses on executive lineup.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Jean Chenoweth Research conducted jointly by Solucient and Cejka Search on characteristics of chief executive officers, executive team formation and CEO evaluation of organizational success represents a new milestone for...

Filling out the roster; New hires strengthen senior leadership.(St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Linda Wilson When Christopher Dadlez joined St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford, Conn., as president and CEO nine months ago, he wanted to make as few changes as possible in the senior ranks. He made two changes...

Late News; Judge warns Schwarzenegger.(Arnold Schwarzenegger told to obey court orders)
July 25, 2005... A judge warned California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be careful not to disobey court orders in his battle to ease the state's minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, but the judge canceled a pending contempt hearing. Superior Court Judge...

Loosening the reins; In praise of hiring the right people and letting them do their jobs.(Contagious Success)(Book Review)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director Control is overrated in management. In fact, it can be downright dangerous. Too many leaders believe that the more they pull the strings to control everything and...

Growing from within; System works to keep talented execs in the pipeline.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Linda Wilson Martin Memorial Health Systems in Stuart, Fla., takes a long-term view on leadership development. The two-hospital system prefers to cull leaders from within the system, bringing them up through the ranks. Because...

A taxing departure; Exec leaves Ill. hospital that lost state exempt status.(Mark Wiener resigned from Provena Health)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Mark Taylor The president and CEO of Mokena, Ill.-based Provena Health's troubled Central Illinois Region has resigned. Mark Wiener, who has held that position for two years, stepped down and will be replaced by David Ber- tauski,...