Modern Healthcare articles from May 2006

Modern Healthcare archives from May 2006

AHA wants more time; PPS quality-reporting deadline called too tight.(The Week In Healthcare)(The American Hospital Association needs more time for prospective payment system deadline)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell Some hospitals may not be able to meet the ambitious timelines the CMS proposed for meeting the reporting requirements of new quality measures, which would result in a reduction in Medicare reimbursements for those...

On the move...(News Makers)(Ralph Aleman & Mitch Feldman promoted as part of a management restructuring by Tenet Healthcare Corp.)
May 1, 2006... HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS Tenet Healthcare Corp., Dallas, promoted two hospital executives in South Florida as part of a management restructuring for that region. Ralph Aleman, 59, was named market vice president for Miami-Dade and Broward...

Why we do the right thing; Questionable sales tactics will fail in the long run.(Lauer's Letter)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director Sometimes even recent success isn't the best measuring stick when evaluating a company's performance. Short-term sales advances may mask underlying institutional...

HMA revamps hospital units.(Late News)(Health Management Associates reorganises hospital units.)(Diversified Therapy merges with Praxis Clinical Services)(Siemens Medical Solutions agrees to acquire Diagnostic Products Corp)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Health Management Associates, Naples, Fla., unveiled several changes to its operations-level management, including reorganizing hospitals into five divisions and redefining the roles of two executive vice presidents of operations, Peter Lawson...

Minn., Calif. say no to exec perks; States question pay for UnitedHealth's CEO, directors.(chief executive officer)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Laura B. Benko Facing mounting scrutiny of its much-criticized executive-pay practices, UnitedHealth Group was dealt another blow last week as Minnesota's $50 billion pension and investment fund voted to withhold support for the...

CEO turnover slows for now; As boomers begin retiring the tide may shift again.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evans Turnover among hospital chief executives slowed in recent years, new study results show, but early retirements and healthcare's push for good governance could undermine that success, industry experts said. ...

Two execs recuperating.(The Week In Healthcare)(heart attack)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Joseph Conn and Laura B. Benko Two prominent healthcare executives suffered heart attacks in recent weeks. Scott Wallace, president and chief executive officer of the National Alliance for Health Information Technology and the...

Stating the case for coverage; Frustrated with federal efforts to solve the uninsured problem, many states are taking it upon themselves to find solutions.(medically uninsured)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone Across the U.S., state officials are working on policies in an attempt to concoct an antidote for the nation's festering ailment: the 46 million people without health insurance. With little action on the federal...

Minn.'s Hatch blasts Blues deal; Says expensive disease-management deal not working.(Minnesota)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evans Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch last week joined the ranks of disease-management critics, sharply criticizing a multimillion-dollar, 10-year contract between the state's Blues plans and the nation's largest...

Adding another role; JCAHO's Brown says Beryl position is clear of conflict.(The Week In Healthcare)(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Jessica Zigmond The chairman of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' board of commissioners has been selected by a Dallas-based healthcare customer-service center to serve as a paid member of the...

Remember those anthrax vials? It's time to check inventory ...(reports of anthrax)
May 1, 2006... Talk about a clerical error. New Jersey health department authorities reported late last month that two anthrax samples that were famously taken from the Trenton post office in 2001 were missing. The last time state health authorities...

Other Voices.(Opinions)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... "A checkered part of medical science's history is still killing women. Generations of neglect of researching women's issues have left doctors surprisingly unprepared to diagnose, understand and treat cardiovascular problems in women.......

High-octane hospitals; Solucient's annual list of performance-improvement leaders shows organizationwide attention key to financial and operational gains.(Special Feature)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Linda Wilson Henry Ford Hospital had gotten used to being in the news for its financial woes: closing its inpatient pediatric unit, shuttering clinics and eliminating jobs. But that has changed thanks to a formula that not only...

Expanding in Ohio; WellPoint set to enter state's Medicaid HMO market.(The Week In Healthcare)(WellPoint Inc.)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Laura B. Benko The big continued to get bigger last week as WellPoint, the nation's largest health insurer, laid plans to enter the potentially lucrative Ohio Medicaid market with the acquisition of a local hospital-owned HMO. ...

Staffing deal brings risks; Jackson buys rival mired in bankruptcy, lawsuits.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor One week before Jackson Healthcare Staffing was set to close on a deal to buy rival World Health Alternatives out of bankruptcy, a group of shareholders sued World Health's co-founder and former head for allegedly...

Not-so-benign neglect; Federal inaction leaves states to experiment on covering more uninsured.(uninsured)(Editorial)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed Those waiting for the federal government to take the lead on helping the uninsured are either hoping for a sea change in control of Congress and the White House or have a lot of time on...

Alvarado prosecutor's dilemma; Lawyers say third time's not usually a charm.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Vince Galloro Carol Lam, a veteran healthcare fraud prosecutor and the U.S. attorney in San Diego, faces two conflicting priorities as she decides whether to prosecute Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s Alvarado Hospital Medical Center for a...

IT safe harbors are close; Brailer expects exemptions before new chief steps in.(information technology)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Joseph Conn David Brailer, HHS' outgoing national coordinator for health information technology, said last week that Stark and anti-kickback safe harbors aimed at allowing hospitals to subsidize the extension of IT to affiliated...

Defibrillator malfunctions outpace pacemakers.(Physician Affairs)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone The rate of confirmed malfunctions for implantable cardioverter defibrillators was significantly higher than that for pacemakers from 1990 to 2002, according to a study published in the April 26 issue of the Journal...

A history lesson not learned; Four factors stop us from covering the uninsured, but the pressure is mounting.(Commentary)
May 1, 2006... Byline: Emily Friedman Well, here we are again: another year, another million Americans without health insurance. Although there are major efforts from California to Illinois to Maine to make the situation better, it doesn't take a health...

Finding paths to quality.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 1, 2006... Senior healthcare executives representing past or current winners of the Baldrige National Quality Award met in Washington last week to discuss ways to improve healthcare. "It's not something that happens overnight," said John Heer, right, CEO...

By The Numbers.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 1, 2006... The U.S. healthcare system ranked at the bottom among six nations on several key dimensions of quality, including patient safety, patient-centerdness, efficiency and equity, the Commonwealth Fund said in a report. The U.S. also spent more per...

Kodak may exit health IT; Changes to healthcare group may make buyers leery.(management)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Joseph Conn Eastman Kodak Co.'s announcement last week that it had retained an investment banker to explore strategic alternatives for its healthcare division may give potential information technology customers a reason to hold off...

Transparencywith a catch; AHA urges hospital price disclosure, but wants protection from lawsuits and broad definition of community benefits.(American Hospital Association)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jessica Zigmond and Melanie Evans Not to be excluded from the transparency debate, the American Hospital Association is the latest voice to call out for hospitals and health systems to share information with the public about the...

AAFP denies endorsement; Deal with MinuteClinic will be "advisory' only.(negotiations of endorsement)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Andis Robeznieks The American Academy of Family Physicians is taking a prominent role on an advisory board for Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic, a for-profit provider of healthcare in retail locations, but the AAFP denies that the...

Disciplinary actions dropped in 2005; Group concerned that numbers don't accurately reflect physicians' records.(Physician Affairs)(Federation of State Medical Boards study)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Michael Romano For the first time in eight years, the number of serious disciplinary actions taken against doctors dropped in 2005, the Federation of State Medical Boards has found. Even while the population of nonfederal...

Kibbe exiting IT post; Will continue at AAFP as a consultant.(David Kibbe is leaving American Academy of Family Physicians)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Andis Robeznieks David Kibbe said last week that he is leaving his post as director of the Center for Health Information Technology at the American Academy of Family Physicians. Kibbe, 56, joined the AAFP in 2002 as its...

Exec-search firm surveys.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 8, 2006... Modern Healthcare is conducting a survey of healthcare executive-search firms. If you would like to participate, visit modernhealthcare.com/surveys for an electronic copy of the questionnaire. The deadline is June 5 and results of the survey...

Radio ads accuse IHA of trying to influence state tax decision.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)(Illinois Hospital Association)
May 8, 2006... A series of radio ads began airing on Springfield, Ill., stations last week alleging that the influx of campaign contributions to Gov. Rod Blagojevich from the Illinois Hospital Association is an attempt to sway the decision in a hospital tax...

Outlook remains bleak; Earlier bankruptcy seen for Medicare trust funds.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Matthew DoBias In their yearly reports to Bush administration officials, trustees of the government-run Medicare and Social Security programs offered projections that are as dire as they are familiar: The one-two punch of rising...

Top healthcare REIT grows; Health Care Property's value to hit $11.5 billion.(Health Care Property Investors Inc.)(real estate investment trusts)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker The nation's largest healthcare real estate investment trust last week said it would acquire the nation's third-largest, a $5.2 billion example of how healthcare properties are becoming a mainstay of many real estate...

Seeking allies; Not-for-profits partner with groups.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker Perhaps a reflection of the growing public demand for public accountability from not-for-profit hospitals, community-benefit programs are expanding and partnering with more community organizations, according to a...

Grin and share it; Bad day or not, a smile can lift your, others' spirits.(Lauer's Letter)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director If you've never visited Boston, you're missing one of the loveliest cities in the U.S. I've had the privilege of visiting Beantown countless times. During my college...

Rule change: payday or mayday? Uncertainty looms as hospitals scramble to get data.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell Hospitals will have to scramble this summer to submit updated information on their occupational mix data to the CMS. And with that rush, one executive wonders how reliable that data will be. The move would be to...

The Baron of Healthcare; With 46 million uninsured, it's time for billionaire McGuire to open his coffers.(Editorial)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Neil Mclaughlin, Managing Editor Maybe you have had this experience recently picking up the morning newspaper. You know you live in the 21st century, but you have this overwhelming sense of deja vu. You read about obscene corporate...

Lawsuits not ruining docs: study.(medical malpractice)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... A study set to be released this week seemingly debunks the American Medical Association's position that high medical malpractice premiums are pushing physicians out of business. The study results, to be published in Health Affairs, indicate...

Illinois joins GPO game; Purchasing unity is goal of new state collaborative.(The Week In Healthcare)(Group Purchasing Organization )
May 8, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor The Illinois Hospital Association has created its own group purchasing organization to buy millions-and perhaps eventually billions-of dollars in medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and services for its hospital members....

La. asks for safety network.(The Week In Healthcare)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Jessica Zigmond The Louisiana Recovery Authority recommended that the state Legislature authorize about $26 million over the next three years on an emergency response network as part of an illness response system. The network...

No news is not good news for attendees; World Health Care Congress offered everything but breaking headlines.(Commentary)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor For three days last month, the healthcare industry's movers and shakers gathered in Washington at the third annual World Health Care Congress. With such a concentration of healthcare brainpower in one place at one time,...

Mag wins reporting prize.(Laura B. Benko of Modern Healthcare won NIHCM Foundation Health Care Journalism Award)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: David Burda, editor Modern Healthcare is pleased to announce that reporter Laura B. Benko has won the prestigious NIHCM Foundation Health Care Journalism Award. The 12th annual award, presented by the National Institute for Health...

On-call specialist coverage low: survey.(Physician Affairs)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Michael Romano Nearly three out of four emergency department directors said they struggle with inadequate on-call coverage by specialists, according to a survey of 1,328 hospital emergency departments by the American College of...

Tenet spotlights outpatient care; Plans to meet demand, competition under way.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Vince Galloro Healthcare services have been shifting from inpatient to outpatient settings for more than two decades. Tenet Healthcare Corp. is convinced that the shift is accelerating thanks to rapid changes in technology, but...

Satisfied sans good service; Hospital reviews good, despite low-quality care.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Andis Robeznieks Two reports published last week suggest that hospital quality and patient-satisfaction reporting are not interchangeable or even related. But both may be growing in importance and public accessibility. ...

Other Voices.(Opinions)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... "At Inova (Health System in Northern Virginia, CEO Knox) Singleton's view is that, when it comes to healthcare, competition is overrated because it produces neither lower prices nor better quality of care, while it undermines other social...

Hey, where's the junk food? Drug vending machines offer convenience, but safety, security issues raised.(Medical Advances)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone Vending machines have long been the provider of late-night snacks for medical residents and those in emergency room waiting areas. Now hospital executives are considering adding vending machines to accomplish tasks a...

DEVISING NEW TACTICS; Providers and medical device manufacturers struggle to find best ways to work together on recalls, advisories.(Special Report)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone Johns Hopkins Health System learned its lesson about recalls the hard way. In late 2001, a letter from manufacturer Olympus America notified the system that a bronchoscope was being recalled because it couldn't...

In case of emergency; Hospitals weigh pandemic supply options.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone Hospitals and health systems are being sent mixed signals on how to prepare their supply chain for a pandemic flu. Last week, the Office of Homeland Security released its latest flu pandemic plan, offering...

Up & Comer nominees sought.(News)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... The nominations are now open for Modern Healthcare's 20th annual Up & Comers recognition program. The program, co-sponsored by Witt/Kieffer, an Oak Brook, Ill.-based executive search firm, honors rising young stars in the healthcare management...

By The Numbers.(The Week In Healthcare)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Surprise hospital inspections by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations may not have their intended effect, found a Modern Healthcare reader poll conducted from April 24 through May 1 on modernhealthcare.com. Only...

Cleveland Clinic talks conflicts; Critics worry new guidelines only address disclosure.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Michael Romano The Cleveland Clinic announced its new conflict-of-interest guidelines last week, tightening procedures on the disclosure of outside financial interests. But the retooled policies, unveiled five months after...

Premium discontent; No reason to cap malpractice insurance: study.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Michael Romano A new report on malpractice premiums has added more heat to the controversy over whether Congress should enact limits on payouts in malpractice lawsuits as a way to help doctors cope with the high costs of liability...

Medical groups collaborate on P4P pilot; Program was several years in the making, could include thousands of docs.(Physician Affairs)(Pay-for-Performance)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Michael Romano A handful of medical groups that represent primary-care practitioners will launch a pay-for-performance pilot program-one of a growing number of such initiatives sponsored by doctors' associations across the country....

Cheers for Thermo deal.(The Week In Healthcare; Fisher Scientific International Inc.; Thermo Electron Corp.)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone Thermo Electron Corp.'s $10.6 billion acquisition of Fisher Scientific International will create more one-stop shopping for hospital laboratory supplies, but it also signifies an emerging trend of consolidation...

GPO names new president.(The Week In Healthcare; Novation Inc.)(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone Novation, Irving, Texas, went outside the healthcare sector to select its new president. Joellyn Willis, 45, an energy industry executive, will take over as president of the group purchasing organization for hospital...

On the move...(News Makers)(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS Manny Linares has been promoted to CEO of Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s North Shore Medical Center, Miami, from COO. Linares, 41, replaces Ed Banos, who left to become CEO of Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh.... Bill...

Other Voices.(Opinions)(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... "The symptoms were familiar: a fever of partisanship on both sides of the aisle. The issue was two bills dealing with medical practice- something for which Democrats and Republicans have staked out their own separate and competing...

The devil is in the D tales; While politicians squabble, physicians and pharmacists are forced to advise seniors on Part D despite being unprepared.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell and Matthew DoBias The barnstorming and bickering last week over the expiration of the Medicare Part D participant enrollment period on May 15 were equal parts hype-filled and heated. But away from Beltway politics,...

Quality over quantity; Many measures fail to provide accurate reading of a provider's performance.(Commentary)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Steven Corwin Hospital quality metrics are becoming more important in healthcare. Some insurers compensate hospitals at more favorable rates if they meet specific quality goals. The federal government requires public reports on...

Critical conditions; The number of critical-access hospitals has surged, but the program hasn't always been a financial lifesaver.(Special Report)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker After years of operating losses and an average daily census of one, E.J. Noble Hospital on the New York side of the St. Lawrence River was withering away. By 2003, its parent, Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown,...

California trendsetters? Lawsuits allege unjust denials; filings may continue.(The Week In Healthcare)(MemorialCare sued Blue Cross)(Arcadia Lawsuit Blue Shield)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Laura B. Benko Two of California's largest health plans have been hit with the first of what could become a wave of lawsuits filed by local hospitals claiming the insurers used an illegal coverage-cancellation scheme to avoid...

Let the testing begin; Tensions remain as EHR-system certification process gets under way.(Information Edge)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Andis Robeznieks Since July 2004, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology has been developing criteria to judge whether doctors will find a vendor's electronic health-record system secure, functional and...

HealthSouth expects loss.(Late News)
May 15, 2006... HealthSouth Corp., Birmingham, Ala., said it will not file its first-quarter results on time and expects to report a loss of about $361 million. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, HealthSouth cited financial control and...

`Death sentence' for Alvarado? Federal exclusion could force hospital to be closed or sold.(The Week In Healthcare)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor Tenet Healthcare Corp. may be forced to close or sell its Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, San Diego, in the wake of last week's proposed exclusion of the for-profit hospital from federal health insurance programs by...

Leap of faith, Part D; Insurers invest heavily in Medicare despite risks.(News)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Laura B. Benko Health insurers that have bet on the new Medicare prescription drug program to drive their future growth are now facing several challenges and might have to wait until next year to see whether their gamble actually...

Part D, part politics; Drug law caught in partisan crossfire is neither success nor failure.(Editorial)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed Last week President Bush was stumping in Florida for the Medicare prescription drug program with some happy, handpicked seniors. Back in Washington, Democrats said that if they win...

In the spotlight.(News Makers)
May 15, 2006... * Daniel Kane will step down as president and CEO of troubled Nassau Health Care Corp., East Meadow, N.Y., on or before June 30 as part of a severance agreement reached with the board of directors. Although the board unanimously expressed...

Patient safety gets personal.(The Week In Healthcare)(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Andis Robeznieks The National Patient Safety Foundation's 8th annual Patient Safety Congress held May 10-12 in San Francisco emphasized the personal side of patient safety. Lucian Leape, an adjunct professor of health policy at...

For women only: Clinic focuses on headaches.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)(Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital changes its name to Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital)
May 15, 2006... No, it wasn't something men said, but the Cambridge (Mass.) Health Alliance has opened a headache clinic just for women. Located on the campus of the system's Somerville (Mass.) Hospital, the Women's Headache Center is believed to be the...

Wooden's words work wonders; Beyond the court, legendary basketball personality offers true coaching.(Lauer's Letter)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director Love letters! Most of us have fallen in love with someone in our lives and written a letter saying precious and meaningful things to the object of our affection....

CMS ignores doc self-referrals; Specialty hospitals get hope; opponents get rankled.(The Week In Healthcare)(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Jessica Zigmond In a blow to opponents of specialty hospitals, an interim CMS report to Congress last week focused on payment revisions but not the issue of physician self-referrals, which community hospitals believe are at the...

Up & Comer nominees sought.(News)(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... The nominations are now open for Modern Healthcare's 20th annual Up & Comers recognition program. The program, co-sponsored by Witt/Kieffer, an Oak Brook, Ill.-based executive search firm, honors rising young stars in the healthcare management...

Exec-search firm surveys.(News)(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... Modern Healthcare is conducting a survey of healthcare executive-search firms. If you would like to participate, visit modernhealthcare.com/surveys for an electronic copy of the questionnaire. The deadline is June 5 and results of the survey...

Losses closing Wis. hospital; Nearby Milwaukee facilities expect to take up slack.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evens Citing five-year losses of $100 million, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare said it will close an urban Milwaukee hospital widely recognized as a safety net for the poor, leaving nearby hospitals bracing for an influx of...

Troubled hospital on notice; Oregon facility could lose certification from CMS.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Laura B. Benko Oregon's only physician-owned hospital is once again at imminent risk of losing its government funding after failing to correct certain problems discovered during a regulatory inspection earlier this year. The...

FTC hears Illinois merger case.(Federal Trade Commission)(Highland Park hospital)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor While complex antitrust theories, market analyses and legal precedents were debated before the Federal Trade Commission in a rare hospital antitrust merger challenge last week, the ultimate remedy of divestiture was the...

Fix governance first; Until board members get serious about oversight, healthcare fraud will continue.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Mark Olson The five largest False Claims Act settlements in federal fiscal 2005 were all in healthcare: HealthSouth Corp., $325 million; Gambro Healthcare, $310 million; GlaxoSmithKline, $140 million; Caremark, $137.5 million; and...

'Never events'--never paid?(quality management of hospitals)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell and Matthew DoBias The CMS, in its ongoing effort to pay hospitals and physicians according to the quality of their care, is exploring ways to stop reimbursing for procedures and services that involve reproachable...

AHIP, Blues team on health records; But critics aren't sure proposed project will fly with wary consumers.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Joseph Conn The national health insurance trade group and the national Blues association have launched a project to create a basic portable, Web-based personal health record. The project, which could encompass records for as...

Here comes the money? Hurdle cleared: House approves healthcare boost.(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Matthew DoBias The House voted 218-210 last week to approve a $2.8 trillion budget blueprint that would boost funding for HHS as well as the departments of Education and Labor, but does not include the Bush administration's request...

HealthSouth avoids charges.(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone Tenet Healthcare Corp. wasn't the only for-profit healthcare company to end a long-running legal dispute last week. HealthSouth Corp., Birmingham, Ala., reached a nonprosecution agreement with the Justice...

Other Voices.(Medicare drug program )(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... Now that the chaotic sign-up period for the new Medicare drug program is over, it surely makes sense to extend the deadline to allow more people to join and to avoid the penalty for lateness. That would be fair to the large number of elderly...

Contracting concerns; Disputes threaten to restrict supply-price sharing.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone A debate has arisen in the hospital-supply purchasing world over confidentiality agreements for device prices in the wake of two court battles involving the disclosure of Guidant Corp. prices. Last week,...

Note to doctors: You better sound like you really mean it.(Harvard University. School of Public Health)
May 22, 2006... If you're going to apologize to a patient, Lucian Leape has some advice. Leape, adjunct professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health and a patient-safety pioneer, says apologies work only if you show remorse. His...

How to create a sales force; Just like in any other field, continual training makes all the difference.(Editorial)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director Years ago, there were two books I read with great relish written by one of the great entrepreneurs of our time, Mark McCormack. The two books were What They Don't Teach...