Modern Healthcare articles from October 2004

Modern Healthcare archives from October 2004

A loss and a legacy; The life of a hockey coach is a lesson in leadership.(Publisher's Letter)(Column)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Charles S. Lauer This is a tough column to write because it's about the loss of a dear friend whom I will miss forever. Billy Reay was an incredibly talented athlete, a great coach, a solid citizen, a devoted husband, and a...

N.Y.'s best not good enough; Despite being a leader in adverse-event reporting, audit reveals some shortcomings, need for reform in N.Y.'s tracking system.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Cinda Becker The public release of an audit last week that found some troubling lapses in oversight tarnished New York's pioneering tracking system for accidental deaths, injuries and other medical mishaps at hospitals and clinics....

Late News; Ohio facility must pay taxes.
October 4, 2004... In a decision with potentially adverse consequences for Ohio's not-for-profit hospitals, the state Department of Taxation advised against granting a tax exemption to the Cleveland Clinic's Beachwood (Ohio) Family Health and Surgery Center. The...

Scrushy faces new charges.(The Week In Healthcare)(Richard Scrushy )(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joseph Mantone Even if Richard Scrushy is found not guilty of fraud charges, he could still serve jail time-thanks to new government allegations contained in a superseding indictment filed last week. Scrushy, founder and former...

Hot spot; Miami system vows to overhaul compliance office.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Melanie Evans Amid a public and painful effort to turn around financial losses, officials at Jackson Health System in Miami acknowledged allegations of fraud and excessive payments to its pharmacy manager, Cardinal Health, and...

Other Voices.(Opinions)
October 4, 2004... "The really worrisome (federal) deficit is the $42 trillion mismatch we face when you add up all the government's promises to the retirees of the future, and hold them up against its expected revenues for the next 75 years.... Contrary to...

Forging ahead; CMS will continue PPO efforts despite GAO report.(The Week In Healthcare)(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid)(Preferred Provider Organizations)(General Accounting Office)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Tony Fong Despite a federal report questioning the efficacy of PPOs, the CMS will continue its mandated effort to create a PPO option in Medicare, as Congress has shown little interest in scrapping a provision aimed at making such...

Tracking is lacking; JCAHO focuses on causes, solutions.(News)(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
October 4, 2004... Byline: John Morrissey Unlike New York, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations doesn't try to track all the accidental deaths or serious injuries that result from medical mistakes. But it gets just enough to work...

Nonprofit CEOs make big bucks.(The Week In Healthcare)(Chief Executive Officers)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Melanie Evans Hospital executives ranked as the five highest-salaried chief executive officers at large not-for-profit organizations in 2003, according to a ranking by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Harold Varmus, president and...

Building a bridge to mutual survival; Why hospitals must actively involve physicians in strategic decision-making.(Opinions)
October 4, 2004... Byline: William Jesse In many communities, tensions between hospitals and physicians are at an all-time high. Recent articles in Modern Healthcare and other media have highlighted stories like these: * Eight-hospital OhioHealth,...

A career he didn't count on; Michigan professor Fries developed key assessment, reimbursement tools for the long-term-care sector.(Healthcare Profile)(Biography)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joseph Mantone Brant Fries recently shuffled through some papers on his desk in an effort to clean up and suddenly found himself face to face with his past. The University of Michigan School of Public Health professor eyed an...

The hidden debate topic; Rising healthcare costs threaten the best-laid plans to expand access to care.(Opinions)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Todd Sloane The two remaining presidential debates will feature arguments over the candidates' healthcare plans, centering on access to care and the merits and shortcomings of the new Medicare drug benefit. Unless lightning...

Competition fuels cost hikes.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joseph Mantone Rising costs for private-pay nursing home residents can be partly attributed to increased competition for residents from other types of facilities, industry experts said. Nursing home residents who weren't receiving...

More docs say: Super-size it; Medical group mergers pose complex challenges but bring strength in numbers, deliver added patient convenience.(Special Report)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Michael Romano In a slightly new twist on an old concept, medical groups are seizing upon some of the same logic behind the hospital-consolidation craze of the 1990s, using mergers to rapidly boost their size, strength and...

FTC OKs N.M. consent decree.(The Week In Healthcare)(Federal Trade Commission)(New Mexico)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Mark Taylor In another sign of its ongoing scrutiny of physician prices, the Federal Trade Commission last week signed a consent decree with a New Mexico physician-hospital organization and independent practice association. ...

Groups push providers on DVT.(The Week In Healthcare)(deep vein thrombosis)
October 4, 2004... Byline: John Morrissey Two healthcare quality-measurement organizations are forming a tag team to tackle an often-overlooked but serious complication of hospital care and hold providers accountable for preventing the condition. In the...

Protesters raise the heat on healthcare as election issue.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)
October 4, 2004... Though the first presidential debate was all about foreign policy, healthcare was the battle cry on the streets of Washington, as numerous groups denounced the Bush administration's policies as negligent at best and destructive at worst and an...

Other Voices.(medical malpractice lawsuits)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... "For the Republicans, curbing medical malpractice and other `frivolous' suits is a key theme. Four states will vote Nov. 2 on legislation limiting such lawsuits. But the truth is, there aren't too many civil lawsuits; there are too few.......

On the move ...(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... HOSPITALS, HEALTH SYSTEMS Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital, Houston, has named physician Steve Allen, 52, as its new CEO. Allen had been chief medical officer at Memorial Hermann Hospital, which houses Children's, since 1996. He...

Trail of words, numbers; Fraud lawsuit targets transcription giant MedQuist.(billing fraud)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Mark Taylor The nation's largest medical transcription company said last week that it plans to review its billing claims with as many as 3,000 hospital clients after a class-action lawsuit alleged the company engaged in widespread...

In the spotlight.(healthcare industry-appointments)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Scott Wallace, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Health Information Technology, Chicago, has been named chairman of a commission authorized by the Medicare Modernization Act to develop a strategic plan for the nation's healthcare...

Making the vision a reality; Implementing a national IT initiative to require a highly skilled workforce.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Linda Kloss Achieving the vision of a consumer-centric and information-rich healthcare industry outlined in the report of the Office of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator requires a broad range of public and...

Briefly: Finance.(healthcare industry-facility closures)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Ark. hospital gets reprieve * De Queen (Ark.) Regional Medical Center, which had been expected to close last week, will operate at least through Oct. 11, having extended a contract to outsource its emergency room. City lawmakers continued...

Lessons of love and tenderness; The great responsibility of pet ownership can teach us much about ourselves.(Column)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Charles S. Lauer Animals teach us so many things. They teach us what it means to give someone else unconditional love. They teach us how to laugh at ourselves. They give us so much insight into ourselves. I've said it before...

Straight from the heart; Patients to be informed of mortality rates.
October 11, 2004... Byline: John Morrissey A roster of national consensus measures for evaluating and reporting heart surgery quality in hospitals, endorsed by the National Quality Forum, set the stage for consumers to be told about death rates in six...

Fall guys; Healthcare's new police dramas are about quality AND reality shows.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Neil McLaughlin The heat is on. Just as the television networks are rolling out their latest cop programs, the quality police are staging some shows of their own. The difference is that the latter are reality-based, with the...

Germ warfare; Vaccines, other products join a growing arsenal in fight against hospital-acquired infections.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Cinda Becker Administrators don't like to talk about it, but hospitals are breeding grounds for infections and an adverse dividend of many a patient's stay. No hospital is immune, and infection control understandably is a key...

Groups getting used to EHRs.(Electronic Health Records)(use of information technology in health care industry)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Michael Romano Notoriously slow to shake the status quo, medical groups of all sizes now seem more inclined to accept the inevitable need for a costly investment in electronic health records. Officials with the Medical Group...

Wennberg windfall; AHA invests in Health Dialog.(American Hospital Association)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Melanie Evans Ending unnecessary medical care isn't just good sense and sound economics; it's a fast-growing business-and one the American Hospital Association stands to benefit from financially. Health Dialog, a for-profit...

Variations on a theme; Dartmouth studies suggest that more care isn't always better, with better hospitals using fewer resources, physician visits.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Tony Fong When a patient arrives at one of the two Mayo Clinic hospitals in Rochester, Minn., a team of doctors and nurses immedidately begins an evaluation. Decisions are made as to whether the patient needs tests, what...

Final farewell; Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas closes its doors.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Paul Barr The Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas began the process of transferring patients and shutting down on Oct. 8, after negotiations to sell the hospital failed, creating a healthcare headache for the Fort Worth medical...

Wolter named the MGMA's Physician Exec of the Year.(Physician Affairs)(Medical Group Management Association)(Deaconess Billings (Mont.) Clinic)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Modern Physician Nicholas Wolter, M.D., chief executive officer of Deaconess Billings (Mont.) Clinic, was recognized as the 2004 Physician Executive of the Year by the Medical Group Management Association and the American College...

Lining up in the lobby; As work speeds up--and money is spent--on healthcare IT, vendors, trade groups want to make sure their voices are heard.(Special Report)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Jeff Tieman In January President Bush announced bold plans to send astronauts back to the moon-and eventually to Mars. That same month Bush set the more down-to-earth but still highly ambitious goal of equipping everyone in the...

Immigration flip-flop; CMS won't require immigrant documentation.(The Week In Healthcare)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Tony Fong In the wake of criticism from hospitals and immigrants' rights advocates, the Bush administration has backed off a requirement that hospitals document the immigration status of patients in order to receive additional...

Deep sleep? Hospitals shouldn't skimp on anesthesia: JCAHO.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 11, 2004... Byline: John Morrissey Pressure in busy surgery departments to shorten patient recovery time and reduce delays may be contributing to a relatively rare but frightening experience during surgery in which a patient wakes up from general...

Briefly: Hospitals.(The Week In Healthcare; Armstrong County Memorial Hospital)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Heart study cites sites * Where heart-attack victims go for medical care-more than patients' race or ethnicity-significantly determines the quality of care they receive, according to a study in the Oct. 6 issue of the Journal of the...

Late News; More sign on to extend ban.
October 11, 2004... Lawmakers who hope to extend a ban on physician ownership of specialty hospitals past June 2005 have added about four dozen names to an American Hospital Association-sponsored letter to Republican and Democratic leaders. Seven lawmakers signed...

Imaging companies switch to brand new game plan.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)
October 11, 2004... There apparently is no limit to the creativity and ambition of the marketing departments of diagnostic imaging companies. Eastman Kodak Co. imaging scored a home run recently when it announced that it had sold a computed radiography system and...

Md. doctors delay plan to halt elective surgeries in protest.(Physician Affairs; Maryland)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Modern Physician Four Washington County, Md., doctors have agreed to delay indefinitely their plan to halt nonemergency surgery to protest a 33% increase in medical malpractice insurance premiums. After a meeting with Gov....

IPA audited in fund misuse.(The Week In Healthcare)(Catholic Independent Practice Association)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Cinda Becker The Catholic Independent Practice Association in Buffalo, N.Y., last week said it is undergoing an independent audit in light of the alleged misappropriation of funds by its former president and chief executive...

Spreading the wealth; HHS technology grants target rural communities.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Jeff Tieman Healthcare providers last week applauded HHS' awarding of $139 million in grants to help hospitals and communities adopt information technology as the increasingly popular topic also got time in the third presidential...

South.(Regional News)(Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, National Naval Medical Center, Suburban Hospital Healthcare System)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... BETHESDA, Md.-Three hospitals have formed an alliance to coordinate their responses to man-made and natural disasters. They are 261-bed Suburban Hospital Healthcare System, 240-bed National Naval Medical Center and 267-bed Warren G. Magnuson...

Getting personal; Cerner offers $25 million to create health records.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Mark Taylor Last week's announcement that Cerner Corp. would spend at least $25 million to provide personal health records for up to 1.3 million patients with juvenile diabetes was hailed by children's hospitals and pediatricians....

When doses disappear; Flu shot shortage sheds light on drug supply chain.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Cinda Becker Kathy Griffin saw a silver lining in the dark cloud that emerged last week amid a severe flu vaccine shortage created by the recent shutdown of a Liverpool, England, plant owned by Emeryville, Calif.-based Chiron Corp....

Late News; CHW sees 273% profit increase.(Catholic Healthcare West)
October 18, 2004... Catholic Healthcare West, San Francisco, finished its fiscal 2004 June 30 with $246 million in profit on $5.4 billion in revenue, up from $66 million in net income on $ 4.8 billion in revenue the year before, according to the yearly financial...

Tenet selling three in Mass.(The Week In Healthcare)(Tenet Healthcare Corp., Massachusetts)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Vince Galloro Tenet Healthcare Corp. is like a gambler playing multiple hands of high-stakes blackjack-the company has a lot to pay attention to, and it has a lot of money on the table. Two of Tenet's hands were in play last...

Parker (Colo.) Adventist Hospital; Award of Excellence/built.(Special Feature)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Type of facility: New acute-care hospital Client: Parker Adventist Hospital Project architects: HKS, Dallas Construction manager: Kitchell Contractors, Colorado Springs, Colo. Completed: November 2003 Size: 210,000 ...

Rumsey Community and Wellness Center, Brooks, Calif. Award of Excellence/built.(California)(Rumsey band of Wintun Indians, Chong Partners Architecture)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Type of facility: Wellness center Client: Rumsey band of Wintun Indians, Brooks, Calif. Project architects: Chong Partners Architecture, San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif. Construction manager: Harbison Mahony Higgins, Brooks,...

MIND Institute, Sacramento, Calif. Award of Excellence/built.(Special Feature)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Type of facility: Outpatient Client: University of California-Davis Medical Center, Sacramento Project architects: Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Sacramento Construction manager: ProWest PCM, Temecula, Calif. Completed: April...

Central DuPage Health Integrative Medicine Centre, Geneva, Ill. Honorable Mention/built.(Special Feature)(Illinois)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Type of facility: Alternative medicine center Client: Central DuPage Health, Winfield, Ill. Project architects: Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, Chicago Construction manager: Leopardo Cos., Hoffman Estates, Ill. Completed: August 2003...

Long-term solutions; NQF panel will study long-term-care solutions.(National Quality Forum)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Tony Fong Calling the growing need for long-term care a "time bomb,'' the National Quality Forum last week announced the creation of a commission to explore ways to improve aging services. The goal of the commission is...

Ascension rises to the occasion.(The Week In Healthcare)(Ascension Health)
October 18, 2004... Byline: John Morrissey Ascension Health needed a way to more economically manage and upgrade a conglomeration of information technology services thrown together with the many formerly independent hospitals or groups of hospitals that now...

MUSC plans to replace facility.(Regional News)(Medical University of South Carolina)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Vince Galloro Trying to build a replacement for a 514-bed academic medical center is tough enough. Trying to build it in a crowded peninsula city like Charleston, S.C., when the current hospital is already pushing its capacity is...

It's all by design; Award-winning projects make sure people come first.(Special Feature)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Susanna Moon Amid the recent building boom in healthcare, hundreds of facility designs have made their way from the drawing board to actual buildings open for business. However, only a handful of them combined design excellence...

Longer stay, longer life.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Joseph Mantone The unexpected results of a study that showed a rise in mortality rates as lengths of stay at rehabilitation facilities declined left industry experts scratching their heads last week. The study published in the...

Drug pullout; Massive recall of Vioxx poses logistical problems.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Cinda Becker Theodore Fields was in a meeting discussing the latest medical journal articles one morning last month when someone came in with a printout announcing that Merck was voluntarily pulling its blockbuster drug Vioxx from...

Out of sight; Pharmaceutical industry temporarily replaces hospitals as target.(Opinions)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Neil McLaughlin Hospital industry officials and lobbyists must have felt as if they were on vacation last week. After days of uncomfortable publicity regarding the Dartmouth Medical School reports on poor-quality hospital care...

Screening LTC job applicants.(The Week In Healthcare)(long-term-care)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Joseph Mantone A pilot program involving the screening of potential employees at long-term-care facilities could further exacerbate staffing shortages within the industry if more widely adopted. The three-year project, which...

Academic medical center group names new officers.(Physician Affairs)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Modern Physician T. Michael Bolger, president and chief executive officer of the Medical College of Wisconsin, is the new chairman of the Association of Academic Medical Centers. Bolger, a lawyer, has led the Milwaukee medical...

California's critical condition; CMS threatens to cut funding to medical center.(Regional News)(Alameda County Medical Center)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Laura B. Benko In another potential blow to California's beleaguered hospital system, the CMS is threatening to cut off millions of dollars in payments to Alameda County Medical Center on Nov. 10 unless the public healthcare system...

Designing with health in mind; Innovative design elements can make hospitals safer, more healing places.(Opinions)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Blair L. Sadler Building a new facility is usually the biggest capital investment a chief executive officer and board of trustees will ever make. Hospitals will spend more than $12 billion this year on new construction and, by...

Modern Healthcare's 2004 Design Awards Judges.(Special Feature)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Peter Bardwell, principal, Bardwell & Associates, Columbus, Ohio Carol Bentel, partner, Bentel & Bentel, Architects/Planners, Locust Valley, N.Y. David Brems, principal, Gillies Stransky Brems Smith, Salt Lake City Sue Brody,...

Politics may delay funding.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Tony Fong As in years past, Congress failed to complete its annual appropriations process, leaving HHS' funding for fiscal 2005 that began Oct. 1 unresolved until possibly after Jan. 1. As Congress left for the election recess...

Readers talk back to Lauer.(Publisher's Letter)(Letter to the Editor)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Charles S. Lauer On "Overcoming the odds'' (Sept. 20, p. 20) about a CEO who choose to be a victor rather than a victim: My first read of every issue of Modern Healthcare is your Publisher's Letter-they are insightful,...

Coming up short; Shortages of space, beds, staff cause capacity crubch.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Melanie Evans Nearly six in 10 chief executive officers say too little space, too few beds or not enough staff are contributing to a capacity crunch at U.S. hospitals, according to a survey of CEOs at general acute-care hospitals...

For a limited time only; Left in the lurch, desperate hospitals are turning to interim healthcare managers to temporarily fill executive positions.
October 18, 2004... Byline: Melanie Evans Weak finances, pared-down management and a lack of succession planning at U.S. hospitals and health systems have converged to create an alternative career for managers and consultants able to handle a crisis-as long...

On the move ...(News Makers)
October 18, 2004... HOSPITALS, HEALTH SYSTEMS Mary Nash, 52, has stepped down as executive director of 969-bed University of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham, a job she has held since 2002. Nash, who has been with the hospital since 1994, says remaining in...

In the spotlight.(News Makers)(American Health Lawyers Association)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... * Denton Cooley, the famed transplant surgeon who founded the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Houston, in 1962, will be replaced as president of the institute by James Willerson, 64, president of the University of Texas...

Four projects.(Special Feature)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Susanna Moon This year, for the first time, Modern Healthcare invited nonhealthcare architects-Carol Bentel, David Brems and Louis Pounders-to sit on the nine-member judging panel. Those judges felt strongly about four projects for...

Other Voices.(Opinions)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... "For four years, researchers have been pointing to disturbing signs that the popular pain-killing drug Vioxx causes heart attacks and strokes with long-term use.... The rise and fall of Vioxx highlights the need for longer studies before the...

National ambition; Deal would put Coventry in all 50 states.(The Week In Healthcare)(Coventry Health Care Inc.)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Laura B. Benko Coventry Health Care wants to play with the big boys. The Bethesda, Md.-based health insurer, which covers 2.4 million members through regional HMOs in 15 markets, last week agreed to acquire First Health Group Corp....

D'Amour Center for Cancer Care, Springfield, Mass. Honorable mention/built.(Special Feature)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Type of facility: Cancer treatment center Client: Baystate Health System, Springfield, Mass. Project architects: Steffian Bradley Architects, Boston Construction manager: George B.H. Macomber Co., Boston Completed: October 2003...

Weinberg Building, University of Maryland Medical System, Baltimore; Honorable mention/built.(Special Feature)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Type of facility: Tertiary care Client: University of Maryland Medical System, Baltimore Project architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, New York; Perkins & Will, New York Construction manager: Turner, Baltimore ...

St. Joseph Outpatient Center, Tacoma, Wash. Citation/built.(Special Feature)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Type of facility: Outpatient center Client: Franciscan Health System, Tacoma, Wash. Project architects: Callison Architecture, Seattle Construction manager: Sellen Construction, Seattle Completed: June 2004 Size: 152,000...

CentraCare Health Plaza, St. Cloud, Minn. Citation/built.(Special Feature)(Minnesota)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Type of facility: Ambulatory-care center Client: CentraCare Health System, St. Cloud, Minn. Project architects: Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Minneapolis Construction manager: PCL Construction Services, Burnsville, Minn. ...

Champion for healthcare was helping until the end.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)(Connecticut Children's Medical Center)(Obituary)
October 18, 2004... During a one-hour visit to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and later that night in front of a packed ballroom, Christopher Reeve demonstrated the same energy that had distinguished the actor in public as a crusader for innovation in...

Fla. Blues to reward doctors for quality care, cutting costs.(Physician Affairs)(Florida)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Modern Physician Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Jacksonville, has become the latest insurer to launch a pay-for-performance plan that rewards doctors for improving quality of care and reducing healthcare costs. Beginning...

Stanford and Duke contract to study drug's safety for kids.(Physician Affairs)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Modern Physician Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., and Duke University, Durham, N.C., have been awarded contracts by the National Institutes of Health to study the safety and clinical effectiveness of sodium nitroprusside...

Straight Talk: Outsourcing in the Business Office Increases Cash.(Straight Talk)
October 18, 2004... Byline: Modern Healthcare and PricewaterhouseCoopers Want more cash? Rather than simply sending old patient balances to collection agencies in knee-jerk fashion, sophisticated business offices are scrutinizing their days in accounts...

Corrections & Clarifications.(Corrections)(Correction Notice)
October 25, 2004... * In an Oct. 18 guide to the contents of modernhealthcare.com (p. 24), the name of F. Mark Gumz of Olympus America was misspelled. * A story in the Oct. 18 issue of Modern Healthcare ("Spreading the wealth,'' p. 10) incorrectly stated how...

Late News; Universal Health sees decline.
October 25, 2004... Universal Health Services, King of Prussia, Pa., said a decline in admissions at most of its hospitals and poor margins at five new hospitals contributed to a drop of nearly 25% in third-quarter earnings. The company reported profits of $37.8...

Hospitals on winning streak; A charity-care suit dismissed; consolidation denied.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 25, 2004... Byline: Paul Barr Hospitals were victorious on two separate fronts last week in their ongoing legal battle to fend off lawsuits filed on behalf of uninsured patients. On one front, a U.S. District Court judge in Birmingham, Ala.,...

Mr. Morrissey goes to Washington.(News)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
October 25, 2004... Byline: David Burda, editor Modern Healthcare and Crain Communications are pleased to announce that HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has asked veteran reporter John Morrissey to assist the agency...

A little off the top; Neb. system to trim leadership to help doc relations.(The Week In Healthcare)
October 25, 2004... Byline: Melanie Evans An effort to mend rocky relations between Alegent Health and its doctors has contributed to a sizable management overhaul at the Omaha, Neb.-based health system, which will pare down its leadership but may boost the...