HealthLeaders Media Community and Rural Hospital Weekly - September 3, 2008 View as a Webpage | Subscribe for Free

Hospital Reports
Crime, Gets Rapped
John Commins, Editor, Community Hospitals
Trinity Medical Center in Carrollton, TX, is taking heat because the hospital called authorities when a woman applied for a cafeteria job using a counterfeit Social Security card. The woman was arrested, jailed, and deported. Now, advocates for illegal immigrants are claiming the hospital went too far. [Read More]
     
 
September 3, 2008
 
Editor's Picks
Company doctors making a comeback
Disney is doing it. Toyota is doing it. Now, Cardone Industries in Philadelphia is one of the latest companies to go back an old idea: the company doctor. Like a lot of other companies, Cardone found that its 4,000 employees, many of them immigrants, were turning down company sponsored health insurance because it was too expensive and were delaying healthcare problems until they were really sick and headed for the emergency room. Cardone is coordinating the program with Holy Redeemer Health System and is building a 2,500-square-foot health center for Cardone employees and their families that will be staffed by Holy Redeemer doctors. [Read More]
Are consumer-driven health plans on the outs?
Remember when consumer-driven health plans were the next great thing? Well, maybe not. A story in the Des Moines Register indicates that the popularity of the program has already crested and is on the ebb. Why? It seems that employers and employees aren't seeing the savings they'd been promised. [Read More]
Superbug fight intensifies
The Wall Street Journal provides an update on the war against superbugs and the efforts of antimicrobial stewardship programs. The heightened vigilance comes, WSJ notes, as Medicare plans to refuse to pay hospitals to treat preventable infections. [Read More]
Sacramento ER death rates raise concerns
The Sacramento Bee finds higher death rates at Sacramento County hospital ERs than almost any other county in California. ERs in the county lost 27 out of every 10,000 patients during the last three years, compared with a statewide average of 17. [Read More]
 
Leaders Forum
Connect Branding to the Bottom Line, Part 1
In healthcare's highly competitive marketplace, your brand has to be developed into something extraordinary. In Part 1 of a two-part series, HealthLeaders Media contributor Gabrielle DeTora outlines a plan for CFOs to measure true return on investment from your marketing team's efforts. [Read More]
 
This Week's Headlines
Georgia rates poorly in hospital deaths
Atlanta Journal-Constitution – September 3, 2008
Christiana Care plans center north of Wilmington, DE
AP/Philadelphia Inquirer – September 3, 2008
California hospital workers stage 24-hour strike
San Francisco Chronicle – August 29, 2008
Lower court's ruling on Urbana, IL, hospital reversed
Chicago Tribune – August 28, 2008
Florida to detail plan for 4 million uninsured adults
Orlando Sentinel – September 3, 2008
 
 
From HealthLeaders Magazine
Help the Uninsured (Without Going Broke)
  The number of people who can't pay much—or anything—for their care just keeps rising. Some hospitals have found new ways to help them while still protecting the financial health of the hospital. [Read More]
    
 
Community Call
Discussion Board
Should hospitals contact authorities when they determine that an illegal immigrant has used falsified or stolen documents to access healthcare or get a job?
 
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