HealthLeaders Media Community and Rural Hospital Weekly - January 6, 2010
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Economic Climate Changes Banks' Relationships With Hospitals
Les Masterson, Senior Editor
The partnership between hospital chief financial officers and bankers historically has been cordial and built on trust, but as capital funds have dried up and the financial sector has seen much upheaval, hospital CFOs are facing a situation with fewer available dollars and new bankers and institutions. [Read More]
    
 
January 6, 2010
 
Editor's Picks
Health bills would shift Medicare to 'high-value' hospitals
Language in both the House and Senate bills would reward hospitals for efficiency in their Medicare spending, marking a huge change in the formula for distributing the funds. The move could prove to be a windfall for some hospitals but a significant loss of funding for others, mostly those in big cities and the South, reports the Washington Post. A coalition of hospitals based in the upper Midwest, led by the Mayo Clinic, has been lobbing for Medicare reform since July. Mayo leaders have also met with White House officials several times in recent months, convincing them that "paying for value" was key to slowing the growth in healthcare costs, the Post reports. [Read More]
House Democrats to pursue health bill changes
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met Tuesday with her top lieutenants and the three committee chairmen directly responsible for the healthcare reform bill as they prepared for negotiations to begin in earnest this week. The Democratic leaders in the House told the New York Times that they would insist on changes to the Senate healthcare legislation to make coverage more affordable for middle-class Americans and to tighten control over the insurance industry. [Read More]
Provider Organizations Unhappy with Proposed Health IT Rules
Hospital and provider groups are expressing concern regarding the two long-awaited proposed regulations released last week by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Improvement Technology to fund expansion of health information technology. Hospitals have "serious concerns that the new health information technology rules severely limit hospitals' ability to access federal financing for health information technology that is used to improve patient care," said American Hospital Association Executive Vice President Rick Pollack. In this article by my colleague Janice Simmons, MGMA President and CEO William Jessee, MD, and American Medical Association board member Steven Stack, MD, also provide opinions on the new rules. [Read More]
Breakthroughs: Aligning Hospitals and Physicians Toward Value
The current relationship between hospitals and physicians has been built around rewarding for volume of services and not quality. That model is breaking down as reformers in Washington have hospital and physician inefficiency in their sights, with Medicare pushing toward value-based purchasing and experimenting with a payment system that rewards a system of coordinated care. In this HealthLeaders Media Breakthroughs report that you can download for free, four leading hospital systems—Gundersen Lutheran Health System, Sanford Health-MeritCare, SSM Health Care, and Virginia Mason Medical Center—share the lessons they have learned about adding quality to healthcare. [Read More]
Leaders Forum
Counterintuitive Thinking During Difficult Times, Part 2: Bold Growth Strategies
In Part 1 of this article, contributor Marc Dubow said bold revenue growth strategy requirements can have a huge impact. In Part 2, Dubow looks at the driving forces which management teams and boards need to enact in order to achieve a bold growth strategy. [Read More]
This Week's Headlines
Healthcare Online Job Ads on Upswing
John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media ? January 6, 2010
Missouri study finds hospitals still face slow claims payment
Kansas City Business Journal ? January 6, 2010
Some foes of healthcare bill hope courts will stop legislation
Washington Post ? January 4, 2010
Senate healthcare bill would still leave millions uninsured
Washington Post ? January 4, 2010

Webcasts/Audio Conferences
Marketing Oncology: Service Line Strategies for Marketers (January 25)
Joint Replacement Service Lines: Alignment and Business Strategies for a Changing Environment (January 22)
Women's Health: Building a More Profitable Service Line With Existing Assets (On Demand)
From HealthLeaders Magazine
20 People Who Make Healthcare Better
The very essence of healthcare is to make a difference for good. In our annual HealthLeaders 20, we offer profiles of some who are doing just that. [Read More]
 		 
Service Line Management
Emerging Service Lines
Hospitals that lead the way in emerging service lines may find themselves positioned to be market leaders in the future. Here's a look at which services are emerging and why. [Read More]
 		 
Audio Feature
The Value of Partnerships Jim Molpus, HealthLeaders Media director of strategic relationships, talks about Breakthroughs: Aligning Hospitals and Physicians Toward Value. [Listen Now]
Sponsor Community and Rural Hospital
Contact Paul Mattioli, Sr. Director of Sales, at pmattioli@healthleadersmedia.com or call 800.639.7477.
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