HealthLeaders Media Community and Rural Hospital Weekly - May 14, 2008 View as a Webpage | Subscribe for Free

Partnerships: Does One Size Fit All?
Carrie Vaughan, Editor, Community Hospitals
I am hearing more and more about hospitals working together to provide better care. Whether it's through joint ventures like radiation oncology centers or dialysis centers, sharing a limited pool of specialists through visiting physician programs, or pooling resources, such collaborations offer numerous benefits. [Read More]
     
 
May 14, 2008
 
Editor's Picks
ED alternative
Aside from improving access to care, telemedicine can also save patients, insurers, and hospitals money, according to a community-wide study conducted by researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center. The study found that 28% of pediatric emergency department visits are for ailments such as ear infections and sore throats that can be handled via telemedicine, which would result in lower copays for patients, save insurers roughly $14 per child in the communities surveyed, and better utilize hospital resources. [Read More]
Hospital focuses on food
Everyone dreads eating hospital food. It is often bland and tastes like it was prepackaged (probably because it was). Yet the Henry Ford Health System hopes to change the way hospital food is viewed at its new $350-million, 300-bed community hospital and wellness complex in West Bloomfield, MI. The facility will offer a top-notch culinary program. Patients will have access to 24-hour room service and restaurant-quality meals by Detroit restaurateur Matt Prentice. After all, you are what you eat. So what better way to improve the overall health of the community than to start with the food you serve. [Read More]
Loan repayment program lures recruits
This article discusses how loan repayment programs are having the desired effect in Massachusetts. Twice as many physicians and nurse practitioners took or remained at jobs in community health centers during the first year of the program. The program has placed 35 physicians and 12 nurse practitioners at 23 health centers. Most were new hires, but six were current staff members who agreed to stay for a couple more years. [Read More]
Workshop calls attention to rural healthcare
Don Sipes, vice president of regional services for St. Luke's Health System and chief executive officer of St. Luke's Northland Hospital-Smithville campus, spoke at the Association of Health Care Journalists' first Rural Health Journalism Workshop. He touted telemedicine as a way for rural facilities to keep patients local and keep their doors open in spite of inadequate patient volume and reimbursement. [Read More]
 
Leaders Forum
Ensuring Neuroscience Services Become a Growth Strategy
Once a niche reserved for quaternary-care facilities, neuroscience services are becoming more common in community hospitals. While this change provides new opportunities for many hospitals, it simultaneously contributes to an increase in competition. Therefore, before investing in the development or expansion of your facility's neuroscience services, it is important that your hospital answer four critical questions. [Read More]
 
This Week's Headlines
Greenwich (CT) Hospital fined for overcharging Medicare program
Hartford Courant – May 13, 2008
Excela Health buys Pennsylvania hospital
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – May 8, 2008
Insurers pay caregivers to track patients
Philadelphia Inquirer – May 13, 2008
Loan to help fund North Carolina hospital expansion
Raleigh News & Observer – May 8, 2008
New Jersey hospital workers rally against proposed budget cuts
AP/Philadelphia Inquirer – May 13, 2008
Franklin, TN-based Williamson Medical receives $53,000 in grants
The Tennessean – May 8, 2008
Quicker approval for hospitals coming to Florida
Orlando Sentinel – May 8, 2008
 
 
From HealthLeaders Magazine
Shared Success
  Crafting a true partnership—often with a perceived competitor—is a complex task. Here’s how some hospitals are doing it. [Read More]    
 
Community Call
Discussion Board
Each week, Community Call will pose a question to encourage community and rural hospital leaders to share success stories and best practices. This week's question is "Do you have any advice on how to garner physician support for standardized order sets?"