HealthLeaders Media Community and Rural Hospital Weekly - July 23, 2008 View as a Webpage | Subscribe for Free

Are High Gas Prices a Blessing in Disguise?
Carrie Vaughan, Editor, Community Hospitals
Community hospitals may start seeing an influx of patients who used to travel to larger hospitals farther away now choosing to stay closer to home for routine procedures. This is a great opportunity for community hospitals to demonstrate the personalized service and high-quality care that they can offer. [Read More]
     
 
July 23, 2008
 
Editor's Picks
Patient tower changes Gallatin, TN's skyline
This story showcases just how important community hospitals are to the economic health of their region. Sumner Regional Medical Center, which is the largest employer in Sumner County, just opened a new $87 million patient tower, which boasts 90 new private rooms, an expanded emergency room, and new medical imaging equipment. The construction of the tower employed hundreds of people and the growth of the hospital system will help recruit new businesses to the city. [Read More]
Georgia low on family physicians
Or perhaps a better headline might read: [Insert your state] is low on family physicians. Because the number of family doctors practicing medicine nationwide is dwindling. In Georgia, only two medical school graduates out of 385 chose to pursue a family-medicine residency, and more than one-third of Georgia's counties—many of them rural—are designated as primary care health professional shortage areas. [Read More]
Study seeks answers on ER use
A state task force is investigating why the use of hospital emergency rooms in Maine is 43% higher than the national average. The study will identify problems in the healthcare system that drive people to seek routine care in ERs. [Read More]
Hospitals team up on cardiac clinic
Massachusetts General Hospital and Concord, MA-based Emerson Hospital are joining forces to establish an advanced cardiac care clinic about one mile away from Emerson. This is just one more example how community hospitals and academic medical centers are partnering together to expand services in suburban areas. Mass General and Emerson first started collaborating in 1997 when they opened a joint radiation oncology program at Emerson. [Read More]
 
Leaders Forum
A Message to Community Hospital Leadership
The future for hospitals is not dependent on getting more dollars in the door to offset revenue restrictions but to focus on stopping dollars from going out the door, says contributor R. Daniel King. [Read More]
 
This Week's Headlines
UNC Health Care to buy Chatham Hospital
Raleigh News & Observer – July 17, 2008
Medicare to pay bonuses for e-prescribing
HealthDay/Washington Post – July 22, 2008
How changes in Medicare affect patients
Wall Street Journal (subscription required) – July 17, 2008
North Carolina-based WakeMed adds new beds
Raleigh News & Observer – July 18, 2008
Illinois hospitals finalize $160 million merger
Chicago Tribune – July 16, 2008
Mercy admits role fighting Einstein over Pennsylvania hospital
Philadelphia Inquirer – July 17, 2008
Rise seen in medical efforts to treat the very old
New York Times – July 18, 2008
King County, WA, health services facing $10 million cut
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – July 18, 2008
 
 
From HealthLeaders Magazine
The Hospital of the Future
  Sure, your organization offers sophisticated, compassionate care. But the patients of tomorrow will want much more than that. [Read More]