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By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, April 27, 2010
While healthcare reform legislation may be just a month old, attendees of the American Hospital Association's annual membership meeting in Washington, DC, on Monday were told that hospitals are facing major challenges that need to be addressed right now to ensure quality care delivery will continue. In earlier times, the mantra of healthcare leaders was "do more with less," said AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock. But now there's a new twist.
By: Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, April 27, 2010
This summer, the organization representing 130,000 internists will publish of a series of papers that will tell America's doctors what they should and should not order in diagnostic tests and therapies, a guideline that strives to lower cost while it eliminates unnecessary care. While the organization will be looking at diagnostics as well as therapies, its first target will be the former.
By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, April 26, 2010
A proposal to compile, compare, and make available to the public the cost of healthcare services at more than 300 California hospitals cleared a major hurdle on Monday when the Department of Justice said it would not inhibit competition. DOJ said the pricing exchange proposal from the Hospital Value Initiative might actually reduce healthcare costs by improving competition among hundreds of hospitals in California and facilitating more informed purchasing decisions by group purchasers of healthcare services.
By: Elyas Bakhtiari, April 26, 2010
An article claiming that WellPoint subsidiaries used a computer algorithm to cancel the insurance policies of breast cancer patients sparked a sharp rebuke from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and left the insurance giant aggressively defending its public image.
By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, April 26, 2010
A National Institutes of Health working group has highlighted 11 key categories of diseases and other health consequences that are occurring, or are expected to occur soon, due to climate change.
By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, April 27, 2010
The pediatric residency program at Sanford Children's Hospital has been accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and will begin admitting residents next year, the Sioux Falls, SD-based health system announced this week. The program will hold six residents each year in a three-year training curriculum. Sanford Children's will admit its first residency class in the summer of 2011.
By: April 8, 2010
Efforts in education, collaboration, and technology are improving care coordination.
By: Karen Minich-Pourshadi, for HealthLeaders Media, April 26, 2010
Many healthcare facilities found themselves in the business equivalent of the mortgage crisis—having too much variable rate bond debt.
By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, April 26, 2010
President Obama's executive memorandum giving hospital patients the right to grant visitation to same-sex partnerswas overdue. But I was surprised when I tried to find someone in healthcare to speak out against it.