Revisit the in-depth stories featured on the cover of award-winning HealthLeaders magazine this year. We covered healthcare reform, accountable care organizations, mergers and acquisitions, and health information technology, among other issues.
January: Healthcare Reform Spawns Daunting Regulations
By Cheryl Clark
The volume of new regulations required by healthcare reform legislation is daunting, but what has healthcare leaders especially concerned are the particulars, which are still under development.
February: Does E-Health Stand a Remote Chance?
By Gienna Shaw
As technology advances and costs fall, the use of telemedicine expands, but obstacles to achieving e-health success remain.
March: Reform Sharpens Focus on Quality Outcomes
By Joe Cantlupe
Hospital leaders who are achieving quality outcomes are doing so by forming leadership teams to evaluate initiatives on a daily basis, improving data collection methods, and eliminating medical errors.
April: In an ACO, Who's Accountable?
By Philip Betbeze
Under the current payment system, hospitals are the hub of the healthcare experience. But other organizations, most commonly health plans, large multispecialty physician practices, and medical service organizations can also serve as the "accountable" party in an accountable care organization.
May: The New ED: Keep Patients Out (but Happy)
By Cheryl Clark
The emergency department is being asked to pave a path that may lead out of the hospital as much as it leads patients inside. It is becoming a U-turn lane of sorts for patients who can be, more effectively and less expensively, cared for at home or in another setting.
June: Nonprofit Hospitals: Will Margin Change Mean Mission Change?
By Philip Betbeze
Health reform legislation will greatly reduce the number of uninsured. Though it’s difficult to predict how that might affect nonprofits’ bottom lines, with states and the feds hungry for revenue, nonprofits’ tax exemptions will certainly face future scrutiny.
July: The Hospital of the Future
By Gienna Shaw
Reform-era strategy requires leaders to find balance among their unique market position, culture, and core competencies. Hospitals are finding the best solutions to provider collaboration by structuring leadership.
August: Nurse Education Key to Scope-of-Care Debate
By Cheryl Clark
The nursing profession is in an upheaval. Nurses want more opportunities to learn alongside doctors. But there is tension between nursing leadership and some physician groups over the scope of what advanced practice nurses, including nurse practitioners, should be allowed to do.
September: Group Practice Innovators: Investing in Success
By Karen Minich-Pourshadi
Group practice innovators have been creating their own approaches to treat high-risk and chronic-care patients. The efforts of two group practices offer insights on achieving sustainable results that can benefit not just individual practices, but also hospitals, health systems, and payers.
October: Patient Engagement Takes Physician Leadership
By Joe Cantlupe
As providers become increasingly accountable for healthcare outcomes, patient engagement grows in significance. Individuals should take responsibility for their health, but what role do the providers play in turning consumers of care into partners in care?
November: M&A Finding the Right Match
By Margaret Dick Tocknell
The merger and acquisition process can be risky and frustrating. Healthcare leaders must appreciate what makes a hospital or health system an attractive M&A participant, when to make a deal, and what makes a deal go bad.
December: 20 People Who Make Healthcare Better—2011
By HealthLeaders Media Staff
In our annual HealthLeaders 20, we profile individuals who are changing healthcare for the better. Some are longtime industry fixtures; others would clearly be considered outsiders. These are their stories.