Gary W. Lang has been named the new CEO of Health Management Associates' Pasco Regional Medical Center. Lang held this same position at Walton Regional Medical Center, an HMA hospital in Monroe, GA, and replaces former CEO Stan Holm, who accepted an opportunity with another HMA hospital in Oklahoma.
No CEO wants to see his hospital's name splashed across newspaper headlines because of a high-profile court case.
One of the ways to avoid court cases is to allow employees to voice their concerns, through a regulated, internal process designed to protect both the hospital and whistleblower. Strengthening internal whistleblower policies is a good way for hospitals to identify and correct mistakes, and to retain valuable employees who see areas for improvement in the current processes. In fact, some hospitals expect their employees to blow the whistle.
"Whistleblowers are neither heroes nor problems; we view the act of bringing forward problems as a condition of employment," says Jerry Berger, director of media relations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston.
"We believe that employees need to let us know when things are not being done according to policy or regulation, and [we] protect all those who come forward in good faith," says Berger. "However, those that come forward with false or misleading claims—and do so with the intent of causing harm to another employee or the organization—would not be protected."
The precise regulations that your hospital may want to put in place to protect and encourage whistleblower feedback vary by location.
"There are both federal and state laws protecting whistleblowers," says Gail Blanchard-Saiger, vice president of labor and employment at the California Hospital Association (CHA). Federal law requires hospitals to:
Maintain an anonymous hotline for individuals (patients, administrative professionals, practitioners) to report suspect behavior
Follow up with the individual to report progress on the investigation and ask for additional information, as needed
Hospitals can choose the precise medium for carrying out these requirements, whether they use an anonymous phone line or Web site. Although this is a hospital responsibility, the medical staff is responsible for adhering to the hospital's policies and educating its members about them.
Ultimately, whistleblowers can help a hospital avoid lawsuits, but only if the hospital's leaders are willing to listen.
Emily Berry is an associate editor for Briefings on Credentialing and Credentialing Resource Center Connection, and manages the Credentialing Resource Center. You can reach her ateberry@hcpro.com.
Mindful that the new healthcare law's ability to slow rising medical costs will depend to a great extent on how it is put in effect, President Obama is assembling a high-level team to carry out key elements of the overhaul and is considering moving faster than the law requires to put them into action, the New York Times reports. The president has tapped Pete Rouse to oversee what one insider described as an "elaborate implementation plan." And he personally pressed Nancy-Ann DeParle, who directed the legislative effort and has long experience in the health sector, to shelve her plans to leave. She will instead work to extend coverage to about 30 million uninsured Americans.
The success of the new healthcare law depends to a large degree on a handful of Obama administration officials, who are trying to make the transition from politics on Capitol Hill to managing one of the most profound changes in social policy in generations, the New York Times reports. Here, the Times offers profiles of three top members of the Obama team.
Forty-seven physicians—41 Republicans and six Democrats—are running for the House or Senate this year, three times the number of doctors serving in Congress today. An influx of doctors to Congress could alter the landscape for future debates over Medicare and rising insurance premiums months after lawmakers approved President Obama's 10-year, $938 billion healthcare law, USA Today reports.
A revamped Minnesota healthcare program for about 37,000 of the poorest and sickest state residents will start June 1. But with funding cut to one-fourth of the projected costs, it appears that only five of 17 qualifying hospitals have agreed to provide the care. Hospitals in Duluth, Mankato, Rochester, St. Cloud, and five other cities have told legislators that they will not participate, as have Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis, United in St. Paul and Mercy in Coon Rapids, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.