Richard S. Fletcher was appointed COO at Manatee Memorial Hospital. He previously was associate administrator at the hospital and director of pharmacy for Manatee Healthcare System. The 319-bed acute care facility, which opened 55 years ago, is owned by a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, based in King of Prussia, PA.
Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System hired Joe Jeans as CFO at Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, KS, and Saint John Hospital in Leavenworth. Jeans is responsible for the hospitals' day-to-day financial operations, plays a key role in developing and implementing financial strategy and serves as the organizational responsibility officer. Jeans started as CFO on Oct. 26. He succeeds Juanita Roy, who was promoted to the hospitals' COO.
Tenet Healthcare Corp. has announced that Creighton University Medical Center has named Gary Honts as CEO. Honts has served as interim CEO at CUMC since May 25. As CEO, Honts will oversee strategic, operational, and clinical activities for the 334-bed tertiary care hospital located in Omaha, NE. Previously, Honts served as CEO of Tenet's Community Hospital of Los Gatos. He has held positions as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Atlanta Medical Center and vice president of operations at St. Joseph Hospital. He also served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Hilton Head Hospital.
Doctors who specialize in treating the elderly are calling on the nation's medical schools to require all students to demonstrate competence in treating senior citizens. With the first of the 78 million baby boomers nearing retirement age, the American Geriatrics Society is proposing that elder care be added to the list of six core areas that have long been the focus of medical school training. While many schools are integrating more geriatrics into courses, the training varies greatly and less than 1% of the faculty responsible for teaching future doctors are experts in geriatrics, according to a 2008 report from the Institute of Medicine.
In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling healthcare, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities—and that was often no accident, the New York Times reports. Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies. The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress, the Times reports.
Employers have spent plenty in recent years to keep employees healthy, hoping that will keep them on the job and less likely to use healthcare insurance. That can lead to lower healthcare costs which were estimated in one national survey to average more than $7,000 per employee per year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The return on investment in wellness is hard to measure, but companies say the programs can work. A study by insurer MetLife found 94% of companies with wellness programs said they reduced medical costs.