The boom in walk-in retail health clinics is showing signs of slowing. In recent months, retail health-clinic operators based in New York, Nevada, Indiana and Alabama have closed their doors, shuttering 69 clinics in 15 states. Experts say the venture capitalists and private-equity firms that backed many of the retail clinic operators failed to appreciate how complicated and expensive the clinics are to operate. Research also shows that while patients are enthusiastic about the clinics' convenience and quality of care, acceptance has been slow.
With house prices falling and the cost of gasoline and food rising, many nurses are going back to work and easing the nationwide nursing shortage. Hospitals say part-time nurses are taking on extra shifts, and nursing schools are seeing an increase in people applying for refresher courses on the ins and outs of modern hospitals. Some older nurses are also putting off a planned retirement. The nursing profession also is attracting greater interest because of expanding job opportunities and rising wages in some places.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has rejected a proposal by St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan for a $1.6 billion development within the Greenwich Village Historic District. The plan would have demolished nine existing buildings to permit the construction of a 329-foot-tall hospital and a 265-foot-tall luxury condominium. Hospital officials testified that a new building was essential to maintain modern healthcare for more than a million New York City residents who use St. Vincent's.
Donna Shalala, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton, is urging lawmakers to build broad public support before embarking on any reform. Shalala told the Senate Finance Committee that public support for Clinton's health reform effort in the early 1990s diminished as people with health insurance began to worry about what it would mean for their coverage. Clinton's 1990s proposal also faced staunch opposition from the healthcare industry.
The Association of Health Care Journalists recently held its first Rural Health Journalism Workshop at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Speakers at the workshop included Don Sipes, vice president of regional services for St. Luke's Health System and chief executive officer of St. Luke's Northland Hospital-Smithville. Sipes noted that many rural hospitals have suffered and even closed because their patient volume and Medicare reimbursement couldn't keep up with the cost of new medical equipment. He added, however, that telemedicine programs can keep patients in their communities and deliver the same quality of care they would in an urban area.
Innovation is a word tossed around all too lightly in the healthcare industry. While healthcare organizations and vendors claim that they are innovators, industry analysts point out that healthcare is frequently one of the last sectors to adapt to global change.
Whenever I see the word “innovation” in the title of a conference presentation, I can’t help but to roll my eyes. I’ve seen too many of these monologues turn out to be about implementing the Toyota method, which was once an innovation—for Toyota.
Today I’m in Las Vegas, the city of neon lights and second-hand smoke. I’m here at The Venetian conference center for the Healthcare Globalization Summit. Even though I’m not much of a Vegas guy, I’ve been looking forward to this conference. There are some influential names on the agenda and some people I’ve interviewed for past articles that I’m hoping to reconnect with.
But then I scan the agenda for the day and notice the title of the keynote: “Driving Innovation in a Global Healthcare Marketplace.” After some initial skepticism, I push back my bias and see this roundtable discussion includes some folks who might actually know a thing or two about real innovation, including Bumrungrad Hospital’s CEO, Microsoft's worldwide health director, and Converge Partners’ managing director, health industry.
Here are some of the highlights of their conversation, moderated by Greg Lindsay, a contributing writer for Fast Company magazine who has written about medical travel.
Curtis Schroeder, CEO of Bumrungrad International Hospital, made the point that the barrier of distance for medical travelers might become more of a factor as more and more international hospitals emerge in the market. For instance, if low cost, world class hospitals are available in Mexico or Central America, Bumrungrad would face greater competition based on the proximity of the hospital to the patient.
Simmi Singh, managing director for Converge Partners, said international hospitals have a tremendous opportunity with the creation of global healthcare brands to reach cash rich consumers all over the world—not just in the United States. Schroeder noted that when healthcare was largely local, branding wasn’t important, but agreed that global hospitals on the forefront can develop worldwide brands. Singh said that this only increases the importance of the consumer experience. “People don’t understand quality as consumers … but they can understand the transformative experience,” she said. “While the discussion is about cost moving people around the world, I think the ante has been upped on the patient experience.”
The panelists also had an interesting discussion about the inequitable price of medical devices around the globe. They predicted that the global health movement could flatten the costs for devices in the next several years.
I will be here at the Healthcare Globalization Summit for the next two days and will post any observations I have online. I’m on the company tab, so what I do in Vegas doesn’t stay here. Check back in and shoot me any comments, questions, or suggestions you might have.