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Our 8 Most-Read Leadership Stories Of 2017

News  |  By HealthLeaders Media Staff  
   December 29, 2017

Healthcare execs read our leadership stories to keep up with the latest news and trends. Can you guess which story was most popular?

We at HealthLeaders Media have had a busy year covering the latest developments in the business of healthcare. We've met interesting people, unpacked complex regulatory trends, and kept on eye on who's making waves.

Below you'll find a listing of the eight most-read stories from our leadership coverage this year—with the top spot going to a feature that truly reflects the state of the industry in 2017.

8. Ascension Buying Chicago's Presence Health

In a nonbinding letter of intent, the nation's largest Catholic health system announced plans in August to acquire Chicago's Presence Health.

If the acquisition is completed, terms of which were not disclosed, the 12-hospital Presence Health will be added to AMITA Health, which is a Chicago-based joint venture between Ascension’s Alexian Brothers Health System, based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and Adventist Midwest Health in Hinsdale.

7. What's Next for Retail Healthcare?

Facing the undeniable popularity of various forms of convenience care, healthcare systems have increasingly gotten into the retail game through partnerships with or creation of store-based clinics, standalone walk-in and urgent care clinics, and supplemental telemedicine services.

Debra Shute wrote about this trend in September.

6. Freestanding Emergency Dept. Care Significantly Costlier Than Urgent Care

When he looked into the cost of emergency care in March, John Commins found that the total price of a freestanding emergency room visit in Texas can cost 10-times as much as a trip to an urgent care clinic, according to research published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

(One of the study's co-authors later criticized those who interpret the findings inappropriately, contributing "to the false undervaluing of emergency care and emergency physicians.")

5. Micro-Hospitals Fuel Growth Strategy at a Texas Health System

CHI St. Luke's Health, a six-hospital health system in Houston, like other health systems, is looking outside the traditional hospital environment by adding physician practices and other outpatient sites of care. Part of its growth strategy involves combining inpatient and outpatient services into a smaller, more scalable and less capital-intensive facility model, as Philip Betbeze wrote in March.

4. Beating Clinician Burnout

Burnout is not, as many believe, a failing of an individual. Rather, it's a sign that something is amiss within an organization, and that systemic dysfunction can prevent an organization from achieving the desired outcomes of today's value-based care efforts, Jennifer Thew wrote in April.

3. How One Woman Saved IU Health $54 Million

Philip Betbeze's story last January about one woman's crusade to root out inefficiencies was our third most-read leadership story of 2017.

2. Catholic Health Initiatives And Dignity Health to Merge

Our second-most popular leadership story of the year broke just a few weeks ago, when two huge Catholic health systems announced plans to merger. Their plan includes an unusual power-sharing agreement.

1. Healthcare's Consolidation Landscape

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular leadership story on our website this year was about the nationwide trend toward consolidation in healthcare. After all, 87% of healthcare executives say their organizations are expected to both explore potential deals and complete deals in the foreseeable future, as Christopher Cheney wrote in June.

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