The Ohio Children's Hospital Association has deemed successful a collaboration to improve quality. The OCHA and its six member hospitals created the Ohio Children's Hospital Association's Quality Improvement Collaborative in 2006 to promote improved quality of care at children's hospitals. The Collaborative focused on reducing preventable codes occurring outside of the neonatal and pediatric Intensive Care Units. Through the initiative, the Collaborative implemented a Rapid Response Team that reduced incidences of preventable codes by more than 20 percent, according to an OCHA release.
In a new report, researchers from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice found variations in the number of services that patients with severe chronic disease receive at the end of life, depending on the hospital, region or state and not on how sick they are. Researchers examined spending on chronically ill patients during the last two years of life.
Under a proposal from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger, Indiana would provide incentives for small businesses to provide health coverage and increase preventive screenings at schools. Schellinger added that he would push for federal expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and seek ways to get more eligible Indiana children enrolled in the effort. In Indiana, SCHIP helps pay for Hoosier Healthwise, which as of 2007 enrolled about 75,000 Indiana children from families earning up to twice the federal poverty level.
A device called an "Evacusled" is one of the newest devices used at Des Moines, IA's Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Capitol hospital to help move patients during emergency evacuations. Health officials say Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 brought the issue of hospital emergency preparedness to the forefront, with one key piece being patient evacuation. New, specialized equipment such as the Evacusled are a great improvement over other techniques of transporting patients, such as wrapping patients in bedsheets or blankets and carrying or dragging them, hospital officials say.
A bill pending in the Ohio Legislature would allow the state to sue healthcare providers who submit fraudulent Medicaid claims. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Jim Hughes, and includes a "whistleblower" clause that allows private individuals to red-flag violations in the state's name. The bill mirrors federal regulations, and some opponents argue laws already are in place that allow the recovery of fraudulent Medicaid claims. Hughes also admitted that he has heard concerns that insurers or providers who mistakenly bill Medicaid could be targeted under the legislation.
Six kidney patients at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimre received new organs from six unrelated living donors in what the chief surgeon called the nation's first six-way "domino" kidney swap.
Nearly 100 medical professionals took part in the transplants. Each transplant began simultaneously in different operating rooms, and surgery stretched over 13 hours. All 12 donors and recipients were listed in good condition, according to a John Hopkins spokesman.
Imagine despising something so much that you’re willing to discard a system that puts you among the nation’s top earners. That’s what a majority of physicians recently surveyed thinks about the current health insurance system.
Five years after asking physicians about universal healthcare, Aaron E. Carroll, MD, MS, and Ronald T. Ackerman, MD, MPH, of the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, revisited the question. They randomly selected 5,000 physicians from the American Medical Association Masterfile and asked them two questions:
• In principle, do you support or oppose government legislation to establish national health insurance?
• Do you support achieving universal coverage through more incremental reform?
The researchers found that 59% supported legislation to establish national health insurance and 55% approved of universal coverage through incremental reform. The 59% support for national health insurance increased from 49% in 2002.
The three specialties with the highest percentage of support for national health insurance are on the front lines facing the heart-breaking stories of uninsured Americans: Psychiatry, pediatric subspecialties, and emergency medicine.
The results from the University of Indiana survey have been met with surprise, but should we really be shocked?
Many of physicians are frustrated with the current system. Disappointing reimbursements, patient care restrictions, bureaucracy impediments, and patients struggling with increased deductibles and copayments have created an unending series of headaches for physicians.
Physician dissatisfaction is mirrored by the American people. Americans have been told in movies, in the press, and by presidential candidates that the healthcare system is broken. They see universal care as a panacea.
I would like to see a study done with the American people that goes beyond the standard: Do you support universal healthcare? Instead, the survey should ask more probing questions about the actual services Americans want and receive from their health plans. I think that kind of survey would actually show that Americans’ healthcare expectations and reality mirror one another. As I have written previously, managed care and health plans are a convenient whipping boy in the press and politics. Americans have been told so often to hate managed care that it is part of the country’s fabric.
That’s not to say the current system is perfect or that health insurers don’t regularly shoot themselves in the foot. There are weekly reminders about the latest managed care misstep.
But is universal healthcare the best way to insure the 47 million uninsured Americans while not crippling other parts of the system? How about decreasing requirements so those in need can afford mandate-lite plans? What about creating greater governmental oversight to ensure that managed care is spending a dedicated portion of its money on care and not on bloated salaries? How can we provide health insurance to more Americans while not reducing quality, erecting barriers to care for those currently insured, and creating a government bureaucracy that swells costs?
This is your opportunity to sound off on one of the biggest issues facing this nation. E-mail me your thoughts by clicking lmasterson@healthleadersmedia.com.
A funny thing happened this week at a conference session on balancing your marketing mix with traditional and new media: The emphasis was not on new media. To be fair, it wasn’t on television, radio, outdoor, direct mail, or print, either. Nor did the speakers focus on events, community relations, physician relations, or internal communication. And that’s the point: There’s no single magical tactic that will make customers flock to your hospital.
I heard that message more than once at the Healthcare Strategy Institute’s consumer-based marketing conference in Phoenix this week. Customers need to experience your brand and hear your message in a variety of ways. People are, after all, multi-modal learners with a very short attention span and a lot of distractions.
The thrust of this session: Traditional media’s not dead yet. You can and should use it as an entry into your online efforts.
Take, for example, a technique as traditional as a new-movers program. Yes, you hope the welcome packet will give them a warm and fuzzy feeling about your brand. Yes, you hope they’ll call the number for your refer-a-doc program, allowing you to capture more information about them and their healthcare needs. Yes, you want them to stick the magnet with your hospital’s phone number on their fridge and look at it every day.
But the new twist on the new movers effort is that hospitals are starting to add a call-to-action that drives customers to a Web site, says Kim Panebianco, senior account manager at NewClients Direct, in Richmond, VA, which helps hospitals create new mover marketing.
Mixed Messages on New Media There’s a lot of talk about new media, not only at this conference, but everywhere. It’s a hot topic. But here’s the thing. For all I’m hearing about new media, I still don’t quite have a handle on whether hospitals are doing this, want to do this, or if they even understand it.
Every time I ask someone where hospitals and health systems stand in terms of marketing with new media I get a different answer. Do hospitals understand how to effectively add new media to their marketing mix? Do they even want to? Do they want to but don’t know where to start? How much to spend? Where it fits into the mix?
I’d love to hear your answers, even if I get a bunch of different answers. E-mail me or click on the “comment” button, below.
Patients must sometimes use their imagination when a cardiologist describes the heart procedure they are about to undergo. But St. Mary Medical Center's "Imagine (Heart)" campaign's 30-second TV spot actually shows potential patients three of the complex procedures the hospital's doctors perform.
St. Mary's, in Langhorne, PA, commissioned FlickerLab, a design and animation studio based in New York City, to create the commercial. The campaign, which was crafted to elevate St. Mary's brand in 2008 and beyond, is also comprised of print and radio ads.
"Imagine stopping deadly heart attacks and strokes with a tiny patch the size of a coin," says the commercial's voiceover, while the video shows a simulation of the procedure on a cartoon heart. "Imagine repairing or replacing faulty heart valves through just a 2-inch incision. Imagine correcting irregular heartbeats with precise radiofrequency energy." As each procedure is performed, the cartoon heart keeps pumping away.
The "Imagine (Heart)" campaign launched last February in lower and central Bucks County, PA. The cardiology promotion is set to be followed by the "Imagine (Neurosciences)" and "Imagine (Cancer)" campaigns in May and September, respectively.
"We chose to focus on three of our top centers of excellence--cardiology, cancer, and neurosciences--and inform our audience about the advanced procedures available in these areas at St. Mary's," says Patrick Donohue, St. Mary's director of marketing and communications.
The 366-bed hospital says they are in league with the country's top medical centers for complex heart, cancer, and neurological care. The hospital has its own heart center and cancer center.
The "Imagine (Heart)" commercial ends with the brand's tagline, "It's your health. Expect more."
"We want to let folks know that we value them and their health," Donohue says of the choice in tagline. "That's our mission and our service to the community. We recognize everyday that people are entrusting their lives to us."
Marianne Aiello is an editorial assistant with HealthLeaders Media. She can be reached at maiello@healthleadersmedia.com.
A letter-writing campaign seeking sale of Sun City, CA-based Menifee Valley Medical Center is being met with a resistance campaign by the system which owns the hospital. Valley Health System currently runs the hospital, and the financially troubled hospital district has launched a public relations and advertising campaign aimed at stifling discussion of turning the hospital over to an outside operator.
