Beginning in 2000, the leadership at Virginia Mason hospital looked at their infrastructure and saw it was designed around them, not the patient. They then began looking for a better way to improve quality, safety and patient satisfaction. After two years of searching, they discovered the Toyota Production system, also known as lean manufacturing, and Virginia Mason has tailored the Japanese model to fit healthcare.
Facility fees, part of the hospital portion of a medical bill, cover healthcare systems' costs for their facilities. But some healthcare systems--including Froedtert & Community Health and Children's Hospital and Health System--will sometimes also charge the fees when someone sees a doctor whose office is in a building they own. That frustrates health insurance plans, which have the chore of dealing with baffled consumers.
Financially strapped states are looking to take away government health insurance and benefits from millions of Americans already struggling with a souring economy. An Associated Press review of the budgets in all 50 states reveals coverage would be eliminated for hundreds of thousands of poor children, disabled and the elderly. More than 10 million people would lose dental care, access to specialists, name-brand prescription drugs or other benefits. About 20 million could see their care jeopardized by further cuts to doctors' reimbursements.
No one envisioned a sprawling medical center in Greenville when East Carolina University began its quest for a medical school 40 years ago. Since then, the medical school has transformed Pitt County Memorial Hospital and the region. Not only did the school boost healthcare in Greenville--now there are about 500 doctors and 1,200 nurses on the hospital staff alone--but it also fostered a far-reaching regional healthcare system serving 1.2 million people in 29 eastern North Carolina counties.
Laura Boehlke Bray, physician leader at the Duluth Clinic in Duluth, MN, talks about the importance of providing part-time options as an essential part of retaining and recruiting physicians in your practice.
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society leaders Victoria Bradley RN, DNP, FHIMSS, and John Wade, FCHIME, FHIMSS, will lead an educational cultural exchange program in India. IT leaders are invited to explore the world of healthcare and information technology in India and participate in cultural activities in three cities in India.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced it has decided not to issue a national coverage determination for cardiac CTA. If CMS had issued the determination, it would have drastically limited patient access to cardiac computed tomography angiography. The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance lobbied hard to stop the potential cuts, and praised CMS' decision.
OhioHealth Inc.'s new Dublin Methodist Hospital features an abundance of state-of-the-art medical equipment. The technological innovations at the new $150 million full-service community hospital include electronic medical records, VOCERA wireless communication badges for employees, wireless laptops for patients, and bar-code scanning technology to scan patient ID bracelets.
Despite a push in Congress aimed at cracking-down on physician-owned hospitals, doctors who own a medical center and eight outlying clinics in central Washington state will not sell. Instead, the more than 150 doctor-owners of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center are considering forming their own nonprofit group or merging with an already-established entity.
Revenue at the Mayo Clinic grew almost 10 percent in 2007, to $6.9 billion. Mayo representatives said that income from current activities was $198 million, a profit margin of 2.9 percent. Despite the gain, Mayo officials say that the clinic faces significant challenges in the next few years, including falling Medicare payments, an upsurge of aging baby boomers and a shortage of healthcare workers.
