A Fulton County, GA, commissioner has ousted his appointee to the board of Grady Memorial hospital in Atlanta for comments in support of the controversial Grady CEO. At a time when elected and business leaders are considering granting millions in extra funding to the financially suffering hospital, the resignation of Grady board member Clayton Shepherd has added another element of uncertainty to hospital leadership.
Marietta, GA-based WellStar Health System has signed a contract to buy 127 acres in northern Paulding County, GA, for an undisclosed price. The purchase was being made "to meet the tremendous growth in north Cobb, west Cobb and Paulding County," said Wellstar president and chief executive Gregory L. Simone, MD.
An expansion of state-subsidized health insurance for uninsured adults is expected to be debated soon in the Pennsylvania House. Rep. Todd Eachus, chairman of the House Democratic Policy Committee, said that he was putting the finishing touches on legislation to provide low-cost insurance to roughly 800,000 uninsured adults and small businesses that cannot afford to cover employees. The move comes more than a year after Gov. Ed Rendell introduced a plan intended to accomplish that goal.
Fifteen million Americans are morbidly obese, or at least 100 pounds overweight, according to the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery. Due to the obesity epidemic, hospitals are spending extra money for equipment to accommodate growing numbers of obese patients, and hospitals everywhere are finding the changes expensive. Pennsylvania-based Jefferson Hospital, for example, expects to spend more than $250,000 renting bariatric equipment in 2008.
Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut has agreed to pay $3.78 million to settle allegations that it overcharged Medicare for chemotherapy and blood transfusions. The settlement involved billing improprieties the hospital disclosed to federal investigator. According to the federal investigators, claims for services by the hospital's oncology infusion service were not adequately documented.
Several Chicago pediatric physicians are urging Illinois to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for pediatric specialists, warning that a failure to do so may lead to shortages of endocrinologists, cardiologists and other specialists. At issue is the amount of reimbursement pediatric specialists get from state and federal funds after treating a child insured under Medicaid or Illinois' All Kids program, which uses Medicaid funds. Currently, Illinois specialists are repaid just 33 cents for every dollar they spend on such patients, one of the lowest reimbursement rates in the country.
Going out of network for medical care is sometimes unavoidable for patients, but it can be a lot more expensive than dealing with doctors and hospitals in their health plan's network of providers. In 2007, three out of four workers were covered by health plans that provide both network and out-of-network options, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.
A inspection of Nevada outpatient surgery centers like the one believed to have spread hepatitis C to its patients has uncovered dangerous practices at four other clinics, according to the state health division. The state inspected all 50 Nevada outpatient surgery centers after it was discovered the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada spread the virus to at least six patients by reusing syringes and sharing vials of medication.
HCA Virginia has reached an agreement with Loudon County officials to seek a postponement of the court case surrounding a new medical center. HCA officials announced that they plan to resubmit a zoning request to build the 164-bed Broadlands Regional Medical Center, and the board voted to approve the trial delay. HCA filed its suit in Loudoun Circuit Court after the Board of Supervisors denied its zoning application in 2005.
When Carl Heltne, MD, president of Duluth Clinic and executive vice president of SMDC Health System took over as president of Duluth a few years ago, physician leadership wasn't a strong point in the 700+ physician organization. Physicians weren't engaged, had minimal interest in formal leadership opportunities, and there had been high turnover in most leadership positions for a couple of years.
Heltne and Arlene Anderson, MS, director of organizational learning & development for SMDC, spoke about the steps they took to develop physician leaders and turn around the organization's culture in an AMGA session, "Physician Leadership Development: How and Where to Start."
Heltne likened physician leaders to orchestra conductors; their goal is to get everyone working together in harmony. The first step was to address the values and culture of the organization by making sure everyone in the organization was working toward the same mission, had the same vision for the future, and had the same access to information.
Over the next three years the organization surveyed physician engagement, involved physicians in strategic planning and budget development, established leadership competencies and institutes, worked on new leader orientation, and implemented other organizational changes to foster physician leadership.
One of the keys to success was "putting meat" into the job description, he said. The organization made it clear that leadership positions weren't "add-on" jobs or empty titles and that the organization was willing to invest time and money into these positions.
The result: Physician engagement and patient satisfaction survey results have steadily improved, as has the organization's profit margin.
