The harsh political season has spawned a new round of attack ads from marketers, says Laura Ries in her branding blog. In this post, Ries describes when you should and shouldn't get nasty. "In general, the leader should never attack or name the competition," she writes. "Instead the leader should promote the category. By attacking a competitor or responding to an attack ad, the leader only legitimizes the competition and the existence of a choice. Neither is good."
While crowds gathered at public rallies and millions of others glued themselves to cable news, many spent election night online.
Across the Internet, users were discussing, celebrating, and bemoaning Barack Obama's unfolding election victory inside virtual worlds, on social networking sites, and liveblogs and in online games. Others used techno-savvy Web sites to share their individual voting experiences throughout the day.
During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama fully grasped the potential of today's new media to spread his word, writes Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist David Kirejci. "The idea that social media are a fad is a mistake far too many marketers continue to make, second only to the notion that social media are 'a techie or a youth thing,'" he adds.
Internet was a player in the Kerry-Bush election but not on the monumental scale that it is today. In the 2008 election, social networks became a massive vehicle for political message delivery and consumer generated content, often outperforming traditional media. The younger and savvier Obama acclimated faster and more intuitively to the new digital environment, says Kansas City Star columnist Ivo Ivanov.
After a victory of historic significance, Barack Obama will inherit problems of historic proportions. Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated during the Great Depression in 1933 has a new president been confronted with the challenges Obama will face as he starts his presidency. There are several critical decisions Obama must make as he prepares to assume the presidency, including transforming his campaign promises on taxes, healthcare, energy, and education into a set of legislative priorities for his first two years in office.
Dallas County voters have overwhelmingly approved replacing 54-year-old Parkland Memorial Hospital with a larger, modern facility. The $747 million bond election will cover about 60% of the cost of a new $1.3 billion, 862-bed public hospital.
California voters have approved $980 million in bonds for construction and new equipment at eight nonprofit and five University of California children's hospitals. Under Proposition 3, all five UC hospitals will be eligible to share 20% of the pot, while the state has eight nonprofit hospitals likely to be eligible for the remaining 80%. The money can be used for renovation, expansion, furnishings or equipment.
Stephen R. Laverty, the embattled chief executive of Beverly (MA) Hospital, could resign as soon as today, according to physicians and healthcare executives with ties to Northeast Health System Inc., the hospital's parent organization. Laverty came to Beverly in 2000 and in April, the hospital's doctors took a vote of no confidence in him. Nurses took a similar vote last month. Laverty is known for his combative management style at Beverly and other hospitals where he worked, and has disparaged some doctors, according to physicians at the hospital.
CMS has announced it has delayed the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) permanent program and put a moratorium on all RAC-relayed informational sessions across the country. CMS has yet to release further details but told the American Hospital Association the action was necessary due to "a RAC protest and a stay of performance."
However, the California Hospital Association (CHA), in a memorandum obtained by HCPro., Inc, says that PRG Schultz (PRG), a contractor that submitted a bid for work in the permanent program but wasn't selected as one of the four permanent contractors, was considering a challenge to the contract award process.
Despite the delay in the process, Joseph Zebrowitz, MD, executive vice president of Executive Health Resources in Newtown Square, PA, warns facilities not to change anything in terms of preparing for a RAC visit. The permanent program will not change, he says.
"Basically, this is infighting amongst CMS potential contractors who are upset that they were not awarded the RAC contract," Zebrowitz says. "I think it is important that this delay is not because of any question of whether the RACs are fair, or good, or legal. The RAC program is unchanged, and there is nothing out there to say that anything is going to be different. [CMS] just can not start when the contractors are in doubt. Once they resolve these complaints, they will start up."
Zebrowitz guessed the delay would take 30 to 60 days.
PRG Schultz, which had the lowest percentage of appeals overturned in the demonstration project (2.1%), boasted last month of netting one of the highest technical scores in the demonstration project. It said CMS denied its contract because of its high contigency fee bid.
Monday, CMS ordered a blanket shutdown of all RAC activity, including its informative sessions (one in New Hampshire was stopped mid-session yesterday, CHA says). The Healthcare Association of New York (HANYS) said a RAC videoconference briefing scheduled for Wednesday through the state was canceled.
CMS had announced the new RACs for its permanent nationwide program Monday, October 6. The four contractors and their selected regions are:
Diversified Collection Services, Inc. of Livermore, CA: Region A, initially working in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York.
CGI Technologies and Solutions, Inc. of Fairfax, VA: Region B, initially working in Michigan, Indiana and Minnesota.
Connolly Consulting Associates, Inc. of Wilton, CT: Region C, initially working in South Carolina, Florida, Colorado and New Mexico.
HealthDataInsights (HDI), Inc. of Las Vegas, NV: Region D, initially working in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Arizona.
CMS said it chose the contractors and their regions based on three values:
A "best value determination" that includes a strong technical approach and "exceptional" customer service
Conflict of interest reviews
Lowest contingency fee
CMS also announced last month how much money RACs will make from provider overpayments. The RACs get paid "contingency fees" based on the amount of the improper payments they correct for both overpayments and underpayments.
"Each RAC's contingency fee is established during contract negotiations with CMS and, as such, the contingency fee varies for each RAC," CMS said.
The contingency fees breakdown as follows:
Region A: 12.45%
Region B: 12.50%
Region C: 9%
Region D: 9.49%
This story first appeared as a breaking news item from the editors of The RAC Report, a biweekly e-newsletter from HCPro, Inc.
Arkansas officials say a new computer database linking hospitals is now online, the first step in establishing a trauma care network around the state. The database allows hospital workers to determine which facilities have specialists and room available for patients. The database links major hospitals in Arkansas, along with The Med in Memphis, TN, and CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System in Texarkana, TX.
