Press Ganey Associates has come out with its 2008 survey of job satisfaction among 200,000 healthcare professionals at 423 healthcare organizations nationwide—including 45,000 nurses—and the news is neither good nor surprising. +
Bill Byham, chairman and CEO of Development Dimensions International, a human resource training and consulting company, discusses how the right network can help new executives avoid costly mistakes. +
Francine Machisko and Scott Clay, for HealthLeaders Media
Anthony Welters has taken a holistic approach to helping disadvantaged children become leaders in their communities, earning him the 2008 National Medical Fellowships Humanitarian Award. As the executive vice president of Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group and president of the company's public and senior market groups, Welters is applying that same strategy to creating a healthcare system that is cohesive—and above all, simple—for people to navigate. +
It's OK, I know you're scared. We all are. I'm talking about what so many healthcare marketers seem to fear most: Measuring the return on investment of their marketing efforts. +
Bill Byham, chairman and CEO of Development Dimensions International, a human resource training and consulting company, discusses how the right network can help new executives avoid costly mistakes. +
Jonathan Oberlander, PhD, associate professor of health policy and politics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discusses the healthcare reform proposals offered by Senators McCain and Obama. +
The practice of prescribing medications electronically has been getting a good amount of attention recently. For those providers who either remain baffled by how e-prescribing works or aren't convinced the switch is worth the trouble, the eHealth Initiative last week announced the publication of a "how-to" guide for clinicians looking to make the switch.+
Scott Clay, a senior principal with the Noblis Center for Health Innovation, talks about the effect of the deepening financial crisis on healthcare organizations. +
Cynthia Metzler, president and CEO of the Arlington, VA-based nonprofit Experience Works, says older workers—generally considered to be people age 50 or older—are excellent candidates to fill any number of jobs in the healthcare arena, including staffing medical, clerical, and administrative positions. Why? Well, for starters, there's a potentially large applicant pool, and it's getting bigger every day. +
Children's Hospital has won state approval to build a $483 million replacement hospital, making it the most expensive project ever approved by Alabama's Certificate of Need Review Board. Construction is expected to begin spring 2009 and to be completed in 2012. Hospital officials say the project is overdue and will replace outdated patient care areas that are almost 50 years old.
Unable to find a buyer, Chicago-based Lincoln Park Hospital is closing its doors. On October 15, Lincoln stopped admitting new patients, closed its emergency room, and alerted ambulance companies and fire departments that it was shutting down operations, Chief Executive Michael Curran said. The hospital is caring for its remaining 37 patients until they can be discharged or transferred. Curran said he didn't know how long it would take before all existing patients are discharged or transferred.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana is planning to increase reimbursement to doctors by as much as 10% next year if their patients receive recommended care. Anthem said it expects to pay out about $8 million in added reimbursement for office visits for hundreds of Indianapolis-area primary-care physicians. For top-performing doctors, that could mean an extra $10,000 to $20,000 in additional reimbursement from Anthem.
The death rate at top-ranked U.S. hospitals is 70% lower than at the lowest-ranked hospitals, according to a study that examined 41 million patient records at 5,000 hospitals over three years. The study focused on 17 procedures and found that overall death rates declined by 14.7% from 2005 to 2007. Top-performing five-star hospitals reduced their death rates faster (about 13.2%) than poorer-performing one- and three-star hospitals (12.3 and 13.1%, respectively).
Philanthropist and civic leader Annette Bloch has announced a $20 million gift to the University of Kansas Hospital. The widow of H&R Block co-founder Richard Bloch said she had experienced the hospital's "skill and compassion" firsthand when she was treated there earlier this year for breast cancer. Bloch also said she hoped the gift would help boost the Kansas City area's efforts to obtain National Cancer Institute designation.
A plan to convert Jewish Hospital's outpatient medical center in Bullitt County, KY, into an inpatient hospital with as many as 60 beds has been approved by the state Certificate of Need office. The $55.8 million project was made possible when Gov. Steve Beshear signed an emergency regulation to allow it. Prior to that, state regulations ruled out hospital beds in Bullitt because of the number of unused beds in adjacent Jefferson County.
Five months after the project was rejected by the courts, Miami-based Mercy Hospital has officially given up plans to turn a portion of its campus into a three-tower condo project serving the uber-rich. Though approved by Miami City Hall, the condos had been struck down by two court decisions earlier this year. The condos were touted by Mercy as a way to raise millions toward Mercy's capital-improvements plans, and both court decisions were being appealed. "We felt that the most appropriate step for Mercy Hospital was to reengage the land as part of the hospital's long-term strategic plan," said a statement released by Mercy President and CEO John Johnson.
