K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital has a new doctor. Dr. Bernard wears green scrubs and a red stethoscope and has four fingers and floppy brown ears. By the way, he's a dog.
The Neptune, NJ, hospital, which is part of Meridian Health System, created the cartoon character to increase brand awareness, develop relationships with young families, and build a database for ongoing communications for events and promotions. Judges for the HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards gave the organization the large hospital best in show award for the effort.
"Dr. Bernard is paired with our nurse educators at school and community events to demonstrate key messages about safety, nutrition, fitness, and respect," the hospital wrote in its award submission form. "A doctor should always have a good support staff, and Doctor Bernard is no exception. He is joined by fellow Pawsitive Action Team members, Hopskotch (a bunny) and Picatso (a cat)."
Marketers began outreach to elementary schools in summer 2008 and debuted Doctor Bernard and his new bus at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the hospital's new expansion in October. The Doctor Bernard section of the hospital Web site has received more than 5,000 page views, accounting for 15% of all page views for the site. Keyword searches for the hospital jumped 600% during the fourth quarter 2008. As of May 15, 2009, 1,725 children had enrolled in the program—230% growth since December.
The HealthLeaders Media competition is weighted in favor of ad campaigns that set clear objectives, meet or exceed them, and show positive ROI.
"The Children's team set very clear objectives for both short-term and long-term success," wrote one of our judges. The strategy based around the Dr. Bernard mascot is fully developed and seems like it must really resonate with children and parents—plus, he's a cutie."
Congratulations to all of the winners
We've posted the complete list of winners online, and in coming weeks we'll be featuring some of their campaigns in our "Spotlight" feature, in HealthLeaders magazine, and in the Healthcare Marketing Advisor newsletter—so stay tuned.
Vince Ashton, executive director of HealthPass, a New York City-based health insurance exchange, discusses the exchange and what health insurers and policymakers can learn from the New York experience. [Sponsored by Emdeon]
As the debate over healthcare reform continues, one "particularly cruel" area impacting individuals is potentially overwhelming medical expenses that can lead to personal medical debt and bankruptcy, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts.
Whitehouse, the chairman of the panel, cited one study out earlier this year from Harvard that said the number of medical bankruptcies was growing, with up to 60% of personal bankruptcy filings related to medical debt. Nearly, three-fourths of those individuals did have some type of medical coverage.
To "assist families struggling under the weight of medical debt," Whitehouse said he has introduced the Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act of 2009 (S 1624). This bill proposes to make the bankruptcy process "quicker and less expensive" for filers with high medical debts and increases their chances of retaining their homes.
The bill also would allow the retention of at least $250,000 of home value through the bankruptcy process—helping families keep their homes. It would also remove credit counseling requirements that that all individuals entering into bankruptcy must take. The "cause of bankruptcy is not poor financial management but a medical crisis," Whitehouse said.
Added into the bill are provisions designed to waive the so called "means test"—making the filing process quicker and less costly. This provision would also help ensure that people have the ability to file to have their debts discharged in Chapter 7—a generally more efficient and simpler bankruptcy process.
Elizabeth Edwards, a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said that hard to manage healthcare spending may not appear as easily identifiable medical debt, but may instead be hidden in second mortgages, large credit card debt, or unsecured loans. "Many medical debtors turn to borrowing to cover accrued medical expenses in order to continue treatment—and continuing treatment may be their highest priority," she said.
However, when they reach bankruptcy court, "the bankruptcy trustee has little ability and little incentive to address any underlying factors that have led to medical debt and medical bankruptcy," she said. These include: insurance company denials and aggressive efforts by medical debt collectors.
Aparna Mathur, a research fellow and Jacobs Associate at the American Enterprise Institute, disagreed with the percentage of cases related to medical bankruptcy, saying it actually may be smaller. "While the intentions are laudable, there is little to support such an intervention based purely on the incidence of medical debts in bankruptcy filings," she said.
The FTC will enforce its medical identity theft Red Flags Rule beginning November 1.
Now, the government is turning its anti-theft and fraud attention to consumers.
HHS released tips and information last Thursday to help seniors and Medicare beneficiaries "deter, detect and defend" against medical identity theft. The new tips and a brochure were produced by the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and are available now at www.StopMedicareFraud.gov and www.oig.hhs.gov/fraud/idtheft.
"When criminals steal from Medicare, they are stealing from all of us," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a press release. "That's why fighting Medicare fraud is one of the Obama Administration's top priorities. Preventing medical identify theft is an important part of our work to stop Medicare fraud, and these tools will give seniors important information about how to deter, detect and defend against ID theft and fraud."
In May, Attorney General Eric Holder and Sebelius announced the creation of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), to combat Medicare fraud. The HEAT team includes senior officials from DOJ and HHS. HEAT team efforts feature the expansion of joint DOJ-HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
Some of the tips offered last week by the government are:
Guard your Medicare and Social Security Numbers. Treat them like you would treat your credit cards.
Be suspicious of anyone who offers you free medical equipment or services and then requests your Medicare number. If it's free, they don't need your number.
Do not let anyone borrow or pay to use your Medicare ID card or your identity. It's illegal, and it's not worth it.
Don't ever give out your Medicare Health Insurance Claim Number (on your Medicare card) except to your physician or other Medicare provider.
Don't allow anyone, except appropriate medical professionals, to review your medical records or recommend services.
Don't contact your physician to request a service that you do not need.
The Red Flags Rule requires organizations considered as "creditors" to implement programs to identify, detect, and respond to patterns, practices, or specific activities that could indicate identity theft. That regulation falls under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA).
Providers should consider these tips in order to comply with the FTC's rule.
Patients at highly-rated hospitals have a 52% lower chance of dying compared with the U.S. hospital average, a quality gulf that has persisted in the last 10 years, even as mortality rates have declined, a new HealthGrades study shows.
The 12th annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study of patient outcomes at each of the nation's 5,000 nonfederal hospitals found a wide gap in quality between the nation's best hospitals and all others. The study examined nearly 40 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2006, 2007, and 2008, identified trends in mortality and complication rates, and provided the foundation for HealthGrades' quality ratings of procedures and diagnoses at each individual hospital.
"The fact is, patients are twice as likely to die at low-rated hospitals than at highly rated hospitals for the same diagnoses and procedures," says Rick May, MD, an author of the HealthGrades study. "With Washington focused on rewarding high-quality hospitals and empowering patients to make more informed healthcare choices, this information comes at a turning point in the healthcare debate."
Using data gleaned from the study, Golden, CO-based HealthGrades' public Web site allows patients to compare the quality of care at their local hospitals for 28 different procedures and treatments, from hip replacement to bypass surgery.
The study found that:
Overall, in-hospital, risk-adjusted mortality at the nation's hospitals improved, on average, 11% from 2006 through 2008.
Across all 17 procedures and diagnoses in which mortality were studied, there was an approximate 72% lower chance of dying in a five-star rated hospital compared to a one-star rated hospital.
Across all 17 procedures and diagnoses studied, there was an approximate 51% lower chance of dying in a five-star rated hospital compared to the national average.
If all hospitals performed at the level of a five-star rated hospital across the 17 procedures and diagnoses studied, 224,537 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved from 2006 through 2008.
Approximately 57% (127,488) of the potentially preventable deaths were associated with just four diagnoses: sepsis (44,622); pneumonia (29,251); heart failure (26,374); and respiratory failure (27,241).
Over the last three studies, Ohio and Florida consistently have had the greatest percentage of hospitals in the top 15% for risk-adjusted mortality.
Across all procedures in which complications were studied, there was a 80% lower chance of experiencing one or more in-hospital complications in a five-star rated hospital compared to a one-star rated hospital.
Across all procedures studied, there was a 61% lower chance of experiencing one or more in-hospital complications in a five-star rated hospital compared to the U.S. hospital average.
If all hospitals performed at the level of a five-star rated hospital, 110,687 orthopedic in-hospital complications may have been avoided among Medicare patients over the three years studied.
Joint Commission stroke-certified hospitals were almost twice as likely to attain five-star status in stroke (30% of certified hospitals were five-star versus 15.7% of non-certified), and fewer of the stroke-certified hospitals fell into the one-star category (12% versus 19%).
Joint Commission stroke-certified hospitals have an 8% lower risk-adjusted mortality rate compared to hospitals that were not stroke-certified.
House leaders have cut the cost of their healthcare overhaul to around $871 billion over the next decade, Democratic sources told the Washington Post, and were working to line up votes for the package with the aim of bringing it before the full House early in November. The $871 billion estimate—well under the $900 billion limit set by President Obama—is the latest of several versions scored by congressional budget analysts, a Democratic aide told the Post.
Senate Democrats backed down from their effort to increase Medicare payments to doctors without offsetting any of the cost over the next 10 years. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said the bill would "fix" a flawed formula that threatens to cut Medicare payments to doctors by 21% in 2010 and by about 5% in each of the next few years. If such cuts occurred, he said, fewer doctors would accept Medicare patients. Republicans support the goal, but said they could not swallow the Medicare bill because it would cost $247 billion over 10 years and none of the cost would be offset or paid for, reports the New York Times.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid is facing intensifying pressure from liberal lawmakers to revive a proposed government insurance plan before healthcare reform legislation reaches the Senate floor. Two versions of the "public option" were rejected by the Senate Finance Committee as potentially too great a threat to the insurance industry and the coverage it provides. But the idea has gained momentum in recent weeks as Democrats look to ensure that the policies Americans would be required to buy would be affordable.
To remain certified, most of the nation's 700,000 doctors are required periodically to take continuing medical education courses. But critics have said that too many of those courses are little more than drug company marketing in the guise of education. Sponsorship by the pharmaceutical industry pays an estimated half of the cost of such programs in the United States, and critics have argued that the national nonprofit group that accredits the course providers has not done enough to fight drug industry influence in the classroom. But now Murray Kopelow, MD, chief executive of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, said he would make public a previously confidential listing of classes and companies that violated rules against commercial bias, the New York Times reports.
Americans are increasingly worried about the cost and quality of medical care that could result from President Obama's effort to revamp healthcare, but a majority still trust him more than Republicans to change the system, a USA Today/Gallup Poll shows. The poll finds that people who fear their costs would increase under the measure jumped 7 percentage points since last month, to 49%. There were similar increases among those who believe that both quality of healthcare and insurance company red tape will get worse if legislation passes.