Christopher M. O'Connor, the president of Massachusetts-based Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, is leaving the hospital immediately to pursue other opportunities, according to a spokeswoman for the six-hospital chain. O'Connor, who was head of the flagship hospital of Caritas Christi Health Care for 2 1/2 years, will continue in a limited consulting role at the institution. John J. Holiver, president of Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, will take the helm of St. Elizabeth's
Good healthcare is preventive, predictive, and personalized, a rarity today in a crisis-oriented care system far better at treating disease than keeping it at bay. To help change that, the Institute of Medicine has started a major push for what patients might call whole-body wellness care.
Massachusetts' healthcare system, which requires nearly everyone to carry insurance or face fines, is about to be put to the test by the bad economy. Unemployment in the state has climbed over the past three years from around 4.8% to close to 7%, meaning 72,000 more people are out of work now than when the law was signed in 2006. Many of the newly jobless may have to buy their own insurance.
Washington voters approved Initiative 1000 in November, which will allow physicians to legally prescribe lethal medication to competent, terminally ill patients given six months or less to live. The patient must be an adult Washington resident who voluntarily asks for the lethal drug and self-administers it. More than 110 hospice nurses, physicians, social workers, psychologists, and other professionals recently attended a seminar on the subject sponsored by the Washington State Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, along with the Washington State End of Life Consensus Coalition.
For 30 years, studies consistently have found that doctors call one out of every five or six patient encounters "difficult." The latest, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that primary-care doctors who felt they had a high number of "difficult" patient encounters were younger and more likely to be women. Doctors reporting more difficult patients were also more likely to report burnout.
Officials in Howard County, MD, thought their low-cost healthcare program would be an easy sell in a community where an estimated 15,000 adults are without coverage. But nearly four months later, they are struggling to get people to enroll. Howard is not unique: In Arkansas, a statewide program offering coverage through small businesses has enrolled 5,000 people, even though it can accommodate 10 times as many. In Massachusetts, where health coverage is required by law, more than 167,000 individuals are losing tax benefits because they haven't signed up for insurance.
Physicians often ignore communications from health insurers, but a combination of targeted outreach and patient engagement could improve patient compliance with appropriate tests and medications. +
Everybody's talking about social media, but it's hard to find examples of how hospitals can use it to build their brand, create buzz, and educate patients. But one hospital is getting it right. +
Patient demand for intensive care services continues to rise?but ICUs cost a ton of money. Here's how some providers are making intensive care worth their financial while. +
Embracing consumerism is becoming one of those "get over it" moments for healthcare professionals. You can resist the notion all you want; the fact is patients more and more see themselves as consumers. +
A lack of consumer understanding has contributed to the glacial growth of consumer-driven plans. Can better information from health plans help CDHPs take hold? +
Leigh Walton, a partner with the law firm of Bass Berry and Sims and the co-chair of that firm's Healthcare Practice Group, discusses the prospects for healthcare M&A in the coming year and beyond. +
Sure, your HR group keeps track of turnover and cost-per-hire rates. But can it demonstrate how the department affects the organization's financial results? +
Richard W. Schwartz, MD, MBA, professor of surgery at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, analyzes results from the HealthLeaders Media Physician Leaders Survey. +
Debt is a proverbial four-letter word these days, and not just because it actually has four letters. After years of easy money and low interest rates, the worm has turned?and quickly. +
Evidence-based medicine will prompt the fiercest and most vitriolic debate on the role of government in medicine since the plug was pulled on the Clinton plan. In fact, the debate has already started. +
The fact that the $787 billion stimulus package was signed into law will give some healthcare CEOs the confidence to move forward on some of their strategic priorities that have been on hold since the economy collapsed. +
Leigh Walton, a partner with the law firm of Bass Berry and Sims and the co-chair of that firm's Healthcare Practice Group, discusses the prospects for healthcare M&A in the coming year and beyond. +
