A convicted rapist fired in August from his job as a Los Angeles County hospital X-ray technologist was rehired by county managers through a contractor a short time later to do the same work at an East Los Angeles health clinic, officials acknowledged. Gariner Beasley, 48, was fired again Tuesday and escorted from the Edward R. Roybal Comprehensive Health Center, said county Supervisor Gloria Molina. County officials struggled to explain how they had rehired a man they fired in August, calling his criminal record incompatible with a job that required he work alone with patients in "very vulnerable and compromised positions."
As President Obama prepares to push for an overhaul of the medical system, providers of U.S.-backed health plans for the elderly are raising prices. Humana Inc., Health Net Inc., and nearly 200 other providers increased 2009 premiums by 13% on average, or more than five times as much as last year, for people who use Medicare Advantage, according to consulting company Avalere Health.
Recent legal settlements with big health insurers may allow some managed-care plan participants to begin recovering some of the money they may have overpaid for using out-of-network doctors and hospitals. So far, insurers UnitedHealth Group Inc., Aetna Inc., and Health Net Inc. have agreed to make millions of dollars in funds available to patients and, in some cases, physicians for possibly having shortchanged them in the past. A number of other legal actions are pending that seek redress for patients and healthcare providers who claim they were underpaid by insurers for out-of-network services.
Congress convened last month with 16 medical doctors, including three newly elected members of the House of Representatives as well as a freshman senator, according to the latest tally by the Chicago-based American Medical Association. "The number of physicians in Congress continues to grow, with 16 physicians in the 111th Congress, demonstrating intense physician interest in making a difference in people's health and their lives," said Nancy Nielsen, MD, president of the AMA. Often, doctors are known to push an agenda that would increase access to medical care by boosting payments to programs that pay doctors and other medical-care providers.
On his last day in office, Rod Blagojevich moved to increase payments to Illinois doctors' caring for sick children, which is the subject of criminal allegations against the former governor. In a memo, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Barry Maram, who oversees the state Medicaid insurance program for the poor, increased reimbursement to pediatric specialists who provide services that include "neonatal and pediatric critical care services," according to the memo dated Jan. 29. On that day, the Illinois Senate removed Blagojevich from office.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has emerged as a leading candidate for the Cabinet post of secretary of Health and Human Services. "I've got to believe she's on the short, short, short list," said Ron Pollack of the health advocacy group Families USA in Washington. "I think the likelihood is enormous."
One group that's celebrating the long-awaited bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program: The Physicians Hospitals of America, which represents doctor-owned hospitals. The group was fighting a version of the bill that would have curbed expansion of these hospitals by prohibiting Medicare payments to new ones and restricting expansion of existing ones. The restrictions were the brainchild of California Rep. Pete Stark, who has criticized such facilities as cherry pickers of lucrative patients, among other things.
MVP Health Care has agreed to pay $535,000 to resolve a New York State inquiry into how it reimburses clients for services from out-of-network physicians. The company, a nonprofit health insurer based in Schenectady, is at least the third insurer to cut a deal with the state over the way it determines charges for reimbursement. The payment will help pay for a nonprofit entity to run an independent database to set reimbursement rates.
To get through the current economic climate and, even more importantly, be positioned for success when the recovery comes, St. Vincent Carmel (IN) Hospital is going back to basics. +
This week marked the launch of the South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust, a statewide, voluntary hospital quality collaborative to reduce hospital-acquired infections and their associated costs. +
Tom Daschle has withdrawn his name from consideration as head of HHS, saying that the effort needed someone who "can operate with the full faith of Congress." Basically saying that his credibility to push through reform of a healthcare system where millions of people can't afford basic care sounds less convincing from someone who made $5.2 million in consulting fees in two years. +
How do you grow—or at least protect—market share when money for new buildings, more docs, the latest equipment, and aggressive marketing campaigns is scarce?
To get through the current economic climate and, even more importantly, be positioned for success when the recovery comes, St. Vincent Carmel (IN) Hospital is going back to basics, examining the very core of who they are and what they can offer to their patients, community, referring physicians, employees and potential employees, and other stakeholders.
I was invited to visit St. Vincent Carmel and, during my visit, sat in on a vision statement and market strategy brainstorming session with the hospital's executive team. It was an eye-opener to watch as this group—representing a wide swath of departments and interests, including finance, operations, HR, nurses, physicians, and, yes, marketing and communications—scrutinized the hospital's strengths and weaknesses to determine what it is about their organization that differentiates them from their (many) competitors.
What are we doing right?
St. Vincent respects its employees, for starters (they're called "associates"). And they recognize that their internal audience is just as important to success as their external audience.
They put their resources into successful service lines, including Bariatric surgery and orthopedics.
They work hard to keep patients satisfied, responding to complaints and concerns quickly, using service recovery techniques, and offering luxuries (which are arguably the new necessity) such as private rooms that they describe not as "hotel-like" but as "home-like."
Volunteers in pink blazers greet everyone who enters the atrium lobby, where a player piano fills the air with soothing tunes, making visitors' first impression a true experience.
And they are in tune with physicians, examining their referral patterns and working to turn "splitters" into "loyals."
What could we do better?
Right off the bat, though, they agreed that one thing had to change: The old vision statement was outdated, unclear, and so wordy that it was rendered almost meaningless. It didn't really capture all the great things they do, their culture, how well they treat their patients in body and spirit, or the talent of their associates.
They questioned everything. What do our customers want and need that other healthcare organizations do not or cannot deliver? What is special and unique about our organization that differentiates us from our competitors? How can we communicate those differences in a crowded market? Are we focusing on the right service lines? How do we position our organization as the first-choice provider and employer? What is our brand image now and what more could it be? Why do physicians refer to us and how can we increase those referrals?
They wondered if the vision statement should explicitly state that they provide healthcare, for example. They decided that's a given. Does it need to say that they are a faith-based organization? Their name, after all, says that loud and clear.
Obviously, asking these question is just the first step—it takes more than one day to find answers, craft that vision statement, and communicate it internally and externally. But they made headway.
What's next?
Vision statements are notorious for producing a lot of talk, talk, talk but very little action. So it's tempting to leave them on that shelf, covered with a decade's worth of dust. But even if you don't re-envision your vision statement, you should be taking a look at your brand image, your culture, the way you want to do business, and the way you want to treat your patients and employees.
Why? One answer: On my way to the airport from the hospital, I told my cab driver where I'd been, and he said he had once been treated at St. Vincent when he broke both of his legs in a car accident. He'd also been hospitalized at competing hospitals and clinics. He talked briefly about his clinical diagnosis and never once mentioned the quality of his care. For most of the rest of the 45-minute ride he railed about his experiences with the healthcare organizations and his nurses, physicians, and physical therapists.
No matter what hospital you go to, he said, there are nurses who go above and beyond, and nurses who do not seem to care. His doctors were too negative, he said. They told him he would never walk again, even though he did eventually recover. And they never acknowledged his faith in God to heal him. He also talked at length about what it's like to be in the hospital—the atmosphere, the feeling you get when you walk in the door, the views out the window, the way people interact with you.
If you treat people the way they want to be treated, he said, you will get repeat business. It's true for cab drivers. And it's true for hospitals.
