Supply and demand have more to do with readmission rates over illness severity and care quality, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care & Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions. Differences in regional hospitals for heart failure, in fact, have more to do with the number of hospital beds (availability of… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Healthcare News
Busy Hospitals Discharge Patients Too Soon, See Higher Readmissions
Patients that are discharged during the busiest times for hospitals are 50 percent more likely to come back in within three days, according to research published in Health Care Management Science. Two new studies from the University of Maryland suggest that that revenue from surgery is driving patients going home too early. They looked at… Read more »
Doc-Nurse Relationships: A Sore Subject in Sore Need of a Solution
By Alicia Caramenico Fierce Healthcare In a recent Hospital Impact blog post, Jonathan H. Burroughs recalled an instance early in his medical career when he disrespected an inexperienced nurse and drove her to tears. “In my most caustic and superior tone I told her so that everyone could hear, ‘If you don’t know what epinephrine… Read more »
Transform Your Employees into Passionate Advocates
By Rob Markey Harvard Business Review Employee happiness is becoming a hot topic among CEOs and in boardrooms, and it’s about time. The current issue of Harvard Business Review, which includes a series of articles focused on employee happiness, is just one more sign of the growing recognition that happy, engaged employees are more productive… Read more »
3 reimbursement changes for hospital performance
Hospitals are bracing themselves for some significant reimbursement changes under health reform that could hit their pocketbooks. The American Hospital Association (AHA) outlined top issues in its 2012 advocacy papers, including how hospitals will be measured for performance this year and beyond. Value-based purchasing (VBP) – October 2012 Medicare will launch the hospital VBP program,… Read more »
Physicians, Hospital Executives Get Collaborative
This article appears in the April 2012 issue of HealthLeaders magazine. Physician relationships with executive leadership have always been important at hospitals and health systems, but there is a history of distrust on both sides, to put it mildly. Executives often view physicians as a huge impediment to many important initiatives within the hospital, from… Read more »
Innovative Ways To Slash ED Overuse
On a mild, gray day in February, fatigue lined the face of Anthony Parish, a slight, 39-year-old man who has been through a lot. He had a cancerous portion of his lung removed and struggled with postoperative pain. Chemotherapy treatments caused abscesses in his mouth that ruined his teeth and repeatedly sent him to the… Read more »
Prices for Doctor Services Lag Behind Inflation
Physicians have long felt that the cost of running a practice is growing more quickly than payment received per service. New government data indicate that this is more than a feeling. The Consumer Price Index for all items went up 0.3% in March and 2.7% in the previous 12 months, according to Bureau of Labor… Read more »
Aviation Is an Inspiration for Improving Patient Safety
Searching for ways to reduce medical errors and keep patients safe? Look up. That’s the idea of some patient-safety experts, who today will discuss the formation of an independent patient-safety agency modeled on the National Transportation Safety Board, and other strategies to reduce errors at a summit in Washington. Many of the safety and error-prevention… Read more »
How Hospitals Can Save Water and Big Bucks Too
John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, April 23, 2012 It may seem odd that a leading proponent for water conservation in hospitals works in Washington, a state famous for its prodigious rainfall. For more than a decade, Geoffrey W. Glass, director of Facility and Technology Services at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, has been… Read more »