By Jean DerGurahian |
November 02, 2009
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Basic Web Registration This is the second part of a two-part series on the effects of patient-safety advocates. Part one of the series, which ran Sept. 7 (p. 6), described how three women went from parent to patient-safety advocate as a result of medical errors. FULL STORY »
By Jean DerGurahian |
September 07, 2009
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Basic Web Registration This is the first part of a two-part series on the impact of patient-safety advocates. Part two of the series, which will appear in an upcoming issue, will look at how the advocates' work affected the specific providers involved. FULL STORY »
By Shawn Rhea |
June 22, 2009
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Basic Web Registration In 2007, Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Heath System partnered with one of its payers, sister company Geisinger Health Plan, to launch a quality improvement initiative called Personal Health Navigator. The program, which assigns patients medical homes with the sickest 20% also receiving nurse case managers to coordinate their care, was employed to test whether a different model of care could improve the health system’s productivity. FULL STORY »
By Jean DerGurahian |
May 25, 2009
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Basic Web Registration With speed and accuracy the name of the game for laboratory results, Great Basin Scientific hopes its new diagnostic tool will help providers find infections quickly and efficiently so that care delivery can be improved. FULL STORY »
By Jean DerGurahian and Shawn Rhea |
April 27, 2009
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Basic Web Registration In his March address during the White House Forum on Health Reform, President Barack Obama called the ever-growing cost of healthcare “one of the greatest threats” to America’s well-being and economic success. The goal of the forum, he added, was to “determine how we lower costs for everyone, improve quality for everyone and expand coverage to all Americans.” FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans |
March 09, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The American Hospital Association and state health finance authorities urged House and Senate finance committee leaders to make permanent two temporary stimulus-law incentives that encourage banks to give tax-exempt loans. FULL STORY »
By Joseph Conn |
March 08, 2010
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Print Magazine Subscription The unveiling of a proposed rule that lays the groundwork to authorize organizations to certify electronic health records for a large federal EHR incentive program was greeted with enthusiasm by industry executives. FULL STORY »
By Joseph Conn |
March 03, 2010
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Basic Web Registration David Blumenthal's keynote speech was in part a personal introduction, and then in turn pep talk, recitation of recent federal achievements and preview of the work ahead. FULL STORY »
By Gregg Blesch and Joe Carlson |
March 01, 2010
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Print Magazine Subscription The pressure is on to plug in. The federal government put billions of dollars on the table for physicians and hospital officials to digitize all patient records in their offices in the next four years. Those who start late get less money. FULL STORY »
By Joseph Conn |
February 28, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, a professional association of healthcare information technology leaders, has weighed in with its take on the proposed “meaningful use” rules on the federal electronic health record subsidy program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. FULL STORY »
By Joseph Conn |
February 25, 2010
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Basic Web Registration Healthcare information technology and privacy advocates generally approve of last week's announced selection of Joy Pritts, a Georgetown University researcher and lawyer, as the nation's first chief privacy officer, or CPO, within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.Pritts' first day on the job was Feb. 16, said her new boss, David Blumenthal, who heads the ONC. The announcement came just as time was about to run down to a statutory deadline for the appointment. The position was created by Congress in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,... FULL STORY »
By Gregg Blesch |
February 23, 2010
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Basic Web Registration HHS' civil rights office for the first time has posted brief descriptions of breaches of personal health data reported by organizations under the requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus law. FULL STORY »
By Vince Galloro |
February 23, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The seven-hospital Wellmont Health System, Kingsport, Tenn., said it hired Kent Petty as its vice president and chief information officer. Petty, 45, has been working for Wellmont as a contractor since August handling two projects: computerized provider-order entry and electronic health records. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans |
February 22, 2010
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Print Magazine Subscription One year ago, Congress moved to buoy an economy swamped in a grim recession with billions of dollars to fuel spending, create jobs and shore up the nation's safety net. FULL STORY »
By Jennifer Lubell |
February 18, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The American Medical Group Association is hailing a recent effort among Senate lawmakers to ensure that provider-based groups are eligible to receive electronic health record incentive payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus law. FULL STORY »
By Joseph Conn |
February 17, 2010
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Free Access Joy Pritts, a lawyer, privacy researcher and Georgetown University faculty member, has been named as the first chief privacy officer to HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, a position created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus law. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans |
February 15, 2010
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Print Magazine Subscription A proposal by President Barack Obama to subsidize lending costs for not-for-profit hospitals may help larger hospitals but not smaller ones, say healthcare finance insiders. FULL STORY »
By Jennifer Lubell |
February 12, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The White House has released nearly $1 billion in stimulus money to make health information technology available to thousands of hospitals and primary-care physicians and to train thousands of people in healthcare and information technology careers. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans |
February 10, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania rejected a proposal in the governor’s budget that the trade group said would cut state Medicaid payments to hospitals by roughly $31.9 million. The trade group said Gov. Edward Rendell’s $66.4 billion budget would reduce overall Medicaid reimbursement by $73.4 million after factoring in the loss of federal funds that match state spending for the safety-net program. FULL STORY »
By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer with Matthew DoBias |
February 10, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The Senate is moving to lift restrictions so that some hospital-based physicians can receive subsidies for the purchase of electronic health-record systems.A draft of a multibillion-dollar jobs bill pending before the Senate contains an amendment that would remove those bans. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 bans some hospital-based doctors from receiving Medicare and Medicaid subsidies for EHRs under the "meaningful use" guidelines for such technology, according to an American Hospital Association spokesman. FULL STORY »
By Rebecca Vesely |
December 15, 2008
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Print Magazine Subscription At Kaiser Permanente’s Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center, tucked away in a nondescript office park in San Leandro, Calif., Lonny Brooks was talking about the future on a recent sunny morning.Brooks is a communications assistant professor at California State University, East Bay, in Hayward, and is affiliated with the Institute for the Future, a Silicon Valley think tank. He spoke to about 30 healthcare professionals—physicians, nurses and others—who came from across the country for this forum on healthcare innovation. FULL STORY »
By Rebecca Vesely |
November 17, 2008
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Basic Web Registration Major health insurers are ramping up an array of wellness programs to meet growing demand from large employers and to help members lower their medical costs, with some of the biggest health plans rolling out new programs in recent months. Yet many employers remain unsatisfied with wellness offerings from insurers, and the jury is still out on whether individuals trust heath plans to help them meet their health and fitness goals. FULL STORY »
By Rebecca Vesely |
October 27, 2008
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Basic Web Registration A midsize paper-supply company offers three extra vacation days to employees at whichever of its branches collectively loses the most weight in seven weeks. Workers at one branch in Scranton, Pa., take extreme measures to win the contest. One eats only grilled chicken breast and diet soda, another swallows what she thinks is a tapeworm, and a third replaces the vending machine junk food with fruits and vegetables, which quickly rot, attracting flies. Some workers rebel by sneaking a cheesecake into the supply room... FULL STORY »
By Cinda Becker |
December 17, 2007
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Basic Web Registration Wiping out infections from hospitals may not be the financial slam-dunk it’s cracked up to be, which might explain a lot of the inertia surrounding infection control. FULL STORY »
By Jean DerGurahian |
December 10, 2007
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Basic Web Registration A growing number of hospitals across the country are making promises to stop billing patients and payers for care related to certain medical errors, but the efforts appear to be more of a public relations move than a substantive change. State associations that have or are looking at nonbinding, voluntary limits on such billing include those in Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota and Vermont. FULL STORY »
By Cinda Becker |
December 03, 2007
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Basic Web Registration Despite its relatively small size and challenged balance sheet, Rush North Shore Medical Center has enthusiastically boarded the quality improvement train with some impressive results. FULL STORY »
January 11, 2010
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Print Magazine Subscription Recovery audit contractors are going to get a lot more personal in their audits of hospital providers this year, and the industry could see further reductions in their inpatient payments to accommodate a new federal documentation and coding system. FULL STORY »
By Matthew DoBias |
January 11, 2010
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Basic Web Registration With a broad health overhaul bill in its final stages on Capitol Hill and passage likely, provider groups say they are preparing for a year that is at once different and yet strikingly similar to years past. FULL STORY »
January 04, 2010
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Free Access Modern Healthcare reporter Joseph Conn, based in Chicago, covers healthcare information technology, privacy and security issues. FULL STORY »
January 04, 2010
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Free Access Modern Healthcare reporter Jessica Zigmond, based in Chicago, covers public health, rural health, post-acute care and physician-owned hospitals. FULL STORY »
January 04, 2010
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Free Access Modern Healthcare reporter Joe Carlson, based in Chicago, covers labor relations, staffing and not-for-profit hospitals. FULL STORY »
January 04, 2010
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Free Access Will this finally be the year of healthcare reform? How will the massive economic stimulus plan being assembled in Washington affect healthcare? What about funding for Medicare and Medicaid? Modern Healthcare's 2010 video outlook package provides some answers. FULL STORY »
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The healthcare industry enters 2010 as Congress maneuvers, argues and bargains its way toward legislation to expand insurance coverage and blunt (possibly) healthcare's mounting strain on federal, state, business and household budgets. But until Congress acts—or not—the industry waits. FULL STORY »
By Joseph Conn |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration The federal government will dominate discussions about, plans for and implementations of health information technology this year. FULL STORY »
By Jessica Zigmond |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration Post-acute-care deals late in 2009 could signal additional merger-and-acquisition activity for this segment in 2010, a year when post-acute providers can also expect reimbursement pressures and uncertainty about their place in the final healthcare reform debate. FULL STORY »
By Andis Robeznieks |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration Until a permanent fix is made to the Medicare reimbursement formula, what lies ahead for physicians is unclear. But experts believe change is coming in the way physicians get paid, in the way their relationships with hospitals are structured, and the way they use healthcare information technology. FULL STORY »
By Joe Carlson |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration If you thought your not-for-profit healthcare provider faced a lot of scrutiny in 2009, just wait and see what this year brings. FULL STORY »
By Gregg Blesch |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration Quite a bit of political noise was made in 2009 about preventing, finding and prosecuting healthcare fraud, and all sectors of the industry can reasonably expect to feel the crackdown in 2010. FULL STORY »
By Rebecca Vesely |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration Continued high unemployment in 2010 would keep pressure on health insurers to compete for valuable commercial members. In the meantime, health plans will be seeking to stave off certain aspects of healthcare reform, including proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage, observers say. FULL STORY »
By Vince Galloro |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration In 2010, investor-owned hospitals will be hard-pressed to maintain the cost-cutting, particularly on labor costs, that boosted their results so strongly in 2009, healthcare stock analysts say. FULL STORY »
By Melanie Evans |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration Credit markets eased and investment portfolios rebounded as 2009 progressed, but unemployment grew painfully worse and the weak economy threatens to further strain hospital operations in 2010, say healthcare finance chiefs and analysts. FULL STORY »
By Shawn Rhea |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration If 2009 was the year of big and radical ideas in healthcare, 2010 will likely be the year that details for many of those ideas are fleshed out and implemented. FULL STORY »
By Andis Robeznieks |
January 04, 2010
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Basic Web Registration Experts expect the healthcare construction market to reawaken for three reasons: the capital is there to borrow; whatever emerges from the healthcare reform debate, access to care will be expanded so more facilities will be needed to handle the volume; and the demand for new facilities never went away. FULL STORY »
December 21, 2009
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Basic Web Registration A new president is inaugurated, and he makes healthcare reform his primary domestic priority. Congress thrashes the issue like a dog killing a squirrel. Major industry groups are cooperative one day and hostile the next. Reform becomes a rallying point for ideological, partisan interests. FULL STORY »
December 21, 2009
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Basic Web Registration Edward Kennedy, 77, Massachusetts Democratic senator, and champion of health reform, died of a brain tumor. Ray Woodham, 90, longtime CEO of Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, died of congestive heart failure. Woodham served in various leadership roles at the American College of Healthcare Executives in the 1960s through the 1980s, including a stint as chairman. FULL STORY »
December 21, 2009
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Basic Web Registration In June, medical providers worldwide begin grappling with how to address a growing shortage of the isotope molybdenum-99, which is used to create imaging contrast materials, when Canada’s Chalk River nuclear reactor shut down indefinitely and several other reactors around the world closed for repairs and maintenance. The shortages caused long-running delays in needed imaging procedures. In October, President Barack Obama signs legislation allocating $20 million to jump-start the creation of a domestic medical isotope supply, and in November, the U.S. House passes the American Medical... FULL STORY »
December 21, 2009
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Basic Web Registration Insurers agree to take all comers, regardless of pre-existing conditions, provided that everyone is required to carry health insurance and that they don’t have to compete with a government-run plan. By the end of the year, insurers objected to many elements in the leading congressional reform bills. FULL STORY »
By Gregg Blesch |
May 25, 2009
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Basic Web Registration An alliance of nurses unions rallied in Washington this month for new workplace regulations in hospitals—an agenda the unions and other nurse advocacy groups have had mixed results in pushing piecemeal state by state. FULL STORY »
By Jessica Zigmond |
June 02, 2008
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Basic Web Registration Obesity, asthma, food allergies, behavioral disorders, vision deficiencies and prescription-medication abuse are just some of the chronic health problems that children face today, making the need for school nurses in America stronger than ever. FULL STORY »
By Jessica Zigmond |
June 02, 2008
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Basic Web Registration If hospital administrators think they face a nursing shortage now, they have more than another thing coming. FULL STORY »
