Rapidly adopting information technology is the most effective cure for costly and harmful medical errors, say healthcare industry leaders and policy experts, who call for the federal government to lead the way in paying for it.
Citing quality-of-care issues, the CMS terminated its Medicare Advantage contract with America’s Health Choice, Vero Beach, Fla. The 12,000 enrollees in the plan, all living in Florida, were moved to United HealthCare’s SecureHorizons Medicare...
A grand jury’s decision not to indict cancer surgeon Anna Pou was claimed as a victory by physicians, but still serves as a reminder to hospitals about the potentially fatal consequences when facilities are unprepared for a major disaster.
Two nominees for key HHS posts may have to fasten their seat belts and prepare for a bumpy ride with a Democratic-led Congress that’s unhappy with the way the department has been conducting its business.
Community Health Systems completed its $6.8 billion acquisition of Triad Hospitals last week and is readying for asset sales and layoffs, but some huge questions remain.
The American Hospital Association last week tapped a Los Angeles hospital chief executive officer to be the trade group’s chairman in 2009 and approved a draft of its healthcare reform agenda.
Dealmaking surrounding health information technology businesses has been on the upswing in recent weeks, with private equity players driving much of the activity.
Federal officials who oversee tax-exempt healthcare took a page from securities regulators’ book in June, issuing proposed rules to bolster public reporting of how and how much executives get paid.
Rapidly adopting information technology is the most effective cure for costly and harmful medical errors, say healthcare industry leaders and policy experts, who call for the federal government to lead the way in paying for it.
For too long, U.S. healthcare has operated on the basis of payment simply for services provided. Health plans and providers usually were immune from consumer questions about safety and quality of care. But it’s time to transform the American...
Almost a decade ago, I co-chaired the Presidential Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. We concluded that the president should lead the nation in accepting a unifying statement of purpose for the...
President Bush is vowing to throw political caution to the wind and veto the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which he believes is “a step down the path to government-run healthcare” for all, replete with rationing of care...
For too long, U.S. healthcare has operated on the basis of payment simply for services provided. Health plans and providers usually were immune from consumer questions about safety and quality of care. But it’s time to transform the American...
Todd Sloane’s July 16 editorial (p. 31), “Another turf war,” is completely off-base. Ensuring that all patients have timely access to high-quality healthcare is a top priority for physicians, and we support the safe operation of store-based...
For many people, dreams are what get them through the day. Not daydreaming, but goals or ambitions, which are a driving force for those who succeed in life. We want to have things, do things, be better than we are or go places we’ve never been. But...
Pediatrician Kevin Churchwell, 45, has been named CEO of Nashville’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University. Churchwell has been the hospital’s interim CEO since January, when former CEO Jim Shmerling left to become...
Edward Klaman was named president and CEO of Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh, succeeding Mark Palmer, who resigned effective Aug. 1. Klaman, 62, was executive vice president and chief hospital officer at West Penn...
A published report indicating that the use of electronic health records may not necessarily lead to an increase in the quality of care has caught both healthcare providers and vendors off-guard.
Surviving 80-hour workweeks, living with the threat of funding cuts, working under less-than-ideal conditions and having to deliver bad news to patients are challenges most physicians and nurses must face every day. But filmmaker Terry Sanders, a...
