Matthew Dobias January 12, 2009 A decades-long push to fundamentally change how the healthcare sector looks, feels and operates will come to a head this year. But after countless tussles, numerous false starts and lingering bad feelings from the last tango with reform, an industry growing eager for change has found it hard to... ... FULL STORY
Neil McLaughlin
January 12, 2009 Over the past year, or at least when gas prices were soaring to $4 a gallon, there was a lot of talk about resources and sustainability. A similar concern over the sustainability of the nation’s healthcare system ought to be a major issue for our policymakers. Some choices need to be made or the... ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 While the rest of the economy posted rates of joblessness not seen since 1993, healthcare continued to expand its workforce in December 2008, adding 31,600 positions in a month in which the overall American workforce shrank by 534,000 jobs. ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommended increasing payment rates for inpatient and outpatient hospital services at the full rate of inflation in 2010 concurrent with the implementation of a quality incentives program. ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 While close to a dozen bills introduced during the previous legislative session aim to shrink the number of uninsured Americans, only a handful of them would come close to doing so, according to an independent analysis sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund and conducted by the Lewin Group. ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 Moves to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program could take place as early as this week, Democratic healthcare leaders claim. ... FULL STORY
Melanie Evans January 12, 2009 The CMS’ national health expenditures report released last week may have overshadowed another report published in Health Affairs that offers some distressing results. ... FULL STORY
Andis Robeznieks January 12, 2009 As the old saying goes—popularly attributed to the late Sen. Everett Dirksen—“A billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.” If its campaign to get the healthcare industry to use the same swipe card or bar-code technology other industries have been using... ... FULL STORY
Matthew Dobias January 12, 2009 A decades-long push to fundamentally change how the healthcare sector looks, feels and operates will come to a head this year. But after countless tussles, numerous false starts and lingering bad feelings from the last tango with reform, an industry growing eager for change has found it hard to... ... FULL STORY
Jennifer Lubell January 12, 2009 Hospitals can expect another year of increased pressure to improve accountability and quality despite the many question marks that surround the new administration’s approach to regulatory policy. ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 CHICAGO—St. Anthony Hospital opened a new and bigger emergency department to serve the growing population in the surrounding neighborhoods, which brings a larger-than-average percentage of pediatric patients through the 151-bed hospital’s doors. The department, at 6,600 square feet, has more... ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 ATLANTA—The Georgia Community Health Department launched a new Web site to help residents make informed healthcare decisions. The site, georgiahealthinfo.gov, provides information about quality and cost of care and health education. Users can access cost and quality comparison data for... ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—Orange Regional Medical Center completed the steel construction on a seven-story hospital scheduled to open in spring 2011. Once complete, Orange Regional will consolidate its two-campus 343-bed hospital into the newly built $317 million facility in Wallkill, N.Y. In... ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 SAN DIEGO—Sharp Memorial Hospital plans to open a $194 million expansion facility on Jan. 14. The new 334-bed, 315,000-square-foot, seven-story structure, called the Stephen Birch Healthcare Center, includes 46 emergency/trauma beds; 10 surgery suites; 48 intensive-care unit beds; private... ... FULL STORY
Neil McLaughlin
January 12, 2009 Over the past year, or at least when gas prices were soaring to $4 a gallon, there was a lot of talk about resources and sustainability. A similar concern over the sustainability of the nation’s healthcare system ought to be a major issue for our policymakers. Some choices need to be made or the... ... FULL STORY
David Shern January 12, 2009 The passage last year of federal mental-health-parity legislation sends a strong message that mental-health conditions are just as treatable as other medical conditions. The new law, which applies to group health plans covering 51 or more employees, does not mandate coverage. But if an employer or... ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 How dare you? I just finished reading, “By the Numbers,” the December 2008 supplement to Modern Healthcare (p. 34), and I am outraged. Your list of the top corporate executives excludes the chief nursing officer. ... FULL STORY
Jean DerGurahian January 12, 2009 The Joint Commission continues to shore up its leadership staff with providers that have hospital experience in the appointment of Mark Pelletier. ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 Dennis Stockwell was named to the new position of general counsel of Jackson Healthcare, Alpharetta, Ga. Stockwell, 54, will be responsible for all legal affairs in his newly created position. Previously, Stockwell was general counsel of TurboChef Technologies and PracticeWorks. ... FULL STORY
Barbara Kirchheimer January 12, 2009 Physician investors are finding little comfort in the familiar adage that healthcare is recession-proof. It seems 2009 might be the year that proves that theory false. ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 The tantalizing promise of a fresh start is part of what makes New Year’s resolutions so appealing. One Boston hospital executive has seized on the holiday tradition’s can-do optimism to suggest the city’s hospitals adopt a collective resolution to tackle the chronic, costly and harmful problem of... ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 All this talk of food reminds Outliers of some rather alarming news we ran across online. The good folks at SparkPeople recently posted their nominations for the “11 Worst Foods of 2008” on their blog “DailySpark.” And it isn’t pretty. ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 Speaking of resolutions, lots of folks include eating better on their plans for a new year. And New York is doing something about it, declaring that it’s the first state to revamp the offerings in its Women, Infants and Children program to meet new federal guidelines, according to a news release... ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 San Francisco wants a man mauled by a tiger at the city’s zoo to pay $75,000 for the cost of his treatment after the attack. ... FULL STORY
