Jim Gauss, president and CEO, Witt/Kieffer February 23, 2009 Never has there been so little to do so much. The weak economy’s toll on hospitals and health systems means continuously declining resources in the face of growing demand for services. All the more reason to appreciate generosity and self-sacrifice: the trustees who give freely of themselves to the... ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 The $150 billion in planned healthcare spending contained in the giant stimulus package signed last week by President Barack Obama can’t come soon enough for some healthcare providers. ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 Rural health advocate Mary Wakefield has been tapped by President Barack Obama to head the Health Resources and Services Administration, or HRSA, under HHS. She’s currently the director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota. Wakefield will replace Elizabeth Duke, who has... ... FULL STORY
Matthew DoBias February 23, 2009 The Commonwealth Fund has called for wholesale changes in the way healthcare is delivered, paid for and covered in a report that the group says lays out a path for long-term, money-saving reform. ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 WellCare Health Plans was ordered by the CMS to halt enrollment and marketing of its Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plans by March 7, citing the company’s “longstanding and persistent failure” to follow the requirements of its contracts. The CMS outlined the sanctions against the... ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 The California Legislature passed and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a package of 33 bills to close a $42 billion budget shortfall through June 2010, including a 10% cut in public hospital reimbursement rates. The emergency budget package includes nearly $15 billion in cuts to state agencies,... ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 The $150 billion in planned healthcare spending contained in the giant stimulus package signed last week by President Barack Obama can’t come soon enough for some healthcare providers. ... FULL STORY
Matthew DoBias February 23, 2009 The $87 billion in increased federal Medicaid funding allocated by the federal stimulus bill that became law last week may not all be flowing to healthcare providers as many have assumed. ... FULL STORY
Joseph Conn February 23, 2009 Most of the federal funding for healthcare information technology initiatives under the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will come from two main sources. ... FULL STORY
Andis Robeznieks February 23, 2009 In some ways, the section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 devoted to the Veterans Affairs Department is symbolic of the entire contents of the massive piece of legislation, which—when printed out on 407 sheets of standard 8½-by-11 copy paper—weighs in at 4 pounds, 5 ounces. ... FULL STORY
Matthew DoBias February 23, 2009 Plans to funnel $1.1 billion to federal health agencies in an effort to compare drugs, medical devices and even procedures have come under fire by some policy analysts who say the government is ill-equipped to lead such efforts. ... FULL STORY
Andis Robeznieks February 23, 2009 The current credit crunch could, in many ways, continue to increase the gap between the haves and have-nots in healthcare, one expert says. Only those with money already in the bank can borrow the cash they need to buy new properties—and most of these organizations may already hold the deed to all... ... FULL STORY
Jim Gauss, president and CEO, Witt/Kieffer February 23, 2009 Never has there been so little to do so much. The weak economy’s toll on hospitals and health systems means continuously declining resources in the face of growing demand for services. All the more reason to appreciate generosity and self-sacrifice: the trustees who give freely of themselves to the... ... FULL STORY
Linda Wilson February 23, 2009 When executives at St. Vincent Health System in Little Rock, Ark., wanted to settle a lawsuit with Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, they turned to Gus Blass III, chairman of the system’s board of directors, for help. ... FULL STORY
Linda Wilson February 23, 2009 When executives at Gritman Medical Center were wooing a surgeon—who happened to be a former college-level football player—B.J. Swanson arranged a tour of the University of Idaho’s first-rate sports complex.“It is an enclosed stadium, and they have a wing with medical offices,” says Swanson,... ... FULL STORY
Linda Wilson February 23, 2009 W.W. “Bill” Aston’s interest in healthcare was sparked on Oct. 12, 1967—the day he quit smoking cigarettes. He had a heart attack that day—six days after his 40th birthday—and has never smoked again. ... FULL STORY
Linda Wilson February 23, 2009 Dean Schleicher, chairman of the board at Calvert Memorial Hospital, Prince Frederick, Md., is a stickler about quality—both in board and hospital operations. It’s no wonder he has concentrated on quality because it’s also a focus of his full-time job as an employee of the federal government. ... FULL STORY
Linda Wilson February 23, 2009 Just hours before he died last April after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis, Robert Carty, 79, was jotting down ideas about how to reuse a vacant hospital building, which had been replaced with a state-of-the-art facility. ... FULL STORY
Sachin Jain February 23, 2009 Almost everyone in healthcare has heard this story: With great fanfare a hospital recruits an outside star to lead a clinical program, academic department or division. Within months, it is clear to almost everyone that the marriage is a failure. ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 Now that SDI is responsible for constructing the IHN 100 list in place of the previous company (Jan. 26, p. 26), I think it would be very helpful for the readers of Modern Healthcare to be informed about the measures, sources of information and methods SDI uses in its calculations. My sense is... ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 A list of the largest U.S. military hospitals ranked by number of total beds. Source: 2009 AHA Guide. Published Feb. 23, 2009.This list includes the following data points:Hospital nameLocationOperation typeTotal bedsWeb site ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 Former Joint Commission Vice President Peter Angood has joined the National Quality Forum as senior adviser on patient safety. Angood, 52, a physician who also served as chief patient-safety officer at the commission, started at the Washington-based NQF on Feb. 2, a spokeswoman said. At the... ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 Kevin Martin, president and CEO of EMH Regional Healthcare System, Elyria, Ohio, for 11 years, died Feb. 11 from cancer. He was 52. “The EMH family has lost someone we all respected and admired,” said Jeff Brausch, chairman of the EMH Regional Medical Center board, in a news release. Martin... ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 Ascension Health member St. Vincent’s Health System, Birmingham, Ala., named John O’Neil president and CEO, effective in late March. O’Neil, 52, who currently serves as president and CEO of Lourdes Hospital, Binghamton, N.Y., in 2007 became a ministry market leader for five Ascension Health... ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 Noting that their use is “vexing and insolent,” Leland Liquors, a store located in back of a tavern called the Tar Bar in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side, has banned the use of cell phones by almost all of its patrons. ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 Court records have revealed more U.S. hospitals and health systems that had money tied up with Bernard Madoff (Jan. 19, p. 36), the New York money manager charged with orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme. The New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases confirmed “a very small investment” with... ... FULL STORY
February 23, 2009 Everyone could use a slight push in the right direction at times, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation hopes to find those little nudges that lead to big improvements in the healthcare industry. ... FULL STORY
