From the C-Suite news and information

People often imagine that healthcare information technology works a bit like “The Wizard of Oz,” where a genius behind the curtain does marvelous, mysterious things. But the real benefit of healthcare IT is that it produces very down-to-earth results: better patient care, greater...
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How does an organization with a heavily unionized workforce, spread over hundreds of locations in nine states, not only provide high-quality, affordable healthcare, but also continuously improve care delivery?
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Disaster plans. All hospitals have them, but few of us, thankfully, are forced to implement them. At Los Alamos (N.M.) Medical Center, the immeasurable value of a good disaster plan was demonstrated recently as fires threatened to consume our hospital and community.
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Everyone counts on high-reliability organizations to ensure our personal safety when we fly on commercial airliners or travel near a nuclear power plant. Air traffic control, nuclear submarines, nuclear aircraft carriers and naval aviation all have well deserved reputations for high-reliability...
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Having served as a hospital executive, trustee and board chairman of not-for-profit and for-profit hospitals and health systems in the Midwest and West, my experience suggests that other than having major friction with the medical staff, nothing can undermine the CEO faster than disillusioned or...
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By all external standards, 445-bed Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, was a high-performing hospital. We recently won a top 100 hospital designation, earned a J.D. Power & Associates top performer award and rated equally well on other standards of performance, including patient...
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I'll never forget that day. I was early in my career as a labor and delivery nurse when a tragedy occurred that is still fresh in my memory. In the mid-1980s, fetal heart rate monitors were big, bulky machines and were difficult to transport. A mother was in labor with her second child and delivery...
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The healthcare labor shortage has not been solved. Remember George Clooney in The Perfect Storm? Distracted by business pressures, he mistook for everyday turbulence what turned out to be a devastating tempest. Hospitals are in a similarly hazardous position these days.
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Can electronic health records and other health information technology applications improve our healthcare system and deliver significant improvements in patient care?According to a recent study, published by PLoS Medicine, the answer is no.
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How do you care for childless adults caught up in the chaos of poverty who don't qualify for Medicaid? In Minnesota, prior to June 1, 2010, you signed them up for General Assistance Medical Care. This program covered patients who in many states are uninsured.
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