Guest Commentaries

Our industry has reached its turning point. We're facing many challenges, but an equal number of opportunities. If administrators and physicians direct their collective focus on weaving together innovations in healthcare delivery, technology and medicine, we can create the healthcare system of the future. And that's something to be excited about.
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Six years after Massachusetts' historic healthcare reform legislation, the state provides a window into healthcare reform for the rest of the states, even as the exact shape reform will take is under debate. Long a mecca of medicine, we are accustomed to attention of this sort, and our healthcare community—physicians, hospital leadership, academicians—has always contributed a wealth of knowledge and innovation to the industry. As the media, industry and policy analysts continue to monitor the implementation of healthcare reform, there is much to learn in how safety net...
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Many healthcare leaders have looked to hospital emergency departments as a logical focus for implementing changes in their systems. Emergency departments have always served as the main entry portal into hospitals, and the quality of care delivered by a hospital system begins with the emergency department. Strategies for improvement include optimizing work flow, improved care pathways, technological advances and improved physician and nursing performance. Transforming emergency departments to meet modern demands is critical to the viability of hospitals and health systems, and physician...
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The education and training of future healthcare executives are at a crossroads: 1) Leading practitioners advocate for new directions in education but a declining number are willing to serve as mentors for new graduates; 2) An increasing number of graduate programs in health administration are not accredited by the federal government agency recognized for this purpose, which raises doubts about the potency of national accreditation; 3) About 25% of graduates from accredited master's programs do not have entry-level positions within three months of graduation; and 4) University faculty do not...
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With healthcare reform approaching and economic challenges all around us, the landscape for healthcare providers is changing rapidly.
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Last week brought the final outcome of March Madness, putting an end to the weeks of watching, wondering, “Who will make it to the championship game?” and “How will my bracket fare?” But as NCAA fans across the country sat glued to their television screens, waiting to see if their basketball predictions would hold, an equally exciting matchup also took place in a very different court. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for and against our nation's landmark health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. And now we wait for the justices to...
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As happens occasionally, prevention has become a buzzword in healthcare—at least temporarily. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes several provisions boosting preventive health services. Employers, insurers and providers say they want to emphasize prevention. Emerging delivery and payment structures—accountable care organizations, patient-centered medical homes and bundling of payments—provide powerful incentives to stop expensive diseases before they start.
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The attention of Americans interested in healthcare reform has largely been focused on Washington of late, but a new report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System reminds us that examining the situation closer to home is just as important. The report's key message: Where you live in the U.S. largely determines, for better or for worse, the kind of healthcare you can expect to receive. That shouldn't be the case.
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In response to pressures from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the private insurance market, most healthcare organizations are reorganizing and restructuring their clinical business models. And while not every provider seeks accountable care organization status, most expect to be held increasingly accountable for the care they provide through value-based purchasing or other quality initiatives. They recognize the need to bend the cost curve.
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We make assumptions. Most times these assumptions are based on experiences in our lives from which we learn. Many times these assumptions can be helpful because they structure our world in meaningful ways. But what happens when assumptions hinder our world? And when that occurs, how do we attack those harmful underlying assumptions so we can shape our environment in a positive way?
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In an environment as complex as today's healthcare system, simple-seeming solutions are often merely simplistic. Nothing better illustrates that maxim than calls for “pricing transparency” in the medical technology market. But a closer examination of that market ought to lead instead to this conclusion: If it's not broke, why fix it?
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The U.S. Government Accountability Office recently confirmed what healthcare group purchasing organizations, hospitals and anyone on the front lines of patient care and healthcare cost containment see every day: Medical device pricing secrecy decreases competition, limits the ability of hospitals and their GPO partners to effectively negotiate for medical products and services, and artificially drives up healthcare costs, leaving hospitals, patients Medicare and American taxpayers to foot the bill.
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It is clear that access to objective medical information about a patient is critical to physician and provider decisionmaking at the point of care.
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Last year at this time, the first meaningful-use incentive payments from the CMS grabbed the headlines with January 2011 as the inaugural month for the exchange of funds between the federal government and eligible hospitals and providers.
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Much has been written and will continue to be written about accountable care organizations, whether they are labeled Pioneer, Shared Savings or offered through commercial carriers. There are many respected healthcare leaders who think that ACOs will bring great benefit to patients and providers while bending the cost curve.
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Hear that? It's the sound of water gently cascading from a decorative fountain in a hospital lobby. But, if the murmur of flowing water is meant to instill a sense of calm among patients, visitors and staff, the reality is far more disquieting. And newsworthy.
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The new year has just started, but inside the Beltway, all eyes are on the presidential and congressional elections that will take place in November—and the renewed fiscal policy debate that awaits us once the elections are over.
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During the past decade, U.S. hospitals have made tremendous strides in prevention of hospital-acquired infections, such as central-line associated bloodstream infections.
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Cutting budgets and healthcare spending are high priorities with many policymakers, but an unexpected success in fighting heart failure raises questions about what saves more: holding down budgets or providing the right treatment.
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Community cancer centers are the unsung heroes of cancer care. They are where 85% of Americans are diagnosed and treated for cancer. Unlike the large destination cancer centers you read about in national news, community cancer centers dot the country in rural, suburban and city locations as diverse as the U.S. population itself.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee recently announced that it will convene a hearing to investigate the proposed merger between Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, two of the nation's largest pharmacy benefit management companies.
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