By Vince Galloro November 04, 2009 Richard Pollack and Tom Scully both know Washington and the current healthcare debate inside out. Listening to them both speak to the Tennessee Hospital Association's annual meeting last week in Nashville, only one of them sounded like a man who makes his living lobbying Congress. They both do so, of course. Pollack is the executive vice president in charge of advocacy and public policy for the American Hospital Association. Scully, a former CMS administrator, is senior counsel in the Washington office of the law firm Alston & Bird. ... FULL STORY
By Andis Robeznieks October 26, 2009 In his opening keynote speech at the Medical Group Management Association's recent annual conference in Denver, Ezekiel Emanuel gave 2.24 trillion reasons why there is so much excitement over healthcare reform. ... FULL STORY
By Andis Robeznieks October 02, 2009 Although the Olympics won't be coming to Chicago, the 22nd annual Healthcare Facilities Symposium & Expo was held again at the city's lakefront Navy Pier facility this week and it's already committed to returning again next September. Take that, International Olympic Committee! ... FULL STORY
By Joe Carlson July 29, 2009 The morning's coffee was still steaming hot in cups around the auditorium as HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed a large audience of influential figures in healthcare. ... FULL STORY
By Shawn Rhea July 27, 2009 The most interesting information circulated at the 2009 Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management conference didn't originate inside one of the 69 learning labs or one of the many other sessions conducted during this year's event. It was conference participants' out-of-session grumblings and observations that provided the most intriguing glimpses into what supply chain managers are grappling with in the face of an economic downturn. ... FULL STORY
By Gregg Blesch July 02, 2009 HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius revealed something as soon as she took the podium in Washington as the first keynote speaker at the American Health Lawyers Association's annual meeting. ... FULL STORY
By Shawn Rhea June 24, 2009 The anticipated benefits of a universal tracking system for medical products have long loomed grand. For about two decades now, early advocates of electronic tracking technology have painted pictures of a symbiotic global supply-chain process capable of proffering dossier-like information on the history of a bed pan should it be needed. But as the roughly 250 supply-chain executives attending the GS1 Healthcare US Conference held June 16-18 in Washington heard, arriving at that stage of information nirvana isn’t going to come without glitches. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans June 22, 2009 Since the last big gathering of the Healthcare Financial Management Association one year ago, so, so much has happened. Financial markets nearly collapsed and the nation’s recession painfully worsened. Healthcare reform, one campaign issue among many in the summer of 2008, emerged as a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s effort to dent the U.S. budget deficit. ... FULL STORY
By Joe Carlson June 17, 2009 Workers were disassembling stage props and wheeling in hulking carts of sliced lemons for lunch, but Mitch Handrich was not going to let all the activity distract him sharing his views the problems with healthcare.“I think we need to get corporations out of healthcare,” said Handrich, an R.N., attending a morning speech during the Catholic Health Association’s annual assembly, which took place in his home city at the Sheraton New Orleans. ... FULL STORY
By Rebecca Vesely June 10, 2009 Who wasn’t in San Diego for the annual conference of major insurers from June 3 to June 5 seemed to carry as much significance as who was at the confab. Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans and the face of the insurance lobby, was in San Diego for only a few hours on June 3, prior to opening sessions, before heading back to Washington for top-level congressional meetings on healthcare reform. Dennis Rivera, chair of the Service Employees International Union, stayed behind in Washington instead of speaking as planned on June 5. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans June 03, 2009 For the volunteers who govern the nation’s hospitals and health systems, the economy’s slide and healthcare reform mean more than grappling with stressed balance sheets and looming uncertainty. Events unfolding in capital markets also underscore the necessity of highly knowledgeable boards.Hospital and system trustees, directors and chief executives who met in Kohler, Wis. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans May 27, 2009 Vanishing cash has been a major source of anxiety for healthcare finance executives since stock markets’ gut-wrenching drop in the final months of 2008. For the nation’s weakest hospitals, the economy’s accelerated slide late last year drained already meager cash reserves and put some afoul of lending agreements. But the nation’s weakest hospitals were not in New York recently for an investor road show jointly sponsored by two healthcare trade groups and the major healthcare underwriter Citigroup. ... FULL STORY
By Andis Robeznieks May 04, 2009 In addition to witnessing a wide spectrum of Chicago’s weather experiences—glorious warm sunshine followed by a 40-degree temperature drop into a dreary cold rain—attendees at the American College of Physician Executives meeting held April 24-28 were also exposed to different ways of thinking about the subject of leadership. Along with courses on navigating complicated business deals and the latest quality and efficiency tools, there were several programs on leadership and relationship management. ... FULL STORY
By Gregg Blesch April 30, 2009 The Health Care Compliance Association’s annual Compliance Institute was held in Las Vegas this week. Funny, right? The association of professionals charged with upholding rules and ethical standards congregating in the city of few rules and vile ethical standards. ... FULL STORY
