Healthcare staffing news from FierceHealthcare
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HMO, staffing and transportation mergers announced
The M&A market was busy this week, as HealthSpring, a Medicare Advantage HMO, agreed to purchase Leon Medical Centers Health Plans in Florida; a consortium of private equity firms led by Goldman... Read more...
Study: Nurse turnover not highest priority
While nurse turnover can cost hospitals as much as $5.4 million per year, hospital executives typically are working harder on other issues, including quality improvement, reimbursement problems and uncompensated care, a new study shows. The Pricewaterhouse Cooper study, which included data from 237 hospital respondents, found nurse and physician staffing were sixth and seventh, respectively, on a list of key issues cited. On average, executives reported temporary nurses were staffing an …
... Read more...Healthcare staffing firms poised for growth
The growing healthcare staffing shortage is nasty news for providers--but it should be great for the healthcare staffing industry. With the number of Americans aged 55 to 64 set to expand 40 percent by 2014, few observers expect provider recruitment to be able to keep pace. This is good news for healthcare recruiters, including giants like AMN Healthcare Services and Cross Country Healthcare. Of late, companies like these have gone through hard times, as hospitals cut staffing levels to a …
... Read more...New Orleans goes on international nurse hunt
Hospitals in New Orleans are searching far and wide to fill major gaps in their nursing lineups, still struggling with shortages arising from mass departures after Hurricane Katrina. For example, Ochsner Medical Center-West Bank and West Jefferson Medical Center have been forced to fill the 100 vacancies at each hospital with contract workers from out of state. The two also share …
... Read more...CT hospital CEO pay climbs rapidly
It's the usual story: hospitals say they are paying their CEOs what they feel they must, and consumers don't like the numbers. This time the tale is playing out in Connecticut, where a newspaper analysis of state CEO salaries has highlighted some big increases. Last year, eight Connecticut hospital administrators earned more than $1 million, according to an analysis of state data by the Hartford Courant. The highest paid was Middlesex Hospital CEO Robert Kiely, whose compensation …
... Read more...Study: Fewer medical students choose geriatrics
A new study has added to the growing concern over lack of geriatricians needed to care for a growing senior population. The study, done by researchers at the University of Cincinnati, projects that by the year 2030 roughly 70 million Americans will be older than 65. However, over the past 10 years the number of geriatricians has actually declined, from 8,800 to 7,100, with little to suggest that the trend will turn around. In fact, the percentage of students entering family …
... Read more...CO studies nurse role in quality of care
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (D) has signed an executive order setting up a task force to examine the nursing profession's status in the state. The Nurse Workforce and Patient Care Task Force is looking at nurses' contributions to quality of care in healthcare facilities and the state's environment for nursing practice, as well as the accuracy of quality and staffing statistics. The task force will also consider ways in which new legislation might address the state's healthcare staffing …
... Read more...Suit against CO hospital claims ethnic bias
A suit against public hospital system Denver Health continues to progress, with participants looking to potentially file a class action request shortly. The suit, which claims that Denver Health engages in routine discrimination against the ethnic minorities it employs, contends that the performance management system put in place by hospital CEO Dr. Patricia Gabow is part of the problem, as it allows the hospital's largely white corps of supervisors to use subjective evaluation criteria …
... Read more...Jesse Jackson joins CA hospital workers
Rev. Jesse Jackson is throwing is considerable publicity-making powers behind union efforts to boost pay and restructure working conditions at Los Angeles-based Good Samaritan Hospital. The SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West has targeted Good Samaritan, which it says pays 40 percent less than other hospitals in the region, for a high-profile effort designed to force hospital executives' …
... Read more...Families choose unlicensed home care
With elderly patients increasingly dealing with major health issues at home, getting skilled home care in place has never been more important. Such care might cost $150,000 a year when provided by an agency offering bonded, insured and certified home health aides. But with Medicare limiting how much of such care it will pay for, few can afford these more-qualified helpers. Instead, middle-class families are turning to informal networks of unlicensed, untrained and unsupervised home care …
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