Process Improvement

The Centers for Disease Control has just released new guidelines designed to cut the spread of drug-resistant infections occurring within hospitals and other health facilities. According to the CDC, 2 million people acquire infections in hospitals each year, resulting in 90,000 deaths. In this case, the report focuses on multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) such as methicillin-resistant …

Roanoke-based non-profit Carilion Health System is facing significant resistance from doctors as execs move ahead with plans to substantially reorganize operations. The non-profit currently runs eight hospitals, as well as Carilion Medical Group, a 200-clinician practice with 70 offices. Despite creating a system-wide EMR and instituting other initiatives to coordinate care, the health system model isn't working effectively, according Carilion's CEO, Dr. Edward Murphy. He and his board …

Consumer-driven healthcare has the potential to reshape the industry in positive ways, but if it's handled badly, it could generate a regulatory backlash over the next decade. That's the one of the key conclusions drawn by participants at a recent symposium run by Goldman Sachs and Diamond Management & Technology Consultants. At present, Goldman Sachs estimates that the number of lives covered by consumer-directed health plans will grow from under 4 million in 2005 to 49 million by …

Despite all of the publicity--and strong hints from federal agencies--doctors continue to resist using electronic medical records in their practice, according to a study released yesterday. True, one in four doctors use medical records in their practice, and that number should grow steadily over the next year or two, according to researchers with the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. However, they found that only one in ten physicians are actually leveraging …

Execs at Boston teaching hospital Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have begun planning for a $500 million expansion, concerned that the hospital will run out of space within the next five years. The hospital has seen dramatic increases in patient volume in recent times, including a 53 percent jump in outpatient visits between 2002 and 2005. If the hospital's volume keeps growing at its current pace, it may need to add an additional 900,000 square feet, administrators said. Execs are …

A new report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers argues that with lots of high-profile scrutiny under way, non-profit hospitals need to do a much better job of measuring and communicating the community benefit and charity care they provide. What's more, PWC suggests, hospitals will need to develop patient-friendly pricing schemes to compliment their community-friendly policies. The consulting firm breaks down its recommendations across reporting, pricing and business relationship strategies, and …

Responding to a rebuke from the state's Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), Blue Cross of California has agreed to discontinue its policy of paying physicians a higher fee for performing certain endoscopy procedures in ambulatory surgical centers. The California Hospital Association had filed a suit challenging the policy. After reviewing the policy, the DMHC concluded that Blue Cross should have sought prior regulatory approval first, as the financial incentive policy constituted a …

While it's tough getting doctors wired, that's far from the only issue in making electronic medical records as useful and powerful a tool as they could be. Even when hospitals succeed at getting physicians to adopt EMR technology, those records usually don't "talk" to records created by other health systems and hospitals, says Paul Levy, CEO of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in a recent blog entry. As he notes, the situation in Boston is a perfect example. His medical …

Sometimes, old ideas get repackaged and re-used for good reason. In this case it's the notion of employer-delivered healthcare, which dates back at least to when Kaiser first established a hospital and clinic for employees in the 1930s. The evidence continues to mount that this is a good idea in today's healthcare marketplace. According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, a …

Administrators at inner city-based St. Louis University Hospital were troubled by their rate of ambulance diversion. For 2003, St. Louis University ranked third among 22 area hospitals for diversions, rerouting ambulances 660 hours due to ER overcrowding and resources drained by its status as a Level One trauma center. But after instituting some process changes designed to assess ER conditions and free up beds, the hospital has been able to cut that figure dramatically.

The …