academic medical centers

Getting new executives fully up to speed is tough. But if you've recruited a chief medical officer, it's a particularly trying process for both the candidate and the organization, says David Shabot, managing director with executive search firm …

When in comes to healthcare, people seem to be in a giving mood. Charitable donations to U.S. healthcare facilities and organizations set a new record for growth during the last fiscal year, according to a new research report from the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. Donations climbed 16 percent, to $7.01 billion, during fiscal 2005. Most of these funds (60 percent) came from individuals, while 18.2 percent came from businesses, 12.7 percent from foundations and 9.9 percent from a …

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced this week that it has given a dozen academic medical centers a total of $100 million in an initiative intended to help these institutions move discoveries quickly from the lab to the bedside. The twelve universities receiving the grants are now part of a consortium; members are expected to help scientists work together, rather than compete aggressively for dollars, intellectual leadership and prestige as is more the norm in research …

Academic medical centers in the Boston area are preparing themselves for an aggressive unionization drive led by SEIU Local 1199. The Boston Globe reports that providers are studying the healthcare union's fight with Yale-New Haven hospital to get a sense of what the union's tactics are likely to be. The group was able to delay plans for Yale-New Haven's cancer center by months with an aggressive "corporate style" marketing campaign including billboards criticizing the hospital's billing …

This week another Dartmouth study showed more dramatic variation in healthcare resource use between different areas, this time in the care of the
elderly in academic medical centers in the last 6 months of life. And again
there appeared to be no difference in quality or outcomes between those who
use more resources and those, including the Mayo Clinic, who …

New research published in Health Affairs challenges the idea that the U.S. is suffering from a physician shortage. Instead, the authors conclude, the problem has to do with efficiency. Authors David Goodman and Wenner argue that physicians can and should be used more effectively, contradicting calls by groups like the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges who have called for an increase in the number of medical students. The study looked at …

The Cleveland Clinic will make changes to its conflict-of-interest policies following the completion of an internal review. The hospital became the focus of criticism last year after the Wall Street Journal reported on the relationship between CEO Dr. Delos "Toby" Cosgrove and Foundation Medical Partners, a venture-capital fund started by the Clinic. Critics argued the fact medical devices and medicines developed by Clinic-owned companies were used in research and procedures …

Officials at NewYork-Presbyterian hospital said they are planning a new $254 million cardiovascular center at its NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Washington Heights campus. The provider also intends to complete a $169 million upgrade to the New York Weill Cornell Center on the Upper East Side. Coming at a time when many community hospitals in New York are struggling to remain profitable, critics say the expansion highlights the competitive advantage that major academic …