hospital administrators

Yesterday I wrote about my interview with Mark Hochstetler, M.D., vice president of clinical affairs with the VHA. In the course of our discussion about …

A provision in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 makes it easier than ever for hospital employees to call in regulators if they suspect Medicaid fraud. "The provisions contain incentives that encourage states to enact Medicaid anti-fraud legislation modeled after the federal False Claims Act," Philip Betbeze of HealthLeaders magazine notes. This, he observes, could cause some serious headaches for hospital administrators. Article

Issues as diverse as Hurricane Katrina, Chinese use of steel and high oil and copper prices are impacting the cost of hospital construction in the midst of an industry-wide building boom. For about 20 years, hospital building costs rose only two to three percent a year. Since 2004, however, the cost of building a hospital has risen as much as ten percent a year, averaging "between $265 and $275 per square foot…up from less than $100 in 1995," according to the Birmingham Business …

> In Missouri, State Representative Dr. Rob Schaaf is calling for more competition in St. Joseph, a town with only one hospital: Heartland Regional Medical Center. He claims that HRMC's monopoly has artificially inflated medical costs, but hospital administrators say the facility makes only a small profit. Article

> California Pacific Medical Center workers say that the hospital has violated an …

Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital has undertaken a program to provide high-class patient hospitality services in an effort to attract affluent, international and privately insured patients. "We arrange everything--the doctor, the room, the transportation, accommodations for family. It's a concierge service from beginning to end," Diamela Corrales, manager of patient-hospitality services, told the Orlando Sentinel. But such service comes only to those who are willing--and …

For years, the heart program at University Hospitals of Cleveland floundered. Earlier attempts to build a strong cardiac center failed and the hospital was left to sit in the shadow of its competitor, the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. Now, however, UH and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is undergoing a $20 million makeover and plans to restart its heart transplant program, which was halted several years back due to higher-than-expected mortality rates. Hospital …

Columbia Memorial Hospital employees have postponed today's planned strike and will continue negotiations with the Hudson, NY hospital administrators after Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) sent a letter asking both sides to "redouble your efforts to negotiate a fair and reasonable contract for the benefit of the hospital, the workforce and the community."

Since December, union members--which include registered nurses, pharmacists, medical technicians, technologists, housekeeping and …

U.S. hospitals have been making progress in dealing with the nurse shortage, but the country is still likely to face a deficit of around one million nurses by the year 2012, according to a new study that appeared in the journal Health Affairs on Monday. Researchers at the Center for Studying Health System Change report U.S. hospitals are using a variety of approaches, including nurse education programs and competitive salary packages, in response.

The survey of hospital …

> Iowa Methodist Medical Center settled a lawsuit involving a former patient who says a surgeon used a Medtronic pacemaker because administrators wanted to win a $1 million payment from the company. Report

> A media frenzy is shaping up after a pair of anesthesiologists scheduled to participate in an execution in California refused to participate, saying they could …

Nine states are considering laws that would require drug companies to report gifts they give physicians and hospital administrators. Four states--Vermont, Minnesota, West Virginia and Maine--currently have laws requiring gift reporting. Most of the new laws under consideration are based on a Vermont law passed in 2002. Under that law, drug companies are required to report any gift valued at more than $25 to the state's attorney general; names of recipients are not revealed.

- see this article from USA Today