February 2011 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review

8 Mistakes Your Hospital is Making Right Now

The mistakes your hospital is making now may cripple its chances of thriving under healthcare reform and future care delivery requirements. Click to continue »

5 of the Biggest Hospital Employment Trends

Here are five significant trends that affected hospital employment in 2010. Click to continue »

Physician Employment & Beyond: The Current State of Physician Integration

Just a few years ago, 431-bed Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Ill., was focused on nurturing independent physicians who could function at arm's length from the institution. Click to continue »

Publisher’s Letter: February 2011

11 Questions for 2011; Register for the Becker’s Hospital Review Annual Meeting Click to continue »

7 Keys to Developing a World Class Oncology Program

The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins was one of 30 oncology programs recently featured in Becker's Hospital Review for exceptional cancer research, care and treatment. Click to continue »

Rising Stars: 25 Healthcare Leaders Under Age 40

Here are 25 leaders of hospitals and healthcare systems under the age of 40. Click to continue »

System Integration in 2011: Q&A With Gary Campbell, President and CEO of Centura Health

Gary Campbell, president and CEO of Colorado-based Centura Health, discusses the task of leading an integrated health system in a changing industry. Click to continue »

8 Points on Hospital-Physician Integration

Catholic Health Initiatives is a faith-based system that includes 73 hospitals and operates in 19 states. Click to continue »

10 Recently Launched ACOs

Here are 10 hospitals, physician groups, health systems and insurers that have recently formed ACOs. Click to continue »

Quint Studer: 3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Hospital’s Performance

Hospitals today are judged on their ability to meet certain performance indicators ranging from clinical outcomes to financial goals. Click to continue »

Creating Stronger Physician-Hospital Alignment

To create leading healthcare institutions, physicians and hospitals must be aligned in multiple areas over a sustained period of time. Click to continue »

Strategies to Provide Patients With Superior Customer Service

1. Start seeing patients as customers. Taking care of patients is what healthcare is all about. It may be hard for some people to think of patients as customers, but they definitely are. Click to continue »

8 Insights Into Successful Hospital-ASC Joint Ventures

Christian D. Ellison, vice president of business development at Health Inventures in Broomfield, Colo., provides eight insights for successful joint ventures between hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. Click to continue »

5 Best Practices for a Profitable ASC

Five different ASC-focused physicians discuss best practices that contribute to the development and operation of a successful ASC. Click to continue »

10 New ASCs Opened or Under Development by Hospitals and Health Systems

Hospitals and health systems nationwide continue to lay out plans for and develop new surgery centers. Here are 10 new hospital and health system surgery center projects recently in the news. Click to continue »

3 Ways Surgery Center Physicians Can Increase Case Volume

Here are three ways surgery center physicians can increase case volume. Click to continue »

10 Traits of High-Earning Hospital CEOs

As short- and long-term incentive plans become more popular and CEO compensation becomes more transparent, hospital CEOs must achieve tangible results to justify their high salaries to the public. Click to continue »

5 Points on Designing a CEO Incentive Compensation Plan

Hospital incentive plans are increasingly focused on quantifiable measures that are critical for hospital success, meaning only the most focused CEOs can achieve the top financial rewards for their work. Click to continue »

15 Statistics on Healthcare Executive Compensation

Here are 15 statistics about compensation of various types of hospital leaders, including leaders of non-profit hospitals and CEOs with clinical backgrounds. Click to continue »

3 Questions to Ask When Designing an Employed Physician Compensation Plan

Physician employment is becoming more and more prevalent as hospitals look to integrate and align with physicians. Click to continue »

Justice Department Alleges Mayo Clinic Falsely Billed Medicare

The Department of Justice has accused the Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minn., of violating the False Claims Act by falsely billing federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare, for lab tests that were never performed, according to a report by the Star Tribune. Click to continue »

St. John’s Mercy Health System and St. John’s Health System Settle Fraud Allegations for $2.2M

St. John's Mercy Health Care and St. John's Health System, both based in St. Louis, have agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle allegations that foot clinics at St. John's hospitals overbilled Medicare, according to a News-Leaders news report. Click to continue »

Obama Makes Physicians’ Exemption From Red Flags Rule Official

President Obama has signed the Red Flag Clarification Act of 2010 into law, which clarifies and narrows the definition of a "creditor" and thereby excludes physicians from the Federal Trade Commission's Red Flags Rule, according to a Healthcare IT News report. Click to continue »

4 Things to Consider Before Putting Your Hospital on the Market

When selling a hospital, the following factors may either woo or worry potential buyers. Rex Burgdorfer, an M&A banker with Juniper Advisory in Chicago, shares four points to examine before putting your hospital on the market. Click to continue »

5 Ways to Make Your Hospital More Attractive to a Buyer

It takes hard work to catch buyers' attention amid the current flurry of M&A activity. Click to continue »

Redefining Healthcare Finance: Time to Move Beyond the Long-Term Debt Crunch

I'm amazed at how many hospitals today are performing so well, running such strong margins, that they have millions in excess cash on hand. Click to continue »

5 Hospitals That Closed Their Doors in 2010

Here are five hospitals that closed in 2010, in order from most to least recent. Click to continue »

CMS Releases Proposed Rule on Value-Based Purchasing

CMS has released a proposed rule on value-based purchasing, which involves paying hospitals for performance on quality measures, according to a release by CMS. Click to continue »

5 Best Practices for Implementing Health IT Across a Large Health System

As 2011 nears, hospitals and healthcare systems are racing to implement electronic medical record systems in their organizations. Click to continue »

Crisis Communication During a Data Breach: 5 Best Practices

A healthcare data breach can prove costly to an organization's bottom line and its reputation. Here are five best practices for crisis communication during a breach. Click to continue »

HIMSS: 22% of Hospitals Can Meet at Least 10 of 14 Core Measurements of Stage 1 Meaningful Use

HIMSS Analytics has released data indicating that nearly one-quarter of 687 surveyed hospitals are ready to meet 10 or more of the required core measures in stage 1 of meaningful use, according to a HIMSS Analytics news release. Click to continue »

15 Statistics on Physician-Hospital Alignment

The following statistics are from the PricewaterhouseCoopers 2010 report, "From courtship to marriage: Why health reform is driving physicians and hospitals together." Click to continue »

Healthcare Reform’s Impact on Hospital Emergency Departments: 6 Considerations

It goes without saying that the new healthcare reform law will have far-reaching implications on hospitals across the country. Click to continue »

Study Finds Shortage of On-Call Specialists Plaguing ERs

A recent study published in Academic Emergency Medicine found that emergency departments across the country face significant shortages of on-call specialists. Click to continue »

Researchers Assess Accuracy of Radiology Readings in EDs

Physicians at Georgetown University and George Washington University, both in Washington D.C., assessed radiology discrepancies resulting from radiograph interpretations that occur in hospital emergency departments and analyzed the types of errors made by emergency physicians, according to an article published in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Click to continue »

Rapid Medical Screening Process Improves Patient Flow in EDs

The implementation of a rapid screening process could improve patient flow during surges in patient volume without affecting rates of return to the emergency department, according to a study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Executive Moves

Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, announced his resignation ... Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Transactions

Toledo-based ProMedica Health System said the Federal Trade Commission’s new antitrust challenge of its acquisition of a 198-bed hospital is inconsistent with healthcare reform ...Click to continue »