July/August 2012 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review

Is the Community Hospital a Dying Model, or is it the Future of Healthcare?

As the healthcare industry adopts the philosophy of accountable care, large hospitals and academic medical centers may seem to have the upper hand compared with community hospitals, because larger hospitals typically have greater access to revenue and offer more services along the continuum of care. Click to continue »

7 Things Hospitals Should Know About Professional Services Agreements

Nary has a day gone by for hospital executives when they have not thought about how to improve their physician alignment strategies. Click to continue »

Are You an Old or New Era Hospital Leader?

With the healthcare industry moving towards accountable care, pay-for-performance models, increased quality demands and population health management, hospitals and health systems are experiencing a revolution. Click to continue »

Publisher's Letter

Becker’s Hospital Review Community Hospital Issue; Annual CEO Strategy Roundtable Click to continue »

The Chief of Change: Q&A With Dr. Ralph de la Torre, CEO of Steward Health Care

Ralph de la Torre, MD, gets things done, but he starts by forgetting everything he knows. Click to continue »

Reinventing a Hospital’s Philosophy: Q&A With Dr. Ronald A. Paulus, President and CEO of Mission Health

Ronald A. Paulus, MD, has big goals and an even "bigger" aim. As the first physician CEO of Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health, Dr. Paulus oversees a $1.2 billion integrated delivery system — the sixth-largest in the state. Click to continue »

100 Physician Leaders of Hospitals and Health Systems

Becker's Hospital Review has named "100 Physician Leaders of Hospitals and Health Systems" based on leaders' healthcare experience, awards they've received and their commitment to quality care. Click to continue »

Community Hospital CEO Panel: 3 Leaders Share Insights on the State of Community Hospitals

Community hospitals are the lifeblood of most of the communities they serve. Click to continue »

Examining the Crossroads of Culture, Engagement and Patient Satisfaction Physician-Hospital Relationships & ACO

Running a company that interacts closely with patients and hospitals, we have a mandate to deliver a consistently high level of service to everyone we touch. Click to continue »

Who Will Be on Your Team? Acquiring a Physician Practice Requires Multi-Faceted Due Diligence

A combination of economic, regulatory and competitive market forces is transforming the healthcare industry. Hospitals and physicians are no longer solely compensated for the volume of sick patients they treat. Click to continue »

Physician Engagement: 20 Survey Findings

Although overall physician engagement took a slight hit last year, more physicians in 2011 believed their organizations would be successful in the coming years compared with 2010, according to results from "The State of Staff Physician Engagement: 2011 in Review." Click to continue »

Six Sigma, 10 Years on: Was “the Promise” Realized?

In October 2001, an article appearing in Managed Healthcare Executive announced the arrival of Six Sigma methodologies in the healthcare sector. Click to continue »

Don’t Fear Clinical Integration: One Reason Community Hospitals May Have an Edge

There is certainly a push for clinical integration among healthcare organizations of all sizes and types today; and for good reason. Click to continue »

11 Best Practices for Commercial Payor Negotiations on New Payment Models

As healthcare moves into the next decade, new payment models like bundled and episodic payments, risk-sharing agreements, value-based payments and accountable care organizations are picking up momentum and changing the way reimbursement functions in the healthcare market. Click to continue »

Moody’s: The 5 Most Prominent Areas of Focus in High-Performing Hospitals

Non-profit hospitals currently face the challenge of doing more with less — providing high-quality care with lower reimbursement rates per unit of service — but there are five strategies organizations can focus on to become high-performing, according to a report from Moody's Investors Service. Click to continue »

AHA Supports Postponing ICD-10 Until 2014

The American Hospital Association submitted a letter to CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner yesterday, saying it supported a one-year delay of ICD-10 to Oct. 1, 2014, but that CMS should finalize its proposal soon. Click to continue »

10 Steps to Increase the Value of a Hospital or Surgery Center

Hospital mergers and acquisitions increased 12 percent in 2011, according to a Levin Associates report, with surgery center deals following suit. Click to continue »

Community Hospitals Must Lead With Experience, Close With Compassion

As the healthcare industry enters an era of accountable, patient-first care, many hospitals are beginning to focus on patient experience. Click to continue »

Performance of Rural Healthcare Under the Affordable Care Act

Aconsideration in the design of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the role played by rural patients and their providers. Click to continue »

Chuck Lauer: Why We Need to Keep Our Community Hospitals Strong

Community hospitals are under siege right now. Unlike large medical centers or hospital systems, they do not have the clout to qualify for the highest payor rates or the lowest vendor prices. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Transactions July/August 2012

Backus Corp. in Norwich, Conn., parent of Backus Healthcare System, and Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare signed a memorandum of understanding to move forward with their proposed affiliation. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Executive Moves July/August 2012

Mark Billings, president of Presbyterian Healthcare in Charlotte, N.C., since 2008, left the system to serve as president of Presbyterian’s parent, Novant Health Shared Services in Winston-Salem, N.C. Click to continue »