March/April 2011 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review

50 Best Hospitals in America

Becker's Hospital Review has named the 50 best hospitals in America, which cover a wide spectrum from well-known academic medical centers to less widely recognized community hospitals that have reached greatness. Click to continue »

One Year Since Healthcare Reform: 5 Thoughts From Healthcare Leaders

On March 21, 2010, the House of Representatives passed President Barack Obama's sweeping healthcare reform bill, signaling the beginning of a watermark decade for the healthcare industry. Click to continue »

5 Common Hospital Problems — and Suggestion for How to Fix Them

Talk to hospitals around the country, and you'll hear about the same problems: crowded halls, provider shortages and sloppy patient hand-off. Click to continue »

Publisher’s Letter: March 2011

We hope you find the content of this March/April issue of Becker’s Hospital Review valuable. Click to continue »

Planning for an Uncertain Future: Q&A With Gene Michalski, CEO of Michigan’s Beaumont Hospitals

Gene Michalski, the fifth CEO in Michigan's Beaumont Hospitals' 55-year history, answers questions on the future of private practice, addressing the provider shortage and his biggest success as a healthcare leader. Click to continue »

Shifting From a Hospital-Based to Community-Based Mindset: Q&A With Valinda Rutledge, CEO of CaroMont Health

Valinda Rutledge was named CEO of Gaston County, N.C.-based CaroMont Health System, parent of Gaston Memorial, in Aug. 2009, resigning her previous position as CEO of Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville, S.C, part of the national Bon Secours system. Click to continue »

5 Ways to Put People First in an ACO

In healthcare, we require appointments for test results, even though we could relay them privately over phone or email. Click to continue »

4 Points on Exclusivity, Market Power and Transparency in ACOs

Accountable care organization guidelines have yet to be released by the Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, but many providers are nervous to see how the topics of physician collaborations, exclusivity and transparency will be treated when the waivers and safety zones finally are defined. Click to continue »

Almost Half of Physicians Don’t Know What an ACO Is

At a time when hospitals seek alignment with physicians to build accountable care organizations, 45 percent of physicians in a recent survey indicated they did not know what an ACO is, according to a report by HCPlexus. Click to continue »

45% of Employers Want ACOs

A recent national employer survey has found more than 45 percent of all and 52 percent of large employers want to develop accountable care organizations, according to a Midwest Business Group on Health news release. Click to continue »

Physician Hospital Integration Efforts: 4 Key Concepts

We saw a great deal of physician hospital integration activity during 2010. The integration activity centered around practice acquisition and employment, service line management, co-management and transactions involving surgery centers and other physician-owned facilities and a number of other physician hospital relationships. Click to continue »

The Physician Hospital Enterprise: Physician Leadership Forges New Alliances

Is your organization prepared for this new era of joint accountability and quality improvement? Are you well-positioned to achieve successful hospital-physician alignment? Click to continue »

Engaging Physicians With IT

A key goal for all hospitals in the next few years is using healthcare IT to create an integrated care system. Click to continue »

10 Lessons From Leaders Who Have Merged or Acquired Hospitals

There is no instruction manual when it comes to hospital mergers, acquisitions and affiliations. Click to continue »

Hospital M&A Continued to Grow in Second Half of 2010

Hospital merger and acquisition activity continued grow in the second half of 2010, which accounted for 62 percent of activity in the full year, according to a release by Irving Levin Associates. Click to continue »

5 Common Mistakes Hospitals Make When Investing in Surgery Centers with Physicians

Hospitals are increasingly building new ambulatory surgery centers in partnership with surgeons. Click to continue »

3 Current Trends Impacting ASC Transactions

ASCOA CEO Luke M. Lambert discusses three current trends impacting surgery center transactions. Click to continue »

ASC Transactions and Pricing During 2010: 4 Key Concepts

2010 saw a significant increase over 2009 in surgery center transactions. Click to continue »

4 Best Practices to Reduce Costs in Hospital-Owned ASCs

Here are four best practices for hospitals to help reduce costs in their ASCs, according to Joseph W. (Woody) Hubbard, vice president of ambulatory care for North Carolina-based Novant Health. Click to continue »

7 Points on Developing Surgery Centers in Highly Regulated States

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

10 Big Anti-Kickback and Stark Cases Involving Hospitals

Here are ten big anti-kickback statute and Stark law cases involving hospitals that made headlines in 2010. Click to continue »

24 Statistics on Specialty Physician Compensation

Here are 24 statistics about specialty physician compensation by region, based on data from MGMA's Physician Compensation and Production Survey. Click to continue »

20 Statistics on Employed Physician Revenue vs. Salary by Specialty

Here are 20 statistics about revenue generated by physicians for hospitals versus average employed physician salary, based on physician specialty. Click to continue »

Hospital-Employed Physician Salaries Could Jump 2.3% in 2011

Physicians employed by hospitals and health systems could experience a 2.3 percent increase in base salary in 2011, according to a survey by management consulting firm Hay Group. Click to continue »

6 Predictions on Stage 2 Meaningful Use

The HITECH Act under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allows eligible healthcare providers to receive incentive payments upon demonstrating "meaningful use" of electronic health records. Click to continue »

Lessons for Hospital Leaders From ‘Undercover Boss’

Every so often I watch the show "Undercover Boss" on CBS. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Executive Moves

Tim Puthoff was named CEO of Gateway Medical Center in Clarksville, Tenn. ... Click to continue »

Recent Hospital & Health System Transactions

Community Hospital of Long Beach (Calif.) will explore a merger with Long Beach Memorial Medical Center ... Click to continue »