May/June 2011 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review

100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare

Becker's ASC Review/Becker's Hospital Review has announced its list of the "100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare." Click to continue »

12 Best Practices for Hospitals Great Places to Work

It is time to re-engage hospital staff. According to a 2010 report by Press Ganey Associates, 45 percent of hospital employees consider themselves "distanced from or discontent with their current work." Click to continue »

50 Things to Know About the Proposed ACO Regulations

This article briefly outlines 50 things to know about the Medicare Shared Savings Program proposed rule — which established Medicare accountable care organizations — released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on March 31. Click to continue »

Publisher’s Letter: May/June 2011

Accountable Care Organizations: 10 Observations - Orthopedic, Spine and Pain Management Driven ASC Conference June 9th – 11th — How Can ASCs and Practices Thrive in Changing Times; How can Hospitals and ASCs Align?; Meet Every ASC Buyer; What Will ACOs Mean for ASCs and Specialists? Deduct $200 from the Registration Fee Click to continue »

Finding the Model Healthcare Executive

A lot of sports or business legends exhibit great courage and expertise, but their personal lives reveal things that are anything but exemplary. Click to continue »

Physician Integration: Hospital Medical Leaders Share Challenges, Strategies

Healthcare leaders are finding that physician integration will be critical for achieving the increased efficiencies and coordination necessary for meeting healthcare reform standards and for producing savings. Click to continue »

Physician Integration May Be “Tipping Point” for Success of ACOs

The success of physician integration may be the "tipping point" for the development of an accountable care organization, says Michael McKenna, MD, VP of Medical Management at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill. Click to continue »

5 Opportunities for Physicians and Hospitals to Realign in Preparation for ACOs

Accountable care organizations may still be clouded with uncertainty, but one facet of the model is becoming clearer: redefined relationships between hospitals and physicians. Click to continue »

ACO Pioneers: Q&A With Leaders From The Nebraska Medical Center and Atlantic Health

Sometime between now and their seven-page inclusion in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, accountable care organizations have been pinned as the unicorns of healthcare. Click to continue »

10 Recently Formed ACOs

Here are 10 providers that have recently formed accountable care organizations, beginning with the most recent. Click to continue »

5 Ways to Improve Pay-for-Performance

In 2002, Oak Brook, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care's major payor indicated it was only interested in giving increases if they were related to demonstrated value. Click to continue »

8 Steps to Building a Truly Transparent Hospital

Three hospital leaders discuss how their hospitals embraced transparency and data distribution to improve finances, satisfaction and clinical outcomes at their facilities. Click to continue »

Consumer Access to Hospital Data Places High Expectations on Facilities

We are entering the age of the informed healthcare consumer: While hospitals promote internal transparency to keep employees aware of strategic decisions and financial hurdles, government and commercial resources are expanding the breadth of information available to patients. Click to continue »

Involving Anesthesia in Transparency and ACOs: Q&A With Somnia Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rob Goldstein

Rob Goldstein, MD, chief medical officer for Somnia, discusses the role of anesthesia in an ACO and the benefit of involving anesthesia providers in transparency initiatives. Click to continue »

Putting Communities in Charge of Hospitals’ Future

It's getting clear that government can no longer support healthcare in the manner to which it is accustomed. As federal and state governments stagger under huge deficits, payments from entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare are being cut back. Click to continue »

An Examination of Ownership Models of ASC JVs

There exist over 5,000 Medicare certified ASCs in the country, up from around 3,000 ASCs a decade ago. Over 90 percent of these ASCs have physician ownership. Click to continue »

8 Problems Surrounding Meaningful Use

Achieving meaningful use will require extensive training and time, which translates to big costs for providers. Approximately 62 percent of providers who already have or are planning to implement electronic health or medical records will spend more than 20 percent of their yearly IT spending on meaningful use-related projects this year, according to an InformationWeek survey. Click to continue »

Federal Meaningful Use Workgroup Goes to Work on Stage 2 Deadlines and Requirements

The HIT Policy Committee's meaningful use workgroup is still working toward finalizing recommendations for a timeline and requirements for the next stage of meaningful use, according to a Government Health IT news report. Click to continue »

8 Steps to Smoothly Achieve Meaningful Use

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 »

4 Predictions on the Switch to ICD-10

On Oct. 1, 2013, ICD-10-CM (clinical modification) and ICD-10-PCS (procedural coding system) will be implemented into the HIPAA mandated code, increasing the number of codes from around 13,600 under ICD-9 to around 69,000 under ICD-10. Click to continue »

Squeezing Water From a Stone: How to Get More From Existing Capacity and Add More to Your Bottom Line

As the health reform law now stands, American hospitals must trim $155 billion in waste over the next decade. Click to continue »

5 Strategies to Improve Patient Flow in a Busy Hospital

By improving patient flow, a hospital can save money on staffing, decrease wait times and boost patient and provider satisfaction. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Executive Moves

Healthcare Management Partners and Memphis-based Dobbs Equity Partners signed a letter of intent to construct a new facility that will merge three existing South Carolina hospitals into one integrated healthcare system. The new system will be called Tri-County Regional Health System. It will be comprised of Bamberg (S.C.) County Hospital, Barnwell (S.C.) County Hospital and Allendale County Hospital in Fairfax, S.C. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Executives Moves

Novant Health in Winston-Salem, N.C., promoted Carl Armato from executive vice president, the position he held for the past three years, to senior executive vice president and COO. Click to continue »