November/December 2011 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review

10 Biggest Hospital Stories of 2011

2011 has not been a quiet year for healthcare. During the last 12 months, a number of provisions within the healthcare reform law went into effect, and proposed rules and guidance for several innovative programs created by the law were released, all while the nation’s courts heard cases arguing against the law’s constitutionality. Click to continue »

From Treating the Sick to Managing Community Health: Hospitals' New Role in Managing Population Health

Hospitals have long provided services aimed at improving the health of their communities, usually as part of their community benefit programs. Click to continue »

From Cop to CEO: Q&A With Chris Van Gorder of Scripps Health

Chris Van Gorder was named CEO of the five-hospital Scripps Health, based in San Diego, in 2000. Under his tenure, the health system has experienced a $150 million financial turnaround and plans to invest more than $3 billion in inpatient and outpatient expansion projects across the region over the next 20 years. Click to continue »

Publisher's Letter November 2011

Becker’s Hospital Review Benchmarking Issue; 2012 Becker’s Hospital Review Annual Meeting Click to continue »

200 Hospital Benchmarks

Hospitals are constantly striving to improve their finances, operations and quality, but they need the proper metrics to turn those good intentions into measurable action. Click to continue »

Opportunities in the New Bundled Payment Initiative

On Aug. 22, CMS release the details of the "Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative" program, which is the lesser known of the two pilot programs implemented by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health reform legislation. Click to continue »

Redesigning Healthcare Delivery Through Bundled Payments for Care: Q&A With Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s Valinda Rutledge

On Aug. 22, CMS released a request for application for the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative. The initiative, created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, incents physicians and hospitals to coordinate care, which is intended to improve quality and reduce healthcare costs associated with treating Medicaid beneficiaries. Click to continue »

56 Women Hospital and Healthcare Leaders to Know

Becker's Hospital Review has named the following female leaders to its annual list, "56 Women Hospital and Healthcare Leaders to Know." Click to continue »

Shattering Glass Ceilings: Women in the Hospital C-Suite

Healthcare reform has sparked a conversation over the changing role of the hospital executive — the new skill sets leaders will need to develop, the challenge of dealing with change at a rapid pace. Click to continue »

7 Trends for Non-Profit Hospital Executive Salaries

As of late, there has been heightened scrutiny around the salaries and compensation packages of non-profit hospital executives. Click to continue »

7 Reasons Hospitals Struggle to Align With Physicians

Physician-hospital alignment is becoming more important as hospitals seek to lower costs, improve care and prepare themselves for payment models that reward collaboration. Click to continue »

4 Best Practices for Supporting Employed Physicians’ Independence

Physicians in private practice are accustomed to having a great deal of independence in their work. Click to continue »

Hospitals Acquiring Physician Practices: 9 Recent Transactions

The following nine transactions took place within the past two weeks and are presented beginning with the most recent. Click to continue »

Survey: 65% of Employers Interested in ACO Model

A recent survey by Aon Hewitt and Polakoff Boland found that 65 percent of employers are very interested, interested or somewhat interested in exploring the use of an accountable care organization model to improve quality and reduce cost of employer-sponsored health benefits, according to a news release. Click to continue »

Only 9 Percent of Physicians Feel Ready for “Business Side” of Medicine

Medical residents are feeling the pull of hospitals and medical groups, as 78 percent of residents said they have been contacted by recruiters more than 51 times during their residency training, according to a survey conducted by Merritt Hawkins. Click to continue »

Study Finds Weak Correlation Between Financial Incentives, Improved Quality of Care

A new white paper says there is "little rigorous evidence" linking financial incentives to improvements in quality of primary healthcare, and little proof that such an approach is cost-effective compared to other quality improvement initiatives. Click to continue »

NEJM Analysis of Physician Group Practice Demo Results Questions ACOs’ Success

A report published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that results of CMS' Physician Group Practice Demonstration may not have been as successful as presented. Click to continue »

Physicians Fight to Keep the Word “Doctor” to Themselves

Many physicians are worried about "doctor" losing its traditional definition as more nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists earn doctorate degrees, and some physicians are taking their resistance to the legislative level, according to a New York Times report. Click to continue »

42% of Primary Care Physicians Say Their Patients Receive Too Much Care

More than 40 percent of primary care physicians in the United States think their patients are receiving too much care, and 76 percent of those respondents said malpractice concerns played a role, according to a new report from the Archives of Internal Medicine. Click to continue »

Physicians Focus on Various Factors When Referring to Colleagues

Primary care physicians and specialists have different reasons for referring patients to certain colleagues, according to a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Click to continue »

Calling It Off: Why Some Hospital Mergers Fail and Others Don’t

Each week, more hospitals announce plans to merge, combine or express interest in some type of partnership arrangement. While many of these deals are executed successfully, another outcome is also possible — that of the transaction unraveling. Click to continue »

The Ins and Outs of Successful Hospital Insurance Negotiations and Service

When it comes to health insurance contract negotiations, the battle between hospitals and insurers can be of heavyweight-caliber. Click to continue »

ICD-10: Will It Kill a Hospital’s Productivity?

Converting to ICD-10 can be viewed as a homework project in two different ways: Some hospitals may want to complete it early to put their minds in a state of relative ease, while other hospitals may be putting it off until the 11th hour, dreading the very thought of picking up the pencil and starting the assignment. Click to continue »

9 Recommendations for Hospital Health IT Staffing and Training

While unemployment continues to saturate the nation's working classes, there has been one field within healthcare where the demand has been higher than the supply: health information technology. Click to continue »

12 Elements to Support a Viable Health IT and Telehealth Infrastructure

Health information technology has essentially become a requirement for all niches of healthcare — rural, urban, state, local, federal and everything in between — and it's evident that a strong health IT infrastructure will help providers transition into the new era of stronger quality care. Click to continue »

ONC Releases Federal Health IT Strategic Plan for 2011-2015

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has released an updated strategic plan (pdf) that outlines five major goals for the next four years. Click to continue »

Report: Healthcare Organizations Under-Prepared to Protect Patients’ Information

A report (pdf) by the Health Research Institute at PricewaterhouseCoopers found evidence suggesting healthcare organizations are currently under-prepared to protect patients' information, according to a PwC news release. Click to continue »

Study: Providers May Not See Improved Outcomes From Meaningful Use Until Stage 2

While meeting stage 1 requirements for meaningful use is unlikely to significantly affect hospital mortality rates, later stages that require greater participation may produce benefits, according to a study published in Health Affairs. Click to continue »

Avoiding “Stupid” in Healthcare Leadership: Q&A With Glenn Fosdick, CEO of The Nebraska Medical Center

Glenn Fosdick, president and CEO of The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, has worked in the hospital industry for a long time, graduating from the University of Michigan's hospital administration program in 1976 and managing a few Michigan hospitals along the way. Click to continue »

8 Untraditional Ways to Retain the Best and Brightest in Healthcare

Employee retention is an important element of success in any organization, and even more so in healthcare. Click to continue »

From Nurse to CEO: Q&A With Marina Del Rey CEO Fred Hunter

Fred Hunter, RN, president and CEO of Marina Del Rey (Calif.) Hospital, has an interesting perspective as a hospital leader because he began his career as a nurse. Click to continue »

Looking Ahead in Healthcare: Finding Optimism in Change

It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that healthcare is entering a completely new world, which will involve some pivotal shifts for hospital and health systems. Click to continue »

Quint Studer: Mastering the Fine Art of Follow-Up

Healthcare CEOs today face a remarkably complex environment. The changing external landscape can be daunting, making it all the more critical a hospital or health system's internal operations are seamless. Click to continue »

5 Communication Strategies for Hospital CEOs

Hospital CEOs are experiencing new hurdles in their day-to-day work, brought on by the Affordable Care Act, a shaky economy and a rapidly evolving healthcare industry. Click to continue »

70 Hospitals With Great Cardiology Programs

Becker's Hospital Review has named "70 Hospitals with Great Cardiology Programs." Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Transactions

Alexian Brothers Health System, based in Arlington Heights, Ill., and Ascension Health, based in St. Louis, signed a definitive agreement for ABHS to join the Ascension system. The agreement now goes to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board for review. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Executive Moves

Ron Anderson, CEO of Dallas’ Parkland Memorial Hospital, will be moved to another role by the end of the year. Click to continue »

Physician Executive Compensation: How Are Top Physician Leaders Paid?

A recent New York Times report showed that more physicians are seeking business degrees to build a foundation of skills and knowledge about the business of healthcare. Currently, there are 65 joint MD/MBA degree programs at universities compared with only five or six in the late 1990s. Click to continue »