October 2012 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review

Hospital and Health System Strategy in 2012: 6 Key Initiatives

To meet goals of improved quality and reduced costs in today's changing healthcare environment, hospitals are being forced to be creative and flexible in their strategies. Click to continue »

What Can Healthcare Learn From Other Industries? 5 Lessons

Healthcare reform is pushing the industry into uncharted territory. Healthcare providers must make decisions without precedent, and consumers are savvier than ever. Click to continue »

Credit Downgrades: How Could They Impact a Hospital’s Capital Structure?

Through the first six months of 2012, non-profit hospital credit downgrades have outnumbered upgrades 23 to 20, and there were 12 downgrades alone in the second quarter. Click to continue »

Publisher’s Letter

Becker’s Hospital Review Special Strategy & Innovation Issue; CEO Strategy Roundtable; 2013 Annual Meeting Click to continue »

101 Hospitals With Great Orthopedic Programs

Becker's Hospital Review is pleased to name 101 Hospitals with Great Orthopedic Programs for 2012. Hospitals included on this list have orthopedic surgery departments with outstanding reputations, making them worthy of recognition. Click to continue »

Facing Challenges With Meaningful Affiliations: Q&A With The Mount Sinai Medical Center CEO Dr. Kenneth Davis

Kenneth L. Davis, MD, serves as president and CEO of The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He was appointed in 2003. However, Dr. Davis' affiliation with Mount Sinai dates back to early childhood. Click to continue »

Unafraid to Change Her Mind: Q&A With Dr. Melinda Estes, CEO of Saint Luke’s Health System

Melinda Estes, MD, is a board-certified neurologist and neuropathologist, but her resume is well-seasoned with leadership roles at some of the country's most prominent healthcare institutions. Click to continue »

Ideas Into Action: 3 Hospital CEOs Talk Strategy Going Into 2013

A popular quote from the teachings of Buddhism says that, "An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea." Click to continue »

Overworked and Exhausted: How to Alleviate Nursing Resources Through Employee Engagement and Recognition

The registered nursing workforce is the top occupation in terms of job growth through 2020, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nurses. Click to continue »

5 Questions for Building Physician Engagement

For most healthcare leaders, reform has focused on the implications of changes in payment models. Yet the objectives outlined in the Triple Aim require a significant redefinition in the way frontline personnel must work together to deliver service. Click to continue »

5 Compensation Options for ACO Physicians

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund, "Accountable Care Strategies: Lessons from the Premier Health Care Alliance's Accountable Care Collaborative," explores the various organizational models and compensation options for ACOs. Click to continue »

The New Competitive Edge for Hospitals and ACOs: Employee Health

It seems like a logical pairing for hospitals to aggressively manage employee health. Hospitals are communities' anchors of well-being, after all. Click to continue »

It’s Time for CEOs and Boards to Come Together on Compensation Issues to Ensure Profitability

Setting CEO compensation is an intricate dance that’s intertwined with overall hospital performance. Click to continue »

Raising Hospital Value Multiples: 5 Best Practices

Hospitals are increasingly looking to sell, partner or merge to form organizations that are more integrated. Click to continue »

Transparency is the Key: 3 Tips to Manage Physician Opposition to a Transaction Finance & Revenue Cycle

Although transactions can be an effective method for hospitals to coordinate care, expand patients' access and add service lines, they may also generate anxiety and worry within the physician community and hospital staff. Click to continue »

8 Tips to Improve Your Hospital’s Operating Margin

When Mike Tretina arrived at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, Iowa, in 2009 as CFO, the hospital was running on an operating margin of 1.5 percent. Click to continue »

4 Key Legal Issues for ACOs

Four legal issues carry the most concern around accountable care organizations: Stark Law, the federal Antikickback Statute, tax-exempt status and antitrust law. Click to continue »

Carolinas HealthCare System’s CMO Dr. Roger Ray: Embracing Transparency to Drive Quality

Hospitals are facing pressure to increase transparency from both patients, who are playing a larger role in choosing their healthcare providers, and the federal government, which requires regular reporting on quality. Click to continue »

Moving Beyond Traditional Hospital Operations: The Value of Integrating Service Lines Health Information Technology

By now, most hospital leaders have realized that traditional strategies of running a hospital will not be sufficient to reach their quality and revenue goals. Click to continue »

CMS Releases Final Rule for Stage 2 of the EHR Incentive Program

CMS has released the final requirements that hospitals and healthcare providers must meet to qualify for incentives during stage 2 of the electronic health record incentive program. Click to continue »

6 Steps for Hospitals to Achieve Interoperability

One of the core goals of meaningful use is to exchange health information electronically, which requires interoperability between systems. Click to continue »

Chuck Lauer: Greater Awareness of HAIs Has Not Translated Into Action

It's not easy to reach a consensus on a lot of issues, but I think all of us agree that healthcare associated infections are a very serious threat. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Transactions

Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care and Franklin, Tenn.-based IASIS Healthcare announced a partnership, which includes clinical affiliations and the formation of a development joint venture — Aurora IASIS Health Partners. Click to continue »

Hospital & Health System Executive Moves

The Martin Luther King, Jr.-Los Angeles Healthcare Corporation named Elaine Batchlor, MD, as the CEO of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in South Los Angeles. Click to continue »