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Not blessed with the budget of its bigger urban cousins, 269-bed Saint Alphonsus Hospital, Boise, ID, knew that it had to cut costs in order to springboard itself toward the [...]

Electronic patient records won't the world, but they can save your organization some cash. In the first six months after one of MacNeal Health Network's primary care centers went live [...]

YES The computerization of medical records will provide easier access to a larger amount of information at one time. For instance, if you have a patient who has several records [...]

The article offers news briefs related to the American Hospital Association (AHA) which include the release of a white paper that identifies the drivers of health care utilization, a monograph about the important role of philanthrophy for hospital and the Symposium for Leaders in Healthcare Quality.

The article focuses on the efforts of managers of the Christus Santa Rosa Health System to enhance patient experience by using simple tools like pen and paper instead of electronic health records or big data.

The article offers information on the 15th Circle of Life Award presentation at the Health Forum and AHA Leadership Summit in San Diego, California. The important role played by the award and the reconition by the Circle of Life Committee in the advancement of the field is tackled. Also discussed is the important role of palliative care for patients with progressive illnesses and declining function.

An interview with hospital executives Linda Burnes Bolton, Anton Gunn, and Joan Reede, during the Health Forum, is presented, in which they discuss importance of management, governance and clinical leadership, strategies for patient satisfaction, and barriers to diversity and inclusion.

The article discusses growth of patient-centered medical home model with increase in chronic diseases including practice of the National Committee for Quality Assurance on asthma and diabetes and views of physician Anthony Stavola on impact of medical home model on his practice of medicine.

The article focuses on the importance and benefits of maintaining operating room (OR) sustainability. Mayo Clinic associate professor of anesthesiology John Abenstein states that OR sustainability is the key to staying in business as its provides opportunity to reduce expenses by using better resources and through waste reduction. It adds that educating physicians about the environmental and financial impacts of OR sustainability can serve as way of achieving buy-in.

The article presents the first of a five-part series on the rise of the health care consumer in the U.S. The distinction between the meaning of the words "consumers" and "patients" is outlined. The significance of promoting a consumer-friendly model by health care providers is discussed. Issues related to the demand of Americans for information about provider prices, quality and customer services are addressed.

The article offers various reports from the American Hospital Association (AHA) on topics including the financial planning guidelines for hospital executives, a call for the U.S. Congress to be a more reliable health business partner, and recognition for 400 hospitals that promotes organ donation.

The article focuses on the 2014 American Hospital Association (AHA)-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize, which provides recognition on entities and organizations with significant improvements in the quality of healthcare. Among the key objectives that were observed include the organizational commitment, reliability of health care service, and patient and family engagement.

The article presents information on the growing focus of anesthesiologists on improving care quality. According to John F. Di Capua, chief executive officer (CEO) of North American Partners in Anesthesia, although anesthesiologists may be very proud of the anesthesia they provide, they are very quickly realizing that it does not really matter if the hospital does not do well. We noted that advanced anesthesiology groups are improving care quality inside and outside the operating rooms.

The article offers information on the inetrior design of the new hospital, University Medical Center of Princeton HealthCare System at Plainsboro, New Jersey. INSET: Mock-ups drive safe design choices.

The article reports on the emergence of new staffing models in the health care sector in the U.S. It states that the medical organizations must consider the fact that the current workforce has to retire in future. Therefore, their staffing models should be advanced enough to protect the industry from suffering from the human resource crisis ever. INSET: More Attention Needed.

The article offers information on the 2015 American Hospital Association Environmental Scan. It found that the trillions of dollars which the U.S. spends on health care services contributes to only ten percent of the nation's health. It also revealed that more than 40 million adults experienced a mental illness in 2013.

The article discusses the issues on payment system in the hospital laboratory in the U.S. The author cites that hospital clinical laboratories are getting hit in two aspects, the Medicare payment pressures which are forcing them to cut expenses and the confrontation of clinical laboratory fee schedule reductions. The pressures on payment are said to have enabled the labs to find a better approach to choose tests and deliver results.

The article discusses the concept of caring for chronic ill elderly patient at the health care industry in the U.S. It states that the baby boomers can benefit from several chronic illnesses through their active lifestyle which include diabetes, obesity and hypertension. It examines the impact of chronic disease to the patients who are advancing in age wherein Medicare participants are associated with chronic illnesses. INSETS: About the series;EXECUTIVE CORNER.

The article discusses the implementation of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for all health care organizations and payers in the U.S. It highlights the importance of ICD-10 training for the medical personnel to improve medical care service for the patients. It cites the five cross-functional teams in the health care industry including quality/risk management, patient access and health information management. INSETS: Getting PHYSICIANS to give a darn;Finding and keeping those valuable CODERS;The nice-to-haves vs. the need-to-haves;EXECUTIVE CORNER

If hospitals and physician group practices see electronic data interchange merely as a way to eliminate the health care paper chase, they're missing an opportunity with even greater potential. So [...]

The article presents insights from Hospital Corp. of America chief medical officer Jonathan Perlin regarding various topics including his first patient, life lessons, and health care. Perlin said that his first patient was 10 days post-operative after heart transplant. He mentions that his father was a proponent of community mental health. He also talks about the transition from sick care to health care.

The article focuses on the 2013 Hospital Vendor & Visitor Access Control Survey which explores the access management to improve patient and staff safety in the U.S. Topics include the improvement of quality of care, the launch of a Fast-Pass program to gain control of visitor access in 2010 from Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, Florida, and the policies in controlling access.

The article focuses on the waiting time experience by patients in hospitals, such as waiting for clinicians and waiting for patients to be discharged from an emergency department (ED). Topics discussed include statement from chief executive officer (CEO) Gerard van Grinsven of Cancer Treatment Centers of America regarding patients' expectation in health care, hospitals' mining data, and statement from Rob Klein of Klein & Partners Inc. regarding patients' satisfaction and loyalty. INSETS: Getting patients in and out faster;Three ingredients for better throughput.

The article offers information on the 2014 Environmental Scan of the American Hospital Association (AHA), which is aimed to provide information on market forces that can affect the healthcare industry.

The article discusses the need for hospitals to implement cybersecurity risk management programs to protect patient information. According to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, personal health data of 30 million Americans has been compromised since 2009. Issues addressed by American Hospital Association director of policy Chantal Worzala about the vulnerability of hospitals to cyber threats are outlined.

The article discusses the #123forEquity Pledge to Act produced by the American Hospital Association's Institute for Diversity in Health Management to increase the diversity in health management and on hospital boards and also discusses its importance in health care.

If clinical pathways are little more than extra paper shoved into the medical record and then ignored, don't count on their help in court. That's one conclusion of a new [...]

The article presents an interview with Lynette Scherer, chief medical officer (CMO) at Surgical Affiliates Management Group Inc. She explains how his approach is different from traditional emergency surgeries. She describes the types of procedures analyzed by him. She gives details about his five-year study on how to improve emergency surgery by deploying an acute care surgery model in the non-trauma setting.

The article discusses the three-way strategies in eliminating the challenges in hospital home care by home health nurses which include the use of electronic health records, technology and the devices and software to monitor patient vitals. It notes the studies which demonstrate the critical role getting the initial visit within 24 hours of discharge in keeping patients out from the hospital. It presents the case of a 33-year-old man who was remotely monitored with his weight and blood pressure.

The article reports the beading program for the families of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, Bergen County, New Jersey to ease stress and for foster attachment.

The article offers information on business case regarding participation in medical home model initiative of National Academy for State Health Policy, state health policymaker, which includes uncompensated care, primary care after patient discharge for reduction of readmission and employee benefits.

A letter to the editor in response to the article The Importance of Preventing Burnout Among Physicians and Nurses in the May 21, 2015 issue is presented.

A letter to the editor in response to the article The Importance of Preventing Burnout Among Physicians and Nurses in the May 21, 2015 issue is presented.

A letter to the editor in response to the article Whom Does Health Care Serve: Patients, Consumers or People in the April 28, 2015 issue is presented.

A letter to the editor in response to the article How U.S. Health Care Came to Cost Insanely More, published in the May 19, 2015 issue is presented.

A blog post by St. Luke's Health System president and chief executive officer (CEO) David Pate on the influence of consumerism on the delivery of health care is discussed.

A charts showing rise in average patient deductibles for employer-backed individual health insurance coverage in 2014 in the U.S., as recorded under the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust Employer Health Benefits Survey, is presented.

The article offers news briefs related to hospital staff including the hospitals selected by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the Health Workforce Research Center unveiled by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the primary care visits in retail clinic.

The article offers information on the statement of Richard Nagengast, director of patient accounting at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, regarding the importance of online billing and payment for cost reduction among health care providers.

The article focuses on the clinicians in emergency departments in U.S. who learn forensic skills to help in crime scene investigation (CSI). Topics discussed include statement of emergency department doctor Jayne Batts of the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina regarding forensic training for medical students, residents, and nursing students, victims of several crimes, such as gunshot wounds and stabbings, and forensic program coordinator Angie Alexander's statement on Batts.

When Dick Nugent tallies every good, bad, and ugly detail, St. Francis Health System is losing money on the 60 medical practices it owns. Yet he can hardly ignore that [...]

We asked you to write and tell us a story about your hospital, and so you did. Some sped to us through routers and hubs and electronic gates, some came [...]

Most of the time. celebrities aren't like the rest of us. They fly the Concorde, they own more houses and cars than is seemly, they pay tacks--excuse me, publicists--to get [...]

Wrecking crews long ago demolished Cleveland's Colonial Hotel, where eight hospital administrators met in 1899 to found the Association of Hospital Superintendents of the United States and Canada. The group's [...]

Venture capitalists pump $1 billion a year into health care. Now they're aiming to catch the next wave: companies that truly manage care, not just costs. For a peek at [...]

Cheap! Easy to use! Works anywhere! Such claims are usually reserved for slicer-dicers hawked on late-night television. But when applied to Web browsers and other Internet technologies, those accolades are [...]