Search

Despite its overwhelming beauty, abundance of natural resources and unlimited economic potential, post-apartheid South Africa in many ways remains a barely functional country. And nothing is more illustrative of the [...]

Five healthcare pioneers and leaders have been selected as 1997 inductees to the Health Care Hall of Fame. Those honored include trailblazer hospital social worker Ida Maud Cannon; hospital-physician integrator Samuel J. Tibbitts; innovative surgeon and pioneer healthcare foundation builder George W. Crile, Sr., M.D.; instigator of patient-centered care H. Robert Cathcart, and public healthcare advocate and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D., This year's inductees exemplify genius, vision and persistence Each year that I write this introduction about the new inductees into the Health Care Hall of Fame, I find it difficult [...]

Beatrice Knowles, trustee of Pittsfield, ME's Sebasticook Valley Hospital, used her banking background to help the facility regain a solid financial footing and a positive public image. A fund-raising drive allowed hospital officials to talk directly to the community about the hospital's importance. The community responded with financial and word-of-mouth support.

Byline: Clark W. Bell The world of healthcare is filled with myths, misgivings and misunderstandings that have helped create a muddy picture for those trying to figure out what comes [...]

The medical malpractice mess is a microcosm of the fundamental flaws plaguing healthcare. That's not to say the medical profession is wrong in insisting on limits for certain damages and [...]

Clark Bell, former editor of Modern Healthcare, got a firsthand look at the Chilean healthcare system last May as part of a trade/study mission for senior healthcare executives hosted by [...]

Until now, when someone asked me about the hardest editorial I've ever had to write, the answer was easy. It was my first day as editor of Modern Healthcare magazine. [...]

The terrorist tragedy has preoccupied the hearts and minds of all Americans. Grief, mourning and thoughts of retaliation dominate the national agenda, as well they should. But at some point, [...]

After the horror came the healthcare heroes. Last week's deadly terrorist attacks left the nation outraged and grief-stricken. But while millions of numbed Americans spent last Tuesday morning staring at [...]

If more is better, hospital trustees are in the right place. In an increasingly complex and challenging business climate, hospital boards are expected to know more, do more and accept [...]

Healthcare managers should prepare for the next wave of cost containment. Frustrated employers and struggling health insurers are determined that patients should assume greater responsibility for holding down spending and [...]

The drive to reduce medical errors in hospitals is becoming sidetracked by politics and jurisdictional battles. Rather than arguing about the number of patients victimized by medical errors or who [...]

As frantic healthcare lobbyists, concerned politicians and puzzled policymakers argue over the size and severity of the nursing shortage, crafty entrepreneurs are looking for ways to turn a form of [...]

In celebrating the silver anniversary of Crain Communications' publication of Modern Healthcare, this week's cover story highlights the events and people who have shaped the nation's trillion-dollar healthcare system. Reviewing [...]

Kari Engholm was a typical hospital administrator. Her busy workdays were full of the kind of stress, anxiety and schedule juggling that are common in the executive offices of hospitals [...]

For all its flaws and miscalculations, the hospital industry has a habit of learning from past mistakes. Only a few years ago, health systems were obsessed with merger-mania, physician acquisition [...]

At least there's hope. Dealing with HCFA ranked at or near the top of persistent frustrations facing healthcare managers, but a new leadership team headed by HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson [...]

Let's tell it like it is. The healthcare sector is a well-intentioned industry that cultivates dramatic scientific advancements but operates in a highly uncoordinated state characterized by perverse incentives and, [...]

Hospitals and health systems can make a smart business decision by revving up their wellness programs. Employers were caught off guard by the severity of the upward spiral in health [...]

Hospital executives have reasons to smile these days. Improved managed-care contracts, fortified Medicare reimbursement, a rising inpatient census and bustling ambulatory departments have helped rejuvenate the hospital industry's financial performance. [...]

Tax cuts and budget tiffs have hogged center stage since the inauguration of President Bush, deflecting attention from pivotal healthcare issues. But a spate of new research shows that flaws [...]

It's like putting the cart before the horse. Patients may come first, but hospital administrators must remember that it's difficult to improve patient satisfaction unless the staff is fully behind [...]

Hospital managers should throw their full weight behind HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson's effort to increase the number of organs available for transplantation. Thompson was a big hit at last week's [...]

There are two vital things to remember when analyzing the economics of government mandates. First, projected costs will be underestimated. Second, estimated benefits will be overestimated. That said, the simmering [...]

Hospital executives need to continue the quest to improve quality and reduce the number of medical errors. At stake are the reputations, credibility and possibly the survival of many healthcare [...]

Healthcare's biggest challenge is neither the flaming fires of medical inflation nor the embarrassingly high number of uninsured Americans. Although price hikes and access remain major problems, the top priority [...]

Congress should keep its cotton-picking hands off the Medicare hospital trust fund. Contrary to recent rosy reports, Medicare and Social Security are still on the road to ruin, even though [...]

In the name of accountability, hospitals should embrace new Internal Revenue Service guidelines seeking more information on how and why they deserve tax-exempt status. The IRS has required that hospitals [...]

The Clintons rode into town on white horses in 1993 determined to reform, manage and manipulate the nation's splintered healthcare system. Their plan failed miserably. In 2001, a new president [...]

The nursing shortage, like bitter winter weather, is something that is constantly discussed. But all the talking in the world won't change either the staff vacancy list or the bone-chilling [...]

Information technology vendors that are interested in selling to healthcare providers in 2001 need to better grasp customer priorities and expectations. They should master the language of healthcare management and [...]

Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago calls it a crisis in philanthropy. The slowing economy and sinking consumer confidence threaten to slow the flow of donation dollars to [...]

The dot-coms have crashed, retailers are taking a pounding and consumer confidence is plummeting. The downturn even has bruised the gee-whiz spirit of the new president, who has declared himself [...]

When it comes to medical errors, there's more than enough blame to spread around the (non)continuum of care. Sloppy paperwork, frazzled support staff, sound-alike drug names and careless clinicians are [...]

A look at our current issue shows that big changes are brewing at Modern Healthcare. As Crain Communications begins its 25th year publishing the magazine, we plan a series of [...]

Healthcare providers have reason to enter the year with optimism, guarded though it may be. But even a half smile is an improvement over the past couple of years, when [...]

Free drugs for seniors is a notion that makes good political and social sense, but from an economic standpoint the idea stinks. At least for now. The new president and [...]

Hospitals have a social duty to champion patient empowerment and an economic responsibility to make sure as many patients as possible have medical insurance. With one of every six Americans [...]

Much of the nation's economic boom of the 1990s was directly attributable to productivity gains. Employers were able to reap more output from workers who were highly trained, better focused [...]

Spaniards have a zest for wine and fine food. Many tend to eat late and party into the wee hours. Smoking, especially among teens and young adults, is common. Despite [...]

Spain is on an economic and cultural roll following decades of tyranny, recession and isolationism. And the nation's healthcare system has become a showcase for how quality of life has [...]

Get ready for Medical Errors Part II. Healthcare executives who thought that last year's Institute of Medicine report on the dubious quality of hospital care was a one-shot shock are [...]

Hospital and health system managers should take pride in the steadily improving financial fortunes of the provider sector. By most accounts, provider organizations have suffered in recent years. Government reimbursement [...]

Despite an overabundance of hospital beds in the Chicago area, the Cook County Board two years ago approved the construction of a $551.6 million hospital to replace the county's aging [...]

Hospitals and healthcare system executives who have used investment income to keep their financial heads above water need to look for a new life preserver. Like countless other investors in [...]

There's another side to the billing simplification drive spearheaded by the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Although the dream of creating a bill that patients can understand is a worthy cause, [...]

The crusade to develop and utilize the patient-friendly hospital bill remains a worthy, yet elusive, goal for the American Hospital Association and the Healthcare Financial Management Association. We are encouraged [...]

Physicians have felt the earth move under their feet. And after years of almost constant change, conflict and even chaos, many physicians are adapting to the new order of healthcare. [...]