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Have you ever stopped to fully consider the importance of Medicare? Hospital financial managers can easily spend so much time focusing on the program's inadequate payments that consideration of the [...]

A group purchasing organization (GPO) charges its member hospitals a one-time, up-front fee to belong. A medical device manufacturer offers a member hospital a rebate if the hospital agrees to [...]

Objective: To identify parental leave policies and availability of support systems for new parents employed by children's hospitals and compare these benefits with those offered by Fortune 500 companies. Design: Telephone or facsimile survey of all (n = 118) children's hospitals and pediatric medical centers in the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions 1995 Directory of Members, and 118 geographically matched Fortune 500 companies. Policies for maternity and paternity leave, adoption benefits, and support services for new parents were compared. Results: Ninety-four children's hospitals (80%) and 82 Fortune 500 companies (69%) responded to the survey. No difference in duration of maternity (P [is greater than] .30) or paternity (P = .12) leave was found. Sixty-two companies (77%) classified maternity leave as short-term disability while 47 hospitals (50%) classified it as sick time (P [is less than] .005). Classifying maternity leave as short-term disability generally gives better benefits to employees with short duration of service, whereas classifying maternity leave as sick time usually favors employees with longer employment. Companies provided more financial support for adoption expenses (P [is less than] .05), but there was no difference in duration of paid or unpaid leave for adoption (P = .14). Hospitals provided more on-site day care (69% vs 42%; P [is less than] .001) and better support systems for breast-feeding mothers (49% vs 24%; P [is less than] .002). Conclusions: Children's hospitals do not offer better parental leave benefits than Fortune 500 companies; however, they offer better support systems for parents returning to work after the birth of a child. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998;152:629-633

Hospital survival depends much on the ability of the management to respond properly to and influence sociopolitical policy issues. An analysis of the life cycle of public policy issues was made, in an effort to educate hospital managers on when and how to influence the development of public policies. It also identifies sources of policy issues in the hospital industry which include government regulation, community groups and patients, business community, health insurance companies, and managed care organizations.

The success of Baptist Memorial Hospital (BMH) in implementing a child-care facility for its employees is illustrated. BMH, Alabama recognized early the growing need for providing child-care assistance to their employees since such programs, by solving a major employee concern, were seen to have a large potential impact on the quality of patient care. The hospital management's commitment to employee welfare was evinced in the facility with which the Child Development Center (CDC) was put up, a mere six months after conception. This facility is one of the few 24-hour, week-long child-care centers in the US, which provides a second home for children of all BMH employees. Aside from providing accessible services, the CDC also allows employees time off for themeselves. The facility has been instrumental in reduced turnover rates and increased recruitment benefits for BMH., A growing interest in this country, and particularly within political and management circles, is the issue of child care. For many families, child care can be one of the primary [...]

Inner-city hospitals have begun community service programs to ensure their survival and save their tax-exempt status. Hospitals, frequently the largest employer in an area, must upgrade their communities to improve their ability to attract personnel and alleviate patients' fears about deteriorating neighborhoods. A large number of hospitals have begun providing job training and mentors, as well as investing in community businesses and affordable housing. Several community reinvestment programs are detailed.

Kathleen Montgomery is Assistant Professor of Management and Organizational Behavior, Graduate School of Management, University of California, Riverside. Charles E. Lewis is Professor of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health, and [...]

Papworth Hospital is one of the UK's leading cardiothoracic centres and undertakes many successful organ transplants each year. A key to its success is the carrying out of a detailed and accurate multidisciplinary assessment of each patient in order to identify who is most likely to benefit from transplantation. The care of patients is coordinated by a clinician's assistant who is responsible for patients' progress until they are discharged.

Local hospitals are shifting their focus to pediatric and family medicine as they anticipate passage of national health care reform that emphasizes primary care. Hospitals around New Orleans, LA, with this new focus include Tulane University Medical Center and Children's Hospital,

Hospitals now test most job applicants for drug abuse, but testing of physicians remains controversial. The American Hospital Association recommends sharing results with other institutions to avoid duplicate testing. Some hospitals screen physicians when they apply for staff membership. Testing can also be initiated because of suspicious behavior. Treatment of substance abusers must conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Managers and other employees must be trained to inform them about provisions of the law., US. hospitals seem to be using a wide variety of policies on substance abuse. But so far, few appear to have policies that are close to the American Hospital Association's [...]

Improved cataract services at an NHS Trust have been used by Health Minister Alan Milburn to back efforts to push through plans for 'foundation hospitals'. In an announcement timed to [...]

Much of the debate about foundation hospitals has centred on the likely creation of a two-tier health service in which the three-star NHS trusts chosen for the accolade take the [...]

"University of Colorado Hospital is adding insult to injury by billing uninsured (as in poor) patients $292 for the privilege of learning that they're not sick enough to be treated [...]

Byline: Julie Piotrowski In the latest example of providers and state officials facing off to control healthcare construction, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon last week appealed a judge's approval of [...]

Healthcare cost increases is the issue that never goes away. It threatens the health and well-being of millions of Americans, insured and uninsured alike. Working people must deal with the [...]

That local hospitals would individually support efforts to combat cancer, diabetes or other major illnesses, though praiseworthy, would hardly seem surprising. But what it they set out to do something [...]

A clothes-filled closet isn't extraordinary. But those who come to this particular closet know despair, humiliation and violence. They have been raped, and here in the far corners of the [...]

Toronto--For several years the public relations office of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto has been playing hide and seek with the Catholic community. Ever since Wellesley Hospital--with its specialized homosexual-care […]

'Baby Hope' was scheduled to die in two days, another victim of partial-birth abortion. Her mother had already begun the three-day procedure at notorious abortionist Martin Haskell's clinic, preparing her [...]

The Georgia Department of Emergency Services and Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor support the formation of a trauma network. However, hospital officials are not receptive to a network as financial problems are presently plaguing hospitals and physicans.

Hospitals dropping doctor-incentive plans Clarian Health Partners spent the better part of 1998 putting together a program in which cardiovascular physicians would be financially rewarded for helping reduce hospital costs [...]

Socially responsible investments have helped hospitals, including Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), based in San Francisco. The institution's defined benefit plan earned 18% for the year ended Jun 30, 1998. In addition to divesting stocks in such industries as tobacco and weapons, the hospital invests in nonprofit organizations that promote low-income housing.

Hospitals partner to bring peace to the streets of San Francisco A cross town from bustling Ghirardelli Square and the signature red-and-gold cable cars lies Western Addition, one of San [...]

[INCOMPLETE TEXT FROM ORIGINAL PUBLICATION] or three years Hamish Reed tried to get a foot in the door at the North Broward Hospital District. But the co-founder of Branches Medical [...]

New Jersey hospital officials are organizing civic leaders throughout the state to push the issue of charity care legislation in front of legislators reluctant to tackle such a thorny issue [...]

MIAMI BEACH - A battle over skilled nursing facility beds that has pitted Mount Sinai Medical Center against the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged is a symptom [...]

PAOLI - Workplace innovations by health-care providers have yielded mixed results in terms of employee satisfaction and costs savings, according to a new study by a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit economic [...]

Hubbard, Ronald McDonald houses keep patients, families together away from home Red faced from an early morning cry, 3-year-old Nastya Schulga buries her face in her father's neck. 'Don't you [...]

DOWNTOWN -- Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania's controversial bid to win a best-rate guarantee from area hospitals has taken a surprising turn with a quasi-favorable ruling by the Pennsylvania insurance [...]

Hospitals are usually extremely tolerant of abusive behavior by physicians and health care professionals, which frequently is occasioned by stressful situations, but they must develop written policies for behavioral standards to prevent the risk of litigation. Intervention or discipline when inconsistent disciplinary action occurs can lead to discrimination lawsuits unless there are written policies to prevent these measures. Hospitals must have board of director approval of behavioral policies, incorporate them in medical staff bylaws and ensure that all personnel are aware of and understand what constitutes abusive or disruptive behavior., The often stressful situations encountered by physicians and other health care professionals in a hospital environment can generate emotional outbursts and other forms of abusive behavior that would be considered [...]

New commission takes it on the chin Larry Tainter's friends have asked him why he took a job with an agency so many people seem to hate. No, Tainter doesn't [...]

Some health care experts believe that hospitals should increase their AIDS education efforts to help contain the disease. Advocates of AIDS education through hospitals believe that hospitals can help to reduce the instances of AIDS because they are well positioned for educating their patients and the public about the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS. In the state of New York, AIDS medical expenditure rose 11% from $1.05 billion in 1991 to $1.17 billion in 1992. In 1992, 70% of costs were tied to inpatient care, although there has been a shift since 1991 to outpatient care for AIDS patients.

Prohibiting smoking in hospitals is not in the patients' interest. Passive smoking is the main reason for a total ban, but providing facilities for smokers is a solution to this. A total ban is impractical because patients will always find ways of overcoming the ban. For many patients not suffering from smoke-related illnesses, smoking is a way of relieving the monotony of hospital routine, particularly for elderly and psychiatric patients.

The provision of rooms for smokers in hospitals does not always stop the effects of passive smoking, as smoke-contaminated air is recirculated through air conditioned buildings, according to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the Cancer Research Campaign. Making hospitals non-smoking areas for both patients and staff must be introduced over a period of time, and this policy will become easier as hospital stays become shorter.