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November 9, 2011 - As medical practices and hospitals successfully transition to electronic records, they are discovering the importance of adequate training and best methods for bringing everyone up to speed.
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October 25, 2011 - Physicians, especially those in official leadership positions, often find themselves called upon to delegate tasks, lead a staff of diverse people and help resolve conflict. However, not every physician has received any formal education to learn how to tackle those tasks.
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October 11, 2011 - The Joint Commission has recognized 405 hospitals across the country as top performers on key quality measures in its annual report on quality and safety, entitled “Improving America's Hospitals.” While the leaders of those facilities indicate feeling honored and proud, for many the listing comes se...
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October 3, 2011 - A simple, genuine question can be one of the most effective tools for fostering better patient outcomes. And a new initiative from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) aims to encourage clinicians and their patients to ask more of those...
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September 14, 2011 - As healthcare systems in America move toward the creation of accountable care organizations (ACOs), many questions remain about which ones will be successful and how long that success might take. One thing is certain, however: the need for strategically implemented healthcare information technology ...
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September 14, 2011 - How well do your clinicians work together? If their communication and performance could use some improvement, there are some initiatives that can make a difference. In fact, the efforts that go into building patient care teams that function at their best can reap substantial benefits for everyone i...
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September 7, 2011 - Patients returning to the hospital in the days after an admission present a vexing problem for hospitals, partly because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is preparing to reduce reimbursements to hospitals with the highest readmission rates. Perhaps more importantly, however, fa...
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August 24, 2011 - Good planning isn't just good business--today it’s integral to the bottom line. That’s why hospital leaders are looking for ways to reduce burgeoning costs, driven in part by healthcare reform and reductions in reimbursements which represent only a few of the challenges placing upward pressure on la...
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August 24, 2011 - Like many top-tier medical schools, the Stanford University School of Medicine carefully screens applications for the best candidates they can find. The admissions staff looks for outstanding academic records and impressive résumés.
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August 24, 2011 - Federal officials are looking to cut reimbursement. The uninsured are flooding the nation’s emergency departments. Times are tough for healthcare providers, and many are tempted to cut nursing staff to boost the bottom line, but experts agree that’s not the best approach to reigning in spiraling he...
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August 3, 2011 - Today’s attention on healthcare reform and the need for greater efficiency is putting more pressure on healthcare executives than ever before to find cost-effective workforce strategies. Instead of business as usual, many are asking, “What can we do differently to help us meet our patient care and ...
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August 1, 2011 - Many of the young patients at Children’s Medical Center Dallas were born in the era of the electronic health record, or EHR. They’ve never had a paper medical chart—and they probably never will.
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July 11, 2011 - As the field of medicine becomes more consumer oriented, hospitals have been instituting new measures to improve patient care and their bottom line. One such measure is the use of "secret" or "mystery shoppers," a practice which some doctors see as unethical.
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June 21, 2011 - How can hospitals and healthcare systems decrease the non-urgent use of emergency departments in today’s healthcare climate? A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) outlines a number of strategies, including case studies of healthcare organizations that have been successful.
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June 10, 2011 - Physicians are inching closer to retirement at the same time the country’s aging population greatly needs care, which will likely lead to shortages. But some would argue that the burdens of board recertification are forcing older clinicians to consider leaving their careers early.
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May 19, 2011 - With an aging population, limitations on medical residents’ hours and physician shortages, midlevel providers are delivering care not only in the outpatient setting but also in the hospital. And the trends can be seen in both temporary and permanent employment.
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May 11, 2011 - The growing focus on collecting and connecting personal health information from electronic medical records (EMRs)—or electronic health records (EHRs), as they are often called—has expanded the number of applications of this critical data in its aggregate form. Medical researchers and public health o...
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April 13, 2011 - Even the best hospitals can be affected by nurse staffing shortages during some shifts—and with deadly consequences—according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Even an ANCC Magnet-designated hospital.
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April 13, 2011 - In today’s competitive, quality-focused environment, nurses in healthcare organizations across the country are leading performance improvement projects to boost efficiency, deliver better care and enhance patient outcomes.
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April 11, 2011 - It’s no secret—America is aging, and older adults require more health services than young people, potentially driving up costs. And as demand for care increases, physicians also are aging and contemplating retirement.
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April 1, 2011 - “Take two aspirin and e-mail me in the morning.” Does this sound familiar, yet different? It may be time for this new twist on an old expression.
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March 23, 2011 - The role of the pharmacist is an evolving role, with great potential. But no one is yet certain how the future supply of pharmacists will stack up against the demand for their services.
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March 23, 2011 - Long-time experts on how drugs work in the body and interact with each other and foods, pharmacists are increasingly valued as members of the healthcare team--in the hospital and in the community.
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March 18, 2011 - Employee wellness programs are often a major boon for hospitals.
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March 9, 2011 - The use of social media is exploding across the globe, for both personal and professional activities. As healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals are embracing the new social media tools, hospitals are using Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to promote their services and discoveries. Now t...
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March 2, 2011 - With healthcare providers under pressure to improve financial performance and maintain quality, healthcare leaders need to find ways to continue to operate for long-term success, while achieving immediate cost savings. With labor representing a hospital’s single largest expense, one answer can be fo...
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February 9, 2011 - Recent headlines in California echo issues that are facing many hospitals and healthcare systems across the United States. Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital in Salinas eliminated 165 positions, offering buyouts to union-represented employees as part of its plan to reduce spending according to the Mon...
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February 7, 2011 - Could patient or physician convenience be threatening patient safety and driving up costs in your L&D and NICU wards? If so, policy changes regarding scheduled deliveries could make all the difference.
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January 19, 2011 - Healthcare reform has many in the industry contemplating partnerships between hospitals and physicians in new accountable care organizations or sharing bundled payments, which is prompting more talk about improving hospital and physician relations. But some hospitals have made collaboration a priori...
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January 19, 2011 - Everyone talks about transforming health care, but in the end, few organizations do anything about it. Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle is an exception. It has accomplished what few health systems have through thinking outside the box and adapting a tried-and-true production system fr...
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January 19, 2011 - It happens all the time in business – mergers and acquisitions to achieve growth, improve the value of a company and ensure the future. Up until a few years ago, growth by merger or acquisition wasn’t really a strategy in the healthcare sector. It is now.
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January 19, 2011 - Teamwork and technology will stay on the forefront as healthcare delivery evolves to implement health reform; adjust to a more sophisticated, tech-savvy consumer; streamline costs; and focus on quality of care. Here are some of the major trends that industry experts point to in 2011:
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