Medical mouse practice -- Cleveland Clinic reinventing
the hospital experience
A team of 700 technologists at Cleveland Clinic are reinventing
the hospital experience for healthcare providers and patients as
the medical center positions itself as a leader in
health-information technology. The medical charts of nearly 5
million patients have been digitized, more than 3 million
electronic prescriptions have been filled, and more than 120,000
patients regularly access their full health records online. As a
result, the team of doctors, nurses, Web developers and software
engineers has improved safety, cut costs, and given patients more
control over their care.
Kathleen Kingsbury, TIME
Long, winding road to EHRs full of political twists,
turns
Most of us like the idea of having new health information tools,
but we disagree on how to use them in many areas. Once we stop
pretending politics isn't part of the equation, we can move forward
with our efforts to build a national network for using electronic
health data. The policies we adopt to govern a national system of
electronic records will only reflect those political areas in which
there is no strong opposition. And that's not counting the debate
over technology, which has not been easy either. (May require
registration).
Dennis Melamed, iHealthBeat
The ED stands alone
A growing number of hospitals are considering freestanding
emergency departments as a way to reach more patients and improve
efficiency. But not everyone is convinced such facilities are
everything they claim to be. When it comes to freestanding EDs,
both schools of thought have plenty of devotees in the healthcare
community. The number of such facilities nationally is gradually
rising-but does the concept of a freestanding ED present too many
financial, logistical, and staffing challenges to become the next
major provider trend?
John Commins, HealthLeaders Magazine
Testimony on healthcare IT highlights privacy,
connectivity
Business, government and healthcare leaders testifying before a
Congressional subcommittee pressed for passage of healthcare IT
legislation. "Passage will be a big step toward creating the 21st
Century healthcare system that America needs," said Mark Reed,
executive vice president for human resources with telecommunication
giant Verizon.
Bernie Monegain, HealthcareITNews
A quality disconnect
In the minds of our consumers, a quality healthcare experience
is something completely different. A cardiac patient may be given
an aspirin immediately after being admitted to your hospital. He
may be shielded from a hospital acquired infection by your new
infection control protocol, but if he must wait for hours in a
crowded waiting room to receive care, he'll remember that
experience as anything but "quality."
Maureen Larkin, HealthLeaders Media
Hospitals working to avoid non-emergency ED
care
Hospitals are under more intense pressure than ever to avoid bad
debt. One strategy, of course, is to collect vigorously after the
bill has been incurred. Another, meanwhile, is to help see to it
that patients who don't need costly care don't receive it. That's
why, in part, that a growing number of hospitals have begun working
harder to redirect non-urgent care patients away from costly ED
care and over to outpatient clinics.
Fiercehealthfinance.com
To read more about this trend
US healthcare system to spend $55 billion on telecom by
2013
A recent research report, 'Telecom, IT, and Healthcare:
Wireless, Wireline and Digital Healthcare, 2008-2013', by Insight
Research Corporation, estimates that the US Healthcare Industry
will invest around $55 billion over the next five years in the
telecommunication sector for better healthcare delivery. As per the
study findings, the rising operating cost along with other issues,
like growing demand for quality care services, aging population and
worker shortages, are compelling the US healthcare systems to look
out for newer opportunities and methodologies to drive better
process efficiency for improved care delivery and reduced cost.
HealthNEWS.Direct
Implantable chips can save $15B a year in ER
charges
A technology company that makes and markets implantable chips
that identify patients and provide immediate access to their
medical histories says an independent study shows the chips can
save hundreds of dollars per patient in the emergency room. The use
of VeriChip to access the medical records of critically ill
patients in a mass casualty scenario decreased emergency care
charges by an average of $685.67 per patient.
Bernie Monegain, HealthcareITNews
AHIC reports healthcare IT policy progress; doctors,
market still lag
Officials at the American Health Information Community (AHIC)
meeting received a positive report on the progress of healthcare IT
policy efforts. However, experts cautioned, doctors are still slow
to adopt electronic health records, and few of the approved
standards for healthcare IT data exchange have made it into use in
the real world.
Diana Manos, HealthcareITNews
ONC Plan Proposes Challenges for
Implementation
"The newly released ONC strategic plan is an intelligent
approach, says James Champy, chairman of Perot Systems Corp.
consulting practice. Champy, who is also head of strategy for Perot
and one of the founders of the management theory behind Business
Process Reengineering (BPR), has long been advocating using
information technology to develop a patient-centric services model,
one of the primary goals of the ONC plan. To do this, says Champy,
IT has to be harnessed to make a fundamental change in the way
health care is delivered. "The more transformational IT can be, the
more value it can create. This argues for more radical change."
Cindy Atoji, Digital HealthCare & Productivity
Building a bigger C-suite
Strategy, governance, and quality positions have reached the top
level of many organizations. But how many "chiefs" do you need?
Organizations add new titles for a number of reasons: to reward
long-term employees, to fit hard-to-place but skilled new hires, to
meet specific strategic goals. In many cases, the abundance of new
senior titles reflects the industry's shifting focus on quality and
transparency, physician relations, competition, and increased board
involvement. But is it possible to have too many chiefs? Some
executives say yes.
Molly Rowe, HealthLeaders
Sounding board
I've written a lot lately about how healthcare providers are
finding it necessary to compete as never before. We've written a
lot in HealthLeaders magazine over the years about mission and
margin, two goals that for nonprofit organizations like hospitals
often seem at cross purposes. Sometimes leaders get wrapped up in
the bizarro world of healthcare, an industry that depends on a
super-complicated web of third-party payments and gaming the
system. It's a survival strategy, CEOs and CFOs tell me. All that
is necessary work. You should be working to improve your revenue
cycle. You should be training your physicians and coders to make
sure they get the reimbursement your hospital deserves.
Philip Betbeze, HealthLeaders
Beyond the résumé
There's no silver bullet when it comes to hiring senior
executives-but it's not all about the places they've worked or the
people they know. In his 20 years as president and CEO of Memorial
Healthcare System in Hollywood, FL, Frank V. Sacco says he's only
made two bad hires to the six-hospital system's senior leadership
team.
HealthLeaders
When having the strategic plan is not enough:
facilitating an effective process
The healthcare industry is in constant flux. Creating and
successfully implementing strategic plans can often be the critical
factor that distinguishes winning organizations from failed ones.
While most healthcare organizations are adept at strategic analysis
and the development of written plan documents, they struggle with
the process of strategic planning. Facilitating an effective
planning process can greatly increase the odds that the strategic
plan will make a positive difference and will ultimately impact how
well the organization performs.
Cathy Clark and Anita Iyenger, HealthLeaders Media