Study: EHRs Are Not a Cure-All
Healthcare IT News
Some electronic health record initiatives fail to live up to their
promise of better, cheaper and safer patient care, according to a
study by the University College of London. "Between 50 and 80
percent of [EHR] projects fail-and the larger the project, the more
likely it is to fail," said Trish Greenhalgh, the study's lead
author, adding, "it is time for researchers and policymakers to
move beyond simplistic, technology-push models and consider how to
capture the messiness and unpredictability of the real
world."
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House OKs measure delaying Medicare doc pay cuts until
March
Modern Healthcare
The House voted 395-34 to approve a fiscal 2010 defense
appropriations bill that includes a measure to stave off Medicare
physician payment cuts until March 2010. Various proposals in the
House and Senate seek a more permanent fix to Medicare's
sustainable growth-rate.
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Hospital Leaders: How to Add Value to
Healthcare
Jim Molpus, HealthLeaders Media
The current relationship between hospitals and physicians has been
built around rewarding for volume of services and not quality. That
model is breaking down as reformers in Washington have hospital and
physician inefficiency in their sights, with Medicare pushing
toward value-based purchasing and experimenting with a payment
system that rewards a system of coordinated care. In this
HealthLeaders Media Breakthroughs report that you can download for
free, four leading hospital systems-Gundersen Lutheran Health
System, Sanford Health-MeritCare, SSM Health Care, and Virginia
Mason Medical Center-share the lessons they have learned about
adding quality to healthcare.
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more
Report: Senate Health Bill Will Raise
Costs
Patrick Yoest, The Wall Street Journal
Republicans seized on a report by government actuaries that said
the Senate health bill would cause national health costs to rise.
The report, compiled by the chief actuary at the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, estimated that total health costs
in the U.S. would be $234 billion higher than if the bill weren't
passed. President Barack Obama has said Democrats' health plan
would reduce the growth of health-care costs.
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more
White House Adviser Sees Cost Growth
Slowing-Eventually
Matthew DoBias, Modern Healthcare
The White House's chief economic adviser acknowledged that
healthcare costs would rise in the short term under a reformed
system, but said that the market would gradually see about a 1
percentage point decrease in cost growth per year beginning five
years out and extending over the long term. Christina Romer,
chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said that both the
Senate and House bills contain measures that would slow the rising
costs of care in America, with a raft of changes to how Medicare
pays providers leading the way.
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Healthcare and Operational Transformation
Alyn Ford, Hospital Operating System Musings
If we think back 25 years to our experiences with medical care,
there has not been significant change despite the trends of patient
centered care, HMO's and a barrage of other well meaning clinical
care trends. I think there are a number of characteristics of
"medical care" culture that make altering its behavioral and
cultural paradigm very difficult. It is ultimately a very
fragmented professional body... many individual professionals and
numerous practices without a technology to appreciably facilitate a
change in clinical practice behavior.
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One MRSA Infection Costs a Hospital
$60,000
MSNBC.com
A single patient infected with the increasingly common "superbug"
known as MRSA can cost a hospital $60,000, U.S. researchers
reported Tuesday. Their study of seven hospitals and health
facilities shows that taking action, even expensive action, to
fight infections can save money, the researchers at Duke University
in North Carolina said.
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Nurses Claim Their Seat at the Health IT Decision-Making
Table
Paula Fortner, iHealthBeat
Although ongoing health IT policy discussions appear to focus on
electronic health record adoption among physicians, nurses also are
playing an active role in these conversations. At the same time,
hospitals and vendors are starting to seek nurses' input on health
IT development.
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Top 20 Best in KLAS Report Finds Providers Disappointed
By IT
CMIO
The 2009 Top 20 Best in KLAS Awards report found that the
highest-performing software market segment was enterprise
scheduling and the lowest was ambulatory EMR. In professional
services, the highest-performing market segment was planning &
assessment, and the lowest was IT outsourcing.
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Groups Want Changes In "Meaningful Use" Criteria
Affecting Providers
Healthcare IT News
Five national hospital groups have written a letter to the HHS,
requesting that the agency reconsider its definitions for
"hospital" and "hospital-based physician" as part of the process
used in determining eligibility for ARRA incentive payments. One
modification the groups want is for the CMS "to use a multi-pronged
approach that allows a 'hospital' to be defined in a way that
acknowledge the varied organizational structure of multi-hospital
systems, including by a distinct Medicare provider number, a
distinct emergency department or a distinct state hospital
license," according to the groups' letter to the HHS.
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US Healthcare, Good or Bad? Misleading Statistics Make
it Hard to Know
Jim Rosenblum, Dialogues in Healthcare
Transformation
The U.S. currently ranks 50th out of 244 nations in life
expectancy, with an average life span of 78.1 years; furthermore,
we rank 30th in terms of infant mortality rate. Really? is it that
straight forward? Dr. William I. Rosenblum, guest poster, discusses
perspective on cited statistics showing that America falls far
behind other nations in the effectiveness of our health care.
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20 People Who Make Healthcare Better
Jim Molpus, HealthLeaders Media
The very essence of healthcare is to make a difference for good.
At its core, this is an industry focused on making life better for
people. That simplicity of mission establishes a shared grounding
for the millions who work daily to deliver the best healthcare they
can. In our annual HealthLeaders 20, we offer profiles of some who
are doing just that.
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Harvard Study: Computers Don't Save Hospitals
Money
Hospital computer systems are often built for administrators,
not doctors
Lucas Mearian, ComputerWorld
A Harvard Medical School study that looked at some of the nation's
"most wired" hospital facilities found that computerization of
those facilities hasn't saved them any money or improved
administrative efficiency. The recently released study evaluated
data on 4,000 hospitals in the U.S over a four-year period and
found that the immense cost of installing and running hospital IT
systems is greater than any expected cost savings. And much of the
software being written for use in clinics is aimed at
administrators, not doctors, nurses and lab workers.
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Unified Communications Could Help Address Health Care
Challenges
ADVANCE for Health Information Executives
Organizations could address health care challenges such as
streamlining work flow, optimizing business operations and
providing quality health care by using unified communications,
according to some experts. Unified communications could bring about
efficiencies in the work flow as well as mitigate errors and delays
by linking communication devices into the user's context while
still meeting operational imperatives.
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Eight Strategies for Stronger Fundraising at
Hospitals
Karen Minich-Pourshadi, HealthLeaders Media
Yes, the season of giving is upon us, unfortunately this year,
hospital philanthropic foundations didn't feel too much of that
giving spirit-donations for hospitals are lower than last year and
the forecast is a slow, if any, increase, for next year. However,
there are strategies CFOs can employ at their facilities to see
some changes in their fundraising divisions.
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Counterintuitive Thinking during Difficult Times: Bold
Growth Strategies
Mark Dubow, HealthLeaders Media
In recent years, many healthcare executives have pursued growth
with an emphasis on building inpatient volume in existing
high-margin services. Looking forward, given current and pending
reductions in reimbursement and the expected impact of healthcare
reform, revenue rather than volume will be the appropriate focus of
growth initiatives. Further, achieving revenue growth in
cardiovascular, orthopedic, neuroscience and other traditional
surgical services by driving volume through existing models of care
delivery will become increasingly difficult. Instead, more
effective avenues will involve clinical innovation, resulting in
new services and products (e.g., wireless medicine), lower cost
locations, and models of care delivery.
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Leadership Caffeine: A Mostly Thoughtful Guide to
Surviving Bad Leadership Days
Art Petty, Management Excellence blog
Whether it's a day spent firing people or one spent worrying about
getting fired, every leader goes through spells they'd rather
forget, writes Art Petty. The key to surviving is to see tough
times as teaching and learning opportunities, Petty adds, and to
focus on the big picture. "The bad days remind you that you are
human," he writes. "The best thing that you can do is ... live to
work and fix and build another day."
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Who Really Rules?
Philip Betbeze, HealthLeaders Media
Hospital chief executives are discovering that they're often not
the most powerful players in the room. Some are paying for that
knowledge with their jobs, as independent physicians revolt against
steps to employ more of their brethren. Culture change is always a
dicey proposition for CEOs who dare to try it-even for those who
have built a legacy of trust over the course of a long-term
appointment to a hospital or health system's top executive
position.
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