Action For Better Healthcare

Increasing pay for primary care doctors, why it matters

mstephens — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:43:08 +0000

By Mike Stephens Former CEO, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian The current shortage of primary care physicians has received a great deal of attention in recent years, but very little has happened to impact or reverse the trend and the problem just continues to get worse. The reasons for the shortage are familiar. In a 2011 survey by the Medical Group [...]

Medical device companies are jeopardizing patient safety

gehowe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:44:28 +0000

By Ed Howe Former president and CEO, Aurora Health Care Jim Guest, president of Consumer Reports recently explained that millions of medical devices, 700 different products each year, from artificial hips to contact lens solution, to heart stents and pacemakers, are being recalled. And the vast majority of recalled products were never safety tested in humans because [...]

Most important healthcare improvement initiative to watch

kfreeman — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:05:23 +0000

By Kester Freeman Former CEO, Palmetto Health The editor of Healthcare Informatics explained it best when he recently wrote that Premier’s high-profile performance improvement initiative is one of the most important collaborative efforts to watch. You can read the entire article by clicking here. The editor, Mark Hagland, explains so clearly how the QUEST High-Performing Hospitals Collaborative is [...]

Premier’s Cares Award winner example of great healthcare

kfreeman — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:57:56 +0000

By Kester Freeman Former CEO, Palmetto Health There are fantastic changes happening in healthcare and the AtlantiCare Special Care Center is one to study and watch. After noticing the need to tackle the cost and care of treating the chronically ill in a different way, AtlantiCare launched the Special Care Center to meet this need. The program received the [...]

Kansas makes move to keep people healthy; how does your town rank?

Act4Healthcare — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:09:32 +0000

By Lowell C. Kruse Former CEO, Heartland Health The mayor of Kansas City, Kansas, is on to something big! While people living in his community have access to one of the finest hospitals in the country, the county was coming up dead last among the state’s rigorous analysis of health measurements and mayor Joe Reardon was determined [...]