Fumbles, Touchdowns and Lessons for Health Care
12/16/19
It was New Year’s Day, 1929. Nearly 10 months before the infamous stock market crash. On a warm sunny day in Pasadena, Georgia Tech played the University of California in the Rose Bowl.
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Complex Environments Require Complexity Leadership
12/10/19
Our industry is under considerable pressure to improve processes and practices that will result in lower costs, better patient outcomes, and exceptional patient experience. In virtually every article discussing improvement strategies there is one factor that is always noted as critical for success: leadership.
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Interventions for Accelerating Improvements in the Ambulatory Space
12/09/19
Providing the right care in the right setting has long been advocated to improve health care quality, patient experience and cost. Often that setting is the ambulatory environment with a strong foundation of primary care and collaboration with specialty care.
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Lessons Learned From Launching a New Hospital Information System
12/03/19
Like the human heart, a hospital's information system provides a vital function: every beat transmitting important messages along one of the many integrated pathways in a synchronized operation.
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Uncovering Care Strategies for Patients With COPD
11/22/19
On a recent visit to see his elderly mother, a son finds her struggling to breathe. She lives on the second floor of her apartment building and while she is able to walk, she can’t navigate the stairs and he’s unable to carry her.
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Making Tough Conversations Easier When Facing Serious Illness
11/20/19
Historically, health care organizations in the United States have struggled with helping patients navigate their care choices when facing serious illnesses.
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Plant-Forward Movement Gives Hospitals Something to Chew On
11/18/19
As an executive in the hospital food services industry, I've had many folks tell me they are having a difficult time wrapping their heads around the "plant-forward" movement. Is it vegan? Vegetarian? Flexitarian?
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Can We Talk? What Health Care Can Learn From Broadway
11/12/19
I have no musical talent whatsoever. I could not, as they say, carry a tune in a bucket. But I thoroughly enjoy Broadway productions, in particular the old Rodgers and Hammerstein classics. One of my favorite show tunes is “Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific, in which Emile de Becque, a mysterious French plantation owner, contemplates meeting someone who will change his life. Another song from the same musical, “Happy Talk,” has none of the life-changing...
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USP Regulatory Updates Delayed on Appeal
10/29/19
We’ve recently shared communications about updates to existing United States Pharmacopeia Convention (USP) Chapters surrounding pharmaceutical compounding regulations as well as a new regulation for handling hazardous drugs in health care facilities. The new and updated rules were scheduled to go into effect Dec. 1.
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The Road to Payment Reform: A Guide to PAMA Compliance for Advanced Imaging
10/21/19
Overuse of advanced imaging modalities has been scrutinized by policymakers as a factor contributing to unsustainable levels of health care spending in our nation. That scrutiny was the driving force behind the passage of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA). This federal law includes a CMS mandate that ordering physicians consult Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) using a qualified Clinical Decision Support Mechanism (CDSM) when ordering advanced imaging procedures such as CT, MRI...
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