Member news

August 2010

Healthcare, job engine may slow for some, not all
Baystate Health, which employs more than 10,000 across its Western Massachusetts system, estimates it will need to hire about 15,000 people over the next 10 years to replace retiring workers and meet increased demand.
Full story; boston.com; 8/29/10

Demand propels hospital additions in Loris
Loris Community Hospital is set to open its new emergency department and intensive care unit next week, one of several area hospitals expanding in response to a growing need for emergency care along the Grand Strand.
Full story; The Sun News; 8/27/10

Banner Behavioral Health set to open psychiatric ER
Banner Health is opening a $2.2 million psychiatric emergency room on the campus of its Banner Behavioral Health Hospital in Scottsdale.
Full story; Phoenix Business Journal; 8/27/10

TriHealth opens new hospital
Construction of the new Good Samaritan Medical Center is now finished. The new medical facility is scheduled to open Sept. 7. "We are ready," says Steve Mombach, vice president of ambulatory services and senior health for TriHealth. "The campus is looking great and we truly are down to the final touches." The 47,000-square-foot center will provide the same services and care as a full-scale hospital.
Full story; cincinnati.com; 8/27/10

Ebinger named president of Aurora's Grafton hospital
Ebinger, an Aurora Advanced Healthcare internal medicine physician, has been practicing medicine in the Grafton community since 1983 and will play a key role in the development of the medical staff at the new Aurora Medical Center
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 8/26/10

Catholic Health's Primary Care adds second site
Primary Care of Western New York is a private, family practice with a focus on lifelong patient relationships. The practice is affiliated with Catholic Health System and is adding a second location.
Full story; Business First of Buffalo; 8/26/10

Alegent Health has state-of-the-art aquatic therapy
An Outpatient Rehabilitation Center at Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center assists baby boomers with various health issues.
Full story; Rehab Management; 8/26/10

Sharp surgery center offers "bloodless" medical care
At Sharp Chula Vista's Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Center doctors use a variety of tools and strategies before and during surgery aimed at minimizing blood loss and improving patient outcomes.
Full story; The San Diego Union-Tribune; 8/25/10

Seattle Children's CEO invents cheap ventilator to save babies worldwide
Seattle Children's Hospital CEO uses technology that's so simple that the new machine could sell for a fraction of the cost of existing life-support machines, be far easier to use, and save thousands of newborns around the world from premature death.
Full story; xconomy; 8/25/10

Geisinger study published evaluating ability of its medical home to improve care efficiency
Results of a Geisinger study published in the August 2010 edition of the American Journal of Managed Care show its advanced medical home model is capable of simultaneously improving the quality of healthcare and reducing the cost.
Full story; Newswise; 8/25/10

New bariatric surgery center opens
Florida Hospital Altamonte is opening a new bariatric surgery center in Seminole County called the Center for Advanced Laparoscopic & Bariatric Surgery.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 8/24/10

Judge rules in favor of Trinity move
Trinity Medical Center's relocation to U.S. 280 took another step towards reality Tuesday.
Full story; Birmingham Business Journal; 8/24/10

Aurora Senior Services, geriatric center win $400,000 grant
Aurora Senior Services has been awarded a five-year, $400,000 federal Health Resources and Services Administration grant in partnership with the Wisconsin Geriatric Education Center.
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 8/24/10

Good Sam to open freestanding ER on West Side
TriHealth will open its Good Samaritan Medical Center at Western Ridge on Sept. 7, giving West Siders another option for care and joining a national trend toward freestanding emergency rooms.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 8/23/10

Tri-County moves Forestville clinic
Tri-County Memorial Hospital, still recovering from a major flood a year ago, is relocating its extension clinic in Forestville.
Full story; Business First of Buffalo; 8/23/10

Mercy Medical to 'ring the beltway' with clinics
Mercy Medical Center is expanding in an unconventional way as it braces for healthcare reform; it's taking over a grocery store.
Full story; Baltimore Business Journal; 8/22/10

Baptist East launches website for mobile devices
Baptist Hospital East has launched a mobile version of its website aimed at users who are accessing the site with their smart phones and other mobile devices.
Full story; Business First of Louisville; 8/20/10

Rothman Institute adds two partners
The Rothman Institute has two new partners for the orthopedic-care hospital it opened in Bucks County last year.
Full story; Philadelphia Business Journal; 8/20/10

Banner Good Samaritan selected for study on new stent
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has been selected to participate in a study of a stent for leg arteries.
Full story; Phoenix Business Journal; 8/20/10

Group Health testing insurance incentives in effort to cut healthcare costs
Group Health Research Institute has received a $2 million federal grant to study whether a relatively new health-insurance model can support and improve patient health, and hence can reduce cost.
Full story; Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle); 8/20/10

Healthy employees shave $14M from TriHealth costs
Five years of wellness programming and other healthcare cost-containment efforts have paid off for TriHealth. The group, which includes Good Samaritan and Bethesda North hospitals, spent $14.3 million less on healthcare than expected.
Full story; Cincinnati Business Courier; 8/18/10

Perot donates $20M to MD Anderson
Dallas businessman, philanthropist and former presidential candidate Ross Perot has donated $20 million to The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for research to advance and design novel targeted therapy.
Full story; Houston Business Journal; 8/18/10

Regional Health Given A1 rating by national investment firm
Regional Health has received an A1 rating from Moody's Investors Services, meaning financial outlook for an organization is stable.
Full story; Regional Health; 8/18/10

Dean plans clinic by Edgerton Hospital
Dean Clinic plans to build a 10,000-square-foot clinic adjacent to the new Edgerton Hospital. Construction should be complete in 2011.
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 8/18/10

Re-named hospital stresses women's services
St. Mary's Hospital in Hoboken, NJ, re-launched as Hoboken University Medical Center. In addition to the name and branding change, marketers knew that to make the newly named hospital a success, they had to capitalize on women's services.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 8/18/10

Bethesda to sell home healthcare unit to Catholic Health Initiatives
Bethesda will sell its Consolidated Health Services home healthcare unit to Catholic Health Initiatives.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 8/18/10

The Grainger Foundation donates $10,000 to support cancer services
The Grainger Foundation has donated $10,000 to Mountain States Foundation in support of its mission to advance quality healthcare. This grant will be used to provide cancer services with highly specialized patient monitoring.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 8/18/10

TriHealth names Richard Welling VP of academic affairs
Dr. Richard Welling is the new vice president of academic affairs and research for TriHealth.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 8/17/10

Baptist removes Methodist's final hurdle for new hospital
Baptist Memorial Health Care will not oppose Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare's plans for a new hospital.
Full story; Memphis Business Journal; 8/17/10

Carolinas HealthCare posts ER wait times
Carolinas HealthCare System is posting online the average wait times for its emergency-room patients. The healthcare system also is providing that information through Internet-enabled wireless devices and by telephone.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 8/16/10

TriHealth set to open in Mason Community Center
TriHealth plans to open a new 34-physician practice, pharmacy and rehabilitation center.
Full story; cincinnati.com; 8/16/10

UT Regents approve $800 million hospital project
The University of Texas System Board of Regents has approved an $800 million project that includes the construction of the 424-bed University Hospital at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The project now goes to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for final approval.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 8/16/10

Baltimore-area hospitals mull new way to treat, charge their patients
Some local hospital leaders say an emerging model for treating patients could improve their well-being and restructure the way hospitals and physicians are paid. Dr. John Chessare, president of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, said his hospital is transitioning into an accountable care organization by partnering with physicians groups. GMBC has an employed physicians group, Greater Baltimore Medical Associates, and is contracting with private practicing physicians to better coordinate patient care.
Full story; Baltimore Business Journal; 8/13/10

Central Florida hospitals' profits up 88 percent in 2009
Central Florida hospitals cruised through 2009 with a combined 88 percent jump in profits, thanks to a recovering stock market, increased admissions and their efforts to cut expenses. Florida Hospital, which has 2,188 beds at seven hospital campuses, had a $158.4 million profit in 2009, up 33.9 percent from 2008.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 8/13/10

Catholic Healthcare West joins wave of healthcare projects in Elk Grove, CA
Catholic Healthcare West expects to begin construction of a three-story, 65,000-square-foot medical office building in Elk Grove, CA, this fall, the city's third major medical office project that could open during the next two years.
Full story; Sacramento Business Journal; 8/13/10

North Shore - LIJ to buy St. Vincent's Home Health for $17 million
North Shore LIJ Health System, a member North Shore University Hospital, will buy the bankrupt Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center Certified Home Health Agency.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 8/13/10

Levine Children's Hospital receives cancer research grant from Hyundai
Levine Children's Hospital has received $50,000 from Hyundai Hope on Wheels, a campaign by 780 Hyundai dealers across the United States, to donate $2.1 million for childhood cancer research institutions.
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 8/13/10

Stroke treatment at Carilion Roanoke Memorial makes major strides
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital has cut in half the time it takes to get a suspected stroke patient in for a CT scan. The started a new process. Learn why it is working.
Full story; The Roanoke Times; 8/11/10

Dallas not-for-profit hospitals ponder Medicare cuts
Medicare accounts for approximately 33 percent of revenue for Texas Health Resources. The recent cuts could cost the system $4 million in 2011.
Full story; The Dallas Morning News; 8/11/10

Heat, humidity require caution
A doctor with Alegent Health Midlands Hospital discusses how to avoid heat related emergencies.
Full story; Omaha.com; 8/10/10

The babies are breathing easier
Two Cleveland Regional Medical Center nurses are helping premature babies get well without being transferred to big-city hospitals.
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 8/10/10

Doctor with Memorial Cancer Institute discusses difficulties with bone marrow transplants
Dr. Lyle Feinstein from the Memorial Cancer Institute says every year, more than 10,000 cancer patients who need a life-saving transplant cannot find a match. Find out how an unrelated donor registry could help.
Full story; WSVN TV; 8/10/10

Good Samaritan top birthing center
More babies were delivered at Good Samaritan Hospital last year than any other hospital in Ohio. Good Sam delivered 6,878 babies in 2009, leading the state for the fourth consecutive year.
Full story; cincinnati.com; 8/9/10

Whooping cough makes a comeback
Alegent Health Infectious Disease Specialist Rick Starlin, M.D. says some states could be seeing an upswing in a highly contagious, highly dangerous outbreak.
Full story; Alegent Health; 8/9/10

BayCare operations show gains
BayCare Health System posted $65.5 million in income from operations for the six months ended June 30, compared to $64.7 million in income from operations in the same six months a year ago.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 8/9/10

Milwaukee area hospital systems bounce back from recession
Reductions in Aurora Health Care's management and administrative expenses saved an estimated $58 million in 2009. This is a trend that can be seen nationally.
Full story; (Milwaukee) Journal Sentinel; 8/9/10

Dallas hospital joins Texas Cord Blood Bank network
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen joins cord blood bank effort. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is the 15th hospital in the state to join this network.
Full story; San Antonio Business Journal; 8/9/10

Kettering Health taps Manchur for CEO job
Fred Manchur has been chosen to succeed Frank Perez, the retiring CEO of Kettering Health Network.
Full story (login required); Modern Healthcare; 8/7/10

Cardinal Glennon strikes deal with Willert to expand
SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital is doubling its footprint in Midtown St. Louis with two recent property acquisitions.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 8/7/10

Mountain States Health Alliance helps with clinic for medically underserved
Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System are providing financial and staff support for a free healthcare event to help those who need it most. Learn how you can help too.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 8/6/10

Pact to build new pediatric unit at Phoenix hospital
Phoenix Children's Hospital and the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix have reached a pact that would share resources to fund medical education, pediatric care and research.
Full story; Arizona Republic via HealthLeaders Media; 8/5/10

$17.5M gift will upgrade Children's trauma care
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is planning to build a top-level pediatric trauma center, with the help of a $17.5 million gift from UnitedHealth Group.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 8/5/10

TriHealth van will deliver mammography services
A new TriHealth Women's Health Van will provide mobile mammography services. The van will go into service this fall and be equipped with a room to conduct clinical exams on board and materials for glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure screenings.
Full story; cincinnati.com; 8/4/10

Aurora Health Care announces 'green' hospital
Aurora Medical Center in Grafton is being built to Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) standards, which provides third-party verification that a building was constructed using environmentally friendly processes.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 8/4/10

Vanderbilt launches personalized cancer care program
Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center has launched the Personalized Cancer Medicine Program, a new initiative that is drilling down to the genetic level of patients to help tailor individualized treatments.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 8/4/10

GBMC picks electronic health records provider
Greater Baltimore Medical Center has picked eClinicalWorks to supply its physicians group with components of a new electronic medical record-keeping system that should help the hospital's doctors track their patients' health.
Full story; Baltimore Business Journal; 8/3/10

Paoli Hospital's trauma center plan approved
The Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation on Tuesday approved Paoli Hospital's application to establish a Level II trauma center.
Full story; Philadelphia Business Journal; 8/3/10

Methodist Dallas receives Center of Excellence designation for adult kidney transplants
Methodist Dallas is recognized for its excellence in providing quality transplant care to patients.
Full story; Methodist Health System; 8/3/10

Mississippi gives OK for Olive Branch Hospital
Mississippi state health officials have granted the certificate of need giving Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare the go ahead to build a 100-bed hospital.
Full story; The Daily News; 8/3/10

Le Bonheur delays until December hospital opening
The three-month delay was to give hospital and medical staff time to acclimate to the new building and train on new equipment, says Le Bonheur spokesman Sara Burnett.
Full story; Memphis Business Journal; 8/3/10

State approves new surgical center at Johnson City Medical Center
Plans for a $69 million surgical center to be built at Johnson City Medical Center have been approved. Parent company, Mountain States Health Alliance, says the new center will be state-of-the-art.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 8/1/10

Cost cuts drive hospital profit gains
BayCare Health System has focused on Six Sigma, a management methodology to cut errors and minimize variability.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 8/1/10

July 2010

Moffitt Cancer Center adding facilities
Under a new partnership, Tampa based Moffitt will work with area hospitals, located in Lake and Sumter counties, to improve the cancer treatment outcomes and availability of advanced cancer care treatment options.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 7/30/10

UT MD Anderson keeps number one cancer ranking in U.S. News & World Report annual survey
Since the survey began in 1990, the institution has been ranked one of the top two cancer hospitals in the United States.
Full story; mdanderson.org; 7/30/10

Sawyer named CFO for Norton Community Hospital
Stephen Sawyer has been named the new chief financial officer for Norton Community Hospital, a facility of Mountain States Health Alliance. Sawyer will have responsibility over the financial operations of NCH as well as Dickenson Community Hospital and other MSHA services.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 7/29/10

Alamance Regional teams with Royals on breast cancer
Alamance Regional Medical Center is partnering with the Burlington Royals for Breast Cancer Awareness Night. All breast cancer survivors will be honored on the field before the national anthem.
Full story; The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area; 7/29/10

Mount Sinai Q2 profit climbs
The operator of the 955-bed hospital lowered expenses slightly quarter-over-quarter. Much of that came from reducing supply costs.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 7/28/10

Cleveland Clinic doctor wins $3.8 million federal grant for heart disease study
A Cleveland Clinic doctor has landed a $3.8 million federal grant to study the effects of a person's genes and diet on atherosclerotic heart disease.
Full story; Crain's Cleveland Business; 7/28/10

Moffitt signs license agreement with CvergenX
Under the agreement, CvergenX acquired the exclusive worldwide rights to InterveneXRT, a technology platform that individualizes radiation therapy.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 7/27/10

Moffitt researcher Dr. Eduardo Sotomayor gets $2.5 million
The National Institutes of Health awarded a $2.5 million grant to Dr. Eduardo Sotomayor for research on treatments for a type of blood cancer.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 7/27/10

Hospitals save babies together
A unique collaboration between University Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center specializes in diagnosing and treating life-threatening conditions. Established in 2004, it's already making inroads in increasing life expectancies for the sickest babies and developing new treatment standards.
Full story; Cincinnati.com; 7/27/10

The hospital, your care coordinator
As an ACO, Montefiore Medical Center is experimenting with a novel way to save money and improve patient outcomes by coordinating all of their care, by all of their doctors, whether in the hospital or out.
Full story; U.S. News & World Report; 7/26/10

M.D. Anderson-Orlando names new director
Dr. Mark Roh, an internationally renowned liver cancer surgeon at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando has been appointed the cancer center's medical and scientific director.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 7/26/10

Miami Children's aligns with Palms West Hospital
Miami Children's Hospital will provide pediatric emergency care at Palms West Hospital.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 7/26/10

Heritage Valley ratings reaffirmed
S & P rating affirmation reflects Heritage Valley's solid business position due to improved operating income for the first 10 months of fiscal 2010.
Full story; Pittsburgh Business Times; 7/26/10

Memorial Healthcare System earns $118M
Memorial Healthcare's operating profit increased to $62 million, from $48.7 million, but its non-operating gains were less in the most recent year due in part to higher interest expenses and lower investment gains.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 7/26/10

Electronic surveillance is key to HAI investigation
A facility in the Daughters of Charity Health System is using Premier's SafetySurveillor to complete mandatory state reporting. SafetySurveillor identified a cluster of eight patients over a three-month period on one patient care unit with hospital-onset Clostridium difficile. The cluster would have been missed using manual surveillance.
Full story; Infection Control Today; 7/26/10

Hospitals offering staff on-site wellness programs
Banner and Catholic Healthcare West discuss employee wellness programs and how they are helping keep people healthy.
Full story; Phoenix Business Journal; 7/26/10

McLeod honored nationally for quality, safety and patient care
McLeod is the first hospital in South Carolina to receive this prestigious honor since the inception of the national Quest for Quality Prize in 2002.
Full story; McLeod Health; 7/26/10

Marshfield looks ahead on meaningful-use road
Marshfield Clinic leaders say their next major step will be to get Marshfield's 800 physicians, who practice in 50 specialties and subspecialties, all on the same page. One new focus for the clinic will be building a quality-measure library.
Full story; Modern Healthcare; 7/23/10

CMC-Pineville in expansion mode
Carolinas HealthCare System is seeing increased demand at its Pineville hospital as patients seek care closer to home. To meet this demand, facilities and healthcare services will be added.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 7/23/10

Methodist enrolls in national program to reduce expenses, improve quality
Methodist, a joint venture of Methodist Healtcare Ministires and Hospital Corporation of America, will participate in the QUEST collaborative. QUEST was developed by Premier and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. It is a voluntary, three-year project designed to optimize hospital performance.
Full story; San Antonio Business Journal; 7/22/10

Mon General expands cardiac services
Two recent cardiovascular surgeon additions to Mon General's Cardiac Services Program means Mon General can provide the full continuum of cardiac services.
Full story; WAJR; 7/22/10

St. Elizabeth opening new diabetes treatment center
The new St. Elizabeth Regional Diabetes Center will employ six board-certified endocrinologists and 14 diabetes educators and medical professionals at St. Elizabeth Covington. The center aims to be a one-stop shop for those with diabetes.
Full story; kypost.com; 7/21/10

Banner MediSun opening in Mesa
Banner MediSun office is opening a new office. MediSun, is an Arizona-based Medicare health plan that serves Medicare-eligible residents.
Full story; Phoenix Business Journal; 7/21/10

TriHealth program cuts heart patients' return trips
The Navigator project launched in December at Good Samaritan Hospital. It is a pilot project that connects congestive heart failure patients with services ranging from Meals on Wheels to help finding new housing. TriHealth officials say the program has cut return hospital trips to by 20 percent.
Full story; nky.cincinnati.com; 7/20/10

Personalize your recruitment strategy
Marshfield Clinic discusses tips for dealing with a physician shortage and how organizations are offering many more incentives, such as student loan assistance or recruitment incentives.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 7/20/10

Montgomery County hospitals will be first to use health IT exchange
Montgomery County has five hospitals: Holy Cross Hospital of Silver Spring, Montgomery General Hospital, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Suburban Hospital and Washington Adventist Hospital, that will be part of the health information exchange.
Full story; Baltimore Business Journal; 7/20/10

What the doctor is really thinking, Geisinger tests program
Geisinger Health System will help test a program that allows patients to see doctor notes.
Full story; The Wall Street Journal; 7/20/10

Children's Hospital illustrates Seattle expansion plan
Seattle Children's Hospital will expand in the upscale Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle by adding 350 beds over the next 20 years.
Full story; Puget Sound Business Journal; 7/19/10

Detroit Medical Center makes "Most Wired" list
For the fourth consecutive year, Detroit Medical Center has been named to the nation's "Most Wired" list, according to the results of the 2010 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study.
Full story; Detroit Medical Center; 7/19/10

Miami Children's expands into Palm Beach County
Miami Children's Hospital has opened its first clinic in Palm Beach County, the Nicklaus Care Center.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 7/19/10

Sinai doctor's research may lead to rival Plavix drug
The director of Sinai Hospital's Center for Thrombosis Research, conducted research for a drug that is going up against one of the top-selling medicines in the world.
Full story; Baltimore Business Journal; 7/19/10

Carolinas HealthCare's CMC-Steele Creek seen as prescription for growth
Carolinas HealthCare System is finding success with its strategy to expand emergency services to Charlotte's suburbs.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 7/16/10

Some Florida hospitals see huge rise in net income
While most companies suffered through a brutal recession in 2009, South Florida hospitals enjoyed a banner year, with a combined 68 percent boost in profits. See how Mount Sinai, Miami Children's Hospital and Baptist Health of South Florida did.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 7/16/10

Asheville's Mission Hospital names new CEO
Dr. Ronald Paulus has been named the new president and CEO of Mission Health System and Mission Hospital.
Full story; Citizen-Times; 7/16/10

Four Cincinnati hospitals rank among best
Good Samaritan Hospital makes U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals list. It is mentioned in the diabetes and endocrinology category.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 7/15/10

Cleveland Clinic partners with Chicago hospital
In a move likely to shake up the market for heart care in the Chicago area, the well-known Cleveland Clinic's cardiac surgery program said Thursday that it has signed an affiliation agreement with Central DuPage Hospital in the western Chicago suburbs.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 7/16/10

Hospitals fight to lure primary-care physicians
Florida Hospital moved its family-medicine residency program from its Orlando hospital to Winter Park Memorial, hoping to lure more doctors.
Full story; Orlando Sentinel; 7/16/10

Top hospitals named by U.S. News & World Report
Cleveland Clinic and others make the list this year.
Full story; Health News; 7/16/10

Carolinas Medical lands U.S. News ranking
Carolinas Medical Center was named as one of the top 50 orthopedics programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 7/16/10

Winter Park hospital opens new office
Winter Park Memorial Hospital has opened a new $7 million office building, which will house the Centre for Family Medicine and Family Medicine Residency Program.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 7/15/10

Baptist nurse chosen for Wharton training
A Baptist Health nurse was selected for an exclusive group of nurse executives to participate in Johnson & Johnson Wharton Fellows Program in Management for Nurse Executives. Diane Raines, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Baptist Health, recently graduated from the intensive three-week management education program.
Full story; Jacksonville Business Journal; 7/14/10

Kettering Health Network relocating offices to Austin interchange
Kettering Health Network is relocating a portion of its administrative offices to Austin Landing. The healthcare provider, which has 9,500 area employees, signed a 10-year lease.
Full story; Dayton Business Journal; 7/14/10

Summa Health gets $1M gift to establish orthopedics fellowship
Summa Health System has received a $1 million gift that will go toward establishing a research fellowship for a medical resident who specializes in orthopedics.
Full story; Medcity News; 7/13/10

Fort Hamilton Hospital joins Kettering Health Network
Fort Hamilton Hospital has become Kettering Health Network's seventh member.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 7/13/10

Mountain States Health Alliance opens first 'green' hospital in the state
Franklin Woods Community Hospital is now open in Tennessee. Around the edges of the facility are healing gardens filled with benches, picnic tables and water features. Even the products used to build the hospital are healthier than average.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 7/13/10

Vanderbilt Medical Center named one of nation's "Most Wired"
The survey of nearly 1,300 hospitals looked at everything from bar code use on medications and electronic health records to billing systems and wireless networks. Vanderbilt Medical Center was named among the "Most Wired" for 2010.
Full story; Nashville Business Journal; 7/12/10

North Shore - LIJ requires new nurses to have BSN
North Shore - LIJ Health System says that starting September 1st it will require newly hired nurses to either hold a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree or earn one within five years.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 7/12/10

Automation speeds up lab work at Good Samaritan Hospital
Business TV program highlights automated lab work going on at Good Samaritan. Click play on the video and watch the 4th story for details.
Full story; cet connect; 7/9/10

Aurora targets Illinois ER patients
Aurora Health Care is applying for a Level 2 trauma designation with the state of Illinois, hoping to attract new patients.
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 7/9/10

Mercy Gilbert Hospital finds lower mortality, higher patient satisfaction starts with turnover
Laurie Eberst, President and CEO of Mercy Gilbert Hospital in Arizona, says a consistent staff offers a "huge advantage from a quality perspective." Mercy Gilbert's parent, Catholic Healthcare West, thinks turnover rates are so important that it tracks controllable versus uncontrollable turnover.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 7/9/10

The Med gets $40 million in state and federal funding, more than expected
A $40 million payday has arrived for the Regional Medical Center at Memphis and should similar checks continue each year, the beleaguered hospital's major money woes could be over for the foreseeable future.
Full story; The (Memphis, TN) Commercial Appeal; 7/8/10

Banner to test heart-attack warning system
Banner Baywood Heart Hospital in Mesa, AZ, is one of 50 sites in the nation taking part in the second phase of a clinical trial of the AngelMed Guardian System, designed to warn people of a heart attack by "paging" them before they even notice signs that they're having one.
Full story; The Arizona Republic; 7/8/10

Glen Cove Hospital food service executive wins Premier Healthcare Alliance Culinary Creations Award
Lyndon Espiritu, assistant director of Dietary at Glen Cove Hospital in Glen Cove, N.Y., has been named the winner of the Premier healthcare alliance's 2010 Culinary Creations Award.
Full story; Business Wire; 7/8/10

Massachusetts outpatient care ranked high
In Massachusetts as a whole, 30 percent of patients had an MRI first, compared with nearly 33 percent of patients nationally. At the Boston teaching hospitals, the rate ranged from 24 percent of patients at Tufts Medical Center to 39 percent of patients at Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center.
Full story; The Boston Globe; 7/8/10

Sharp Memorial tops America's 20 'most beautiful hospitals' list
Soliant Health, an Atlanta-based provider of specialty healthcare staffing services and a part of the Swiss-based Adecco Group, has released a list of the top 20 most beautiful hospitals in the country. At the top of the list is Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego.
Full story; Healthcare Finance News; 7/7/10

Colvin to be St. Elizabeth's new COO
St. Elizabeth Healthcare has appointed Garren Colvin as executive vice president and chief operating officer effective Jan. 1, 2011.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 7/7/10

Domestic medical travel is taking off for surgery deals
More employers and insurers are offering financial incentives to encourage workers to consider "domestic medical travel." Lowe's has a three-year deal with the Cleveland Clinic to send willing employees and their dependents there who need treatments such as open-heart surgeries, valve repairs and pacemakers.
Full story; USA Today; 7/7/10

Methodist's hospital plan for Olive Branch gets recommendation
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has received a positive recommendation for its plan to build a hospital in Olive Branch, another step forward in the process as the plan moves toward what officials hope will soon be the final OK to proceed.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 7/6/10

Some think it's beautiful
Sharp Memorial Hospital was recently voted the most beautiful hospital in the country, in an online survey. Ranking behind Sharp Memorial is the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital in Michigan. The two hospitals were clear standouts among voters, with both grabbing nearly half of all the votes cast.
Full story; NBC San Diego; 7/6/10

Medical records go online, but at what cost to privacy?
Nearly every major South Florida hospital and many doctors are joining a push by the Obama administration to spend $19.2 billion in federal stimulus money to help create a national EMR system by 2014.
Full story; The Miami Herald; 7/6/10

In a world of throwaways, making a dent in medical waste
The health care industry has a garbage problem. Fairview's approach to help fix the problem is to cut back the use of disposables at the source by streamlining packaged surgical kits. Similarly, at Rochester General Hospital in upstate New York, surgeons have agreed to use standardized supply kits selected to cover most of their needs while leaving little unused.
Full story; The New York Times; 7/5/10

Alternative to HMOs coordinates treatment delivery
Two Northeast Ohio health systems are part of a push to create a new way of coordinating care for patients and getting paid for those services. Summa Health System in Akron and University Hospitals in Cleveland are working with the Premier healthcare alliance to each develop an "accountable care organization," or ACO for short.
Full story; Ohio.com; 7/5/10

Charlotte hospitals have different medical-school agendas
Mark Billings believes it's possible to establish a four-year medical school in Charlotte as soon as 2015. And the president of Presbyterian Hospital is calling for creation of an alliance of hospital, business and community leaders to make that happen.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 7/2/10

Fish, Florida Hospital sign merger
Bert Fish Medical Center officially merged with the Adventist Health System on Wednesday.
Full story; The Daytona Beach News-Journal; 7/1/10

June 2010

Public healthcare board takes over Marin General Hospital
Complying with the terms of a legal settlement agreement, Sutter Health returned management control of Marin General to the district after operating it for 15 years.
Full story; Marin Independent Journal; 6/30/10

Aurora to open Grafton hospital
Aurora Health Care announces its new medical center in Grafton will open in November. The campus will have a comprehensive orthopedic center with four dedicated operating rooms.
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 6/29/10

Regional Health gets nearly $2 million for digital mammography program
Digital mammography, which offers a clearer image at a higher cost, will be available soon at three area Regional Health facilities thanks to a $1.98 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Full story; Rapid City Journal; 6/28/10

Three health systems ink agreements with patient self-pay loan provider
St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, Blanchard Valley Health System in Findlay, Ohio, and St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville, Ind., have separately signed agreements with San Diego-based CSI Financial Services to give their self-pay patients access to low-interest bank loans for paying their hospital bills.
Full story; Healthcare Finance News; 6/28/10

Norton Neuroscience Institute is growing as plans evolve
More than a year after Norton Healthcare launched the Norton Neuroscience Institute now plans include adding several specialty centers.
Full story; Business First of Louisville; 6/28/10

St. Joseph's Women's Hospital in Tampa launches $75M expansion
St. Joseph's Women's Hospital in Tampa has broken ground on a $75 million expansion project. It should be complete by 2012.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 6/28/10

Former Bengal Henry found to have had brain damage
Doctors at the Brain Injury Research Institute at West Virginia University reveal new information about Chris Henry's brain damage. Henry played for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Full story; The New York Times; 6/28/10

Cleveland Clinic research again warns of Avandia drug risk
Cleveland Clinic study reveals an increased heart attack risk, between a 28 and 39 percent increase, among patients taking the common type 2 diabetes drug.
Full story; Cleveland.com; 6/28/10

Alegent Health, Immanuel Rehabilitation Center helping make impossible possible
Alegent Health recreation therapists help those with physical disabilities learn to water ski.
Full story; KPMT.com; 6/27/10

Health IT's a hot property at Cleveland Clinic Innovations
Health information technology is hot at Cleveland Clinic Innovations, these days. The corporate venturing arm of the Cleveland Clinic has built operations to a crescendo in its first decade, according to Chris Coburn, executive director of the unit and the Clinic's chief of technology commercialization.
Full story; MedCity News; 6/25/10

Baptist Crestwood outpatient center now open
Baptist Crestwood offers many services including diagnostic imaging services, physical therapy and access to physician offices.
Full story; Business First of Louisville; 6/25/10

Stein Mart CEO joins Baptist board
Stein Mart CEO David Stovall Jr. has joined the board of directors for Baptist Health.
Full story; Jacksonville Business Journal; 6/25/10

Randolph diabetes program recognized
The diabetes self-management education program at Randolph Hospital has been awarded recognition from the American Diabetes Association.
Full story; The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area; 6/25/10

Hundreds attend 'vine-cutting' ceremony at new green hospital
Franklin Woods Community Hospital held a "vine cutting" ceremony with hundreds in attendance to welcome the first new hospital built in Washington County in three decades. The $122 million facility is part of Mountain States Health Alliance.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 6/25/10

Carolinas Medical Center-Lincoln hospital readies for move to its new location
Carolinas Medical Center-Lincoln is a $90M facility. It is expected to open in July and will serve a growing population.
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 6/25/10

A new look for St. Mary's Health Center
St. Mary's Health Center is overhauling its main entrance into a modern streetscape that will be easier for visitors to access. That's part of $7 million in upgrades set to begin this year. Upgrades include doubling the size of the waiting room for the emergency department and expanding its parking to handle the 40,000 patients who visit the department each year. The hospital recently won a quality award from Premier.
Full story; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; 6/24/10

Vision, courage and confidence
David Jiminez, retiring COO of Catholic Healthcare Partners, is known for leading a diverse workforce. He is considered one of the best healthcare system operators in the country.
Full story (pages 32-35); Journal of Healthcare Contracting; 6/24/10

Gaston Memorial plans new billing system
CaroMont Health is piloting new initiatives aimed at lowering the cost and improving the outcome of medical treatment, starting this year with a program designed to eliminate fees for individual services and bundle payments for a full episode of care.
Full story; Gaston Gazette; 6/23/10

Banner to break ground on $71M project
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center will break ground on a $71 million dollar expansion of its surgical services department in downtown Phoenix.
Full story; Phoenix Business Journal; 6/23/10

Adventist Health opens new hospital
Private donations and donations from hospital staff helped fund the project. The new hospital will open in California in October of this year.
Full story; KMPH-TV; 6/23/10

Texas Health named among best places to work in IT for third straight year
Texas Health Resources has been selected for the third straight year by Computerworld magazine as one of the top places to work for information technology professionals.
Full story; Texas Health Resources; 6/22/10

Three healthcare systems sign, flesh out merger agreement
The leaders of St. Peter's Health Care Services, Northeast Health and Seton Health have signed a formal merger agreement. They will now work toward becoming one system.
Full story; The Business Review; 6/22/10

Cooper hospital opens tranquil garden
The garden was created on the campus of the Camden medical center to serve as a place of respite and tranquility for patients and families to enhance the healing process.
Full story; Philadelphia Business Journal; 6/22/10

Catholic Health Partners makes list of top health systems
Catholic Health Partners is listed among the top 10 health systems in the nation.
Full story; Business Courier; 6/22/10

Palmetto Health makes annual list of best places to work in information technology
IDG Computerworld has selected Palmetto Health as one of the top workplaces for information technology (IT) professionals. This honor is part of the IT publication's 17th annual Best Places to Work in IT survey.
Full story; Palmetto Health; 6/21/10

A health insurer pays more to save
"The essential business model of medical insurance will have to change," says Dr. Glenn Steele Jr., the chief executive of Geisinger Health System.
Full story; The New York Times; 6/21/10

Baptist Healthcare opens Walmart clinic
Baptist Healthcare System opened a second area Baptist Express Care clinic. The clinics are open seven days a week.
Full story; Business First of Louisville; 6/21/10

How Good Samaritan became Ohio's baby HQ
Good Samaritan had 6,875 live births in 2009, more than any other hospital in the state. It's the fourth year in a row the hospital has held the distinction.
Full story (subscription required); Business Courier of Cincinnati; 6/18/10

Carolinas HealthCare to open pediatric urgent-care facility
Carolinas HealthCare System will start operating its first pediatric urgent-care center next month. The goal is to reduce pressure on the emergency department at Levine Children's Hospital.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 6/18/10

Banner to create new psychiatric center
Banner Psychiatric Center will include room for 23 patients and an observation area, and will be staffed around the clock with physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, behavioral health technicians and counselors. It is expected to open in August.
Full story; The Arizona Republic; 6/17/10

COPD patients may be over treated with steroids according to Baystate study
Baystate Medical Center study finds some patients are potentially exposed to unnecessarily high doses of steroids, greater hospital costs, and longer lengths of stay.
Full story; WebMD; 6/16/10

Cleveland Clinic to open autism center in Connellsville, PA
The Cleveland Clinic will collaborate with nonprofit Highlands Hospital in Connellsville, Fayette County, PA, to provide services to children with autism.
Full story; Pittsburgh Business Times; 6/16/10

Bill Leonard to head CMC-University in Charlotte, NC
Bill Leonard has been named president of Carolinas Medical Center-University in Charlotte, NC, replacing Spencer Lilly, who recently became president of Carolinas Medical Center-Mercy.
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 6/16/10

Charity care spending rises 12% at Carolinas HealthCare System
Despite the rising cost of charity care, the Charlotte-based healthcare system reported net revenue of $101.5 million for the first quarter of 2010. That compares to a loss of $62 million for the first quarter of 2009.
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 6/16/10

Medical device makers: Stop griping and embrace healthcare reform
Lee Perlman, president of GNYHA Ventures, explains why medical devices companies need to stop complaining and embrace healthcare reform.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 6/16/10

In COPD, oral, intravenous steroids bring same outcomes
Baystate Medical Center and Premier healthcare alliance contribute to a study that could help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Full story; Modern Medicine; 6/16/10

Business group honors Texas Health as a best employer for healthy lifestyles
Texas Health received a silver award for its Total Health program. The purpose of the Total Health program is to provide awareness, education and intervention opportunities so members can make informed lifestyle decisions.
Full story; Texas Health Resources; 6/15/10

New children's hospital to open in Memphis
The new Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis is set for a grand opening. The 255-bed, $340 million medical complex is geared to care for the more than 130,000 children.
Full story; AP via SunHerald.com; 6/15/10

St. Joseph employees donate paid time off to worthy charities
St. Joseph Health System in Orange, CA, has created a new program that allows employees to donate the cash equivalent of their paid time off (PTO) to charity. The PTO Donation Program was launched in March at the behest of employees to help the people of earthquake-stricken Haiti. So far, it has raised about $25,000.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 6/14/10

West Penn Allegheny Health System to open surgery center
West Penn Allegheny Health System announces plans to open a 55,000-square-foot ambulatory surgery center.
Full story; Pittsburgh Business Times; 6/14/10

MinuteClinic teams with Catholic Healthcare West in Phoenix
Catholic Healthcare West and MinuteClinic are hoping to collectively increase the public's access to healthcare in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Full story; Nursing Spectrum; 6/14/10

Palomar Pomerado Health receives award for quality
Palomar Pomerado Health and Palomar Medical Center are the recipients of the Premier Award for Quality by the Premier healthcare alliance.
Full story; Palomar Pomerado Health; 6/11/10

Medical arms race hits emergency rooms
Overlake Hospital Medical Center believes the multiple proposed free-standing emergency rooms are a troubling trend.
Full story; Puget Sound Business Journal; 6/11/10

Archbishop experiences Good Samaritan's tradition of care
It was the archbishop's first visit to Cincinnati's oldest and largest private teaching hospital. He met with TriHealth leaders and patients as well.
Full story; The Catholic Telegraph; 6/9/10

Henry Ford Hospital announces new president and CEO
John Popovich Jr., M.D., a nationally respected pulmonary disease and internal medicine specialist, as well as a national leader in healthcare policy, has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Henry Ford Hospital.
Full story; PR Newswire; 6/9/10

Beebe Medical Center recognized
Beebe Medical Center announced it has been recognized by the Premier healthcare alliance as a winner of the Premier Award for Quality.
Full story; WMDT 47; 6/9/10

Nemours ranks among top in nation
The Nemours children's health care system has been ranked among the best in the specialty rankings of U.S. News & World Report's 2010 edition of "America's Best Children's Hospitals."
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 6/9/10

CMC-Lincoln sets hospital opening date
Carolinas Medical Center-Lincoln will open its new, 101-bed hospital on McAlister Road in Lincolnton on July 10. Patients at the current Gamble Drive facility will be transferred to the new hospital by ambulance that morning.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 6/9/10

Forbes Hospital plans ER expansion
Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville will add nine treatment rooms in the emergency department as part of a $1 million upgrade, the West Penn Allegheny Health System announced.
Full story; Pittsburgh Business Times; 6/8/10

Baptist to restart new downtown tower
This month, Baptist Health will resume construction on an 11-story medical tower downtown, which was halted when the credit market dried up in 2008.
Full story; Jacksonville Business Journal; 6/8/10

Life saving infant surgery performed at Cardinal Glennon
It was a life saving surgery at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center for a four day old baby born with a hole in her diaphragm. During pregnancy, Brooke Santangelo's intestines had grown through the hole and were putting pressure on her lungs.
Full story; Fox 2 - St. Louis; 6/7/10

CaroMont in deal with Columbia HeartSource
CaroMont Health has signed an agreement with Columbia HeartSource of New York to receive clinical guidance and access to research trials.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 6/7/10

MD Anderson has breakthrough results with drug study for chronic leukemia
Researchers with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer center have discovered that a second-line medication approved for a drug-resistant form of leukemia proved a faster initial therapy for the disease.
Full story; Houston Business Journal; 6/7/10

All Children's Telethon raises $3.3 million
The 2010 All Children's Hospital Telethon raised $3.34 million for the St. Petersburg hospital. The total includes proceeds from the televised event, a 20-hour broadcast from Saturday, June 5 to Sunday, June 6, as well as other special events over the weekend, a release said.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 6/7/10

Adventist to open new oncology facility in Germantown
Shady Grove Adventist Hospital has announced plans to open a new radiation oncology facility in Germantown early next year.
Full story; Washington Business Journal; 6/7/10

Cleveland Clinic's new health center will feature 'patient navigators' to coordinate care
Cleveland Clinic's new center will feature "patient navigators" who help patients assess, engage, and coordinate their medical, social service and financial needs, and link them to the appropriate resources.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 6/7/10

Healthcare firm develops clinics on franchise model
The franchise model is not for everyone. Aurora Health Care has closed nine of its 19 QuickCare clinics since the start of last year.
Full story; Journal Sentinel; 6/5/10

Florida Hospital/Adventist Health System to lease Bert Fish MC
Florida Hospital and parent Adventist Health System have signed a letter of intent to lease and manage the 112-bed Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach on July 1, with an option to buy the facility in 2015.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 6/4/10

Northeast Health breaking ground on senior project
Northeast Health is adding skilled nursing care to its Beverwyck retirement community in Slingerlands. The Eddy, the senior care arm of Troy-based Northeast, will spend $6 million to build two, 10,000-square-foot houses on three acres on the Beverwyck campus.
Full story; The Business Review (Albany); 6/4/10

Northeast Florida hospitals brace for $20 million Medicaid cuts
Northeast Florida hospitals are bracing for a 7 percent Medicaid rate cut that will slash a combined $20 million from their fiscal 2010-2011 budgets. "We'll just have to learn to do more with less, and what that will mean in the long term is anyone's guess," said Mike Lukaszewsk, chief financial officer at Baptist Health. "We continue to identify operational efficiencies. Technology has helped in some areas, and to some extent we'll just have to absorb it with a lower margin."
Full story; Jacksonville Business Journal; 6/4/10

Southcoast Health System President John Day to retire in 2011
John B. Day announced Thursday his intention to retire in July 2011 as president and CEO of Southcoast Health System after more than 32 years, capping a career that improved access to advanced medical services by bringing a strong regional approach to healthcare.
Full story; Taunton Daily Gazette; 6/3/10

St. Jude named best children's cancer hospital in U.S.
St. Jude received the best overall score in quality of care. It is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children and serves as an international resource to physicians and researchers.
Full story; Memphis Business Journal; 6/3/10

Best children's hospitals 2010-11: The Honor Roll
This year's rankings show the 30 top children's centers in 10 specialties: cancer, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology (digestive disorders), heart and heart surgery, kidney, neonatology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology (respiratory problems), and urology. In all, 62 different hospitals are ranked in at least one specialty.
Full story; U.S. News & World Report; 6/2/10

Texas Health wins plaudits for innovative electronic health record technology
Texas Health Resources has been recognized by CIO magazine as a 2010 CIO 100 recipient for its innovative initiative to develop and implement an electronic health record (EHR) across its 13-hospital system. The award program recognizes 100 organizations around the world and across all industry sectors that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology.
Full story; Texas Health Resources website; 6/2/10

Which hospitals do the best to prevent infection? Local report ranks hospitals
Its new study cites two hospitals in the St. Louis SSM Health Care network – DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton and St. Mary's Health Center in Richmond Heights – as ranking among the top five in providing all or nearly all of the recommended care for heart attacks, pneumonia and surgical infections.
Full story; St. Louis Beacon; 6/2/10

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Keystone Mercy renew deal
Under the agreement, Keystone Mercy members will be able to continue using providers at Children's Hospital through June 30, 2013.
Full story; Philadelphia Business Journal; 6/2/10

Baystate Health donates computers
Baystate Health helps school update technology for students.
Full story; CBS 3 Springfield; 6/1/10

St. Clare opens $2.4M SSM Neurosciences Institute
The SSM Neurosciences Institute at St. Clare Health Center brings neurosurgeons, neurologists and pain management specialists under one roof.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 6/1/10

Doctors, pharmacists urge people to keep accurate lists of medications
Wellmont Health System and Mountain States Health Alliance recognize the importance of such a list and have worked together to develop a downloadable card on which patients can write their medicines.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 6/1/10

Baystate nearly doubles medication scanning rates
Baystate Medical Center improved its medication scanning rates. Their medication error rate also decreased. Learn how they made this happen.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 6/1/10

FIU, Memorial Healthcare sign affiliation agreement
Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine has signed an affiliation agreement with Memorial Healthcare System, allowing its medical students to receive clinical training from physicians in a variety of specialties.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 6/1/10

Cleveland Clinic's United Nations Global Compact report
Cleveland Clinic releases details about progress in an agreement with the United Nations Global Compact. The effort brings business together with UN agencies, civil society and governments to advance ten universal principles.
Full story; Cleveland Clinic; 6/1/10

May 2010

Banner Health's new cancer center hits 'topping out' milestone
Banner Health officials help celebrate as cancer center moves closer to completion.
Full story; The Arizona Republic; 5/28/10

Bert Fish board votes to join Florida Hospital
Bert Fish Medical Center board members voted unanimously to seal a union with Adventist Health System.
Full story; The Daytona Beach News Journal; 5/28/10

Vanderbilt Children's Hospital to build $30 million addition
Nashville-based Vanderbilt University plans to build a 30,000-square-foot addition to its Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital.
Full story; The Tennessean via HealthLeaders Media; 5/28/10

Cardiology group joins St. Elizabeth
Comprehensive Cardiology Consultants have joined St. Elizabeth Healthcare, becoming the only cardiologists directly employed by the Northern Kentucky hospital system.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 5/27/10

Chinese delegation tours SSM St. Clare Health Center
SSM St. Clare Health Center hosted 14 Chinese delegation representatives in an effort to help their country learn more about healthcare facilities in the United States and key ways to enhance quality care.
Full story; The St. Louis American; 5/26/10

Mercy hospital project
Mercy is building a $200 million hospital. The new facility is expected to be complete in 2013. Mercy is owned by Catholic Healthcare Partners.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 5/26/10

Nemours captures advertising awards
Jacksonville-based Nemours received awards for radio commercials, newspaper ads, collateral materials, annual reports and internal employee communications. Its marketing materials were selected from more than 4,000 entries.
Full story; Jacksonville Business Journal; 5/25/10

Carolinas HealthCare signs Humana deal
Carolinas HealthCare System has agreed to provide services to members of Humana's Medicare Advantage insurance plans.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal via HealthLeaders Media; 5/26/10

Queen City Medical Group recognized for Medical Home performance
Queen City Medical Group, a TriHealth Physician Practice, has been recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance for achieving the highest status attainable for Physician Practice Connections Patient Centered Medical Home.
Full story; cincinnati.com; 5/25/10

Double-lung transplant patient to perform opera at Cleveland Clinic summit
Patient who had a double-lung transplant says coming back to Cleveland Clinic to sing is really a dream come true.
Full story; cleveland.com; 5/25/10

Einstein hospital project waiting for FDA approval
The new central Montgomery County hospital is behind schedule, but Albert Einstein Healthcare Network still expects to have the medical center open in the spring or summer of 2012.
Full story; Philadelphia Business Journal; 5/21/10

CaroMont to implement new healthcare system
CaroMont will launch Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in Gaston County and the surrounding region. The new system measures success by the overall health of the community.
Full story; Freedom - Gaston Gazette; 5/21/10

Greater Baltimore Medical Center names Chessare as CEO
Dr. John Chessare, formerly president of Norwood Hospital near Boston, will replace interim CEO Dr. John Saunders at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
Full story; Baltimore Business Journal; 5/21/10

Doctors in Texas to aid Boston-area hospitals
Southcoast Health System has signed an affiliation agreement with doctors from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to help provide patient care, including advising the hospital on drug regimens, pain control, and chemotherapy safety.
Full story; Boston Globe via HealthLeaders Media; 5/21/10

Baystate Health nationally recognized for its commitment to patient care
BayState Health is recognized in Washington as part of the Premier healthcare alliance's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) national collaborative.
Full story; senate.gov; 5/20/10

Hospital officials explain changes at Bellevue facility
West Penn Allegheny Health System officials met with residents to discuss the decision by the company to close Allegheny General Hospital Suburban Campus' emergency room and lease all of its 100 inpatient beds to LifeCare by August.
Full story; Pittsburgh Post Gazette; 5/20/10

SSM Health Care joins group that will focus on creating healthier communities
SSM Health Care is participating in the initiative because the future will be focused on keeping people healthy. SSM joined the Premier Accountable Care Organization Collaborative and has identified its St. Louis market as the pilot site.
Full story; stltoday.com; 5/20/10

North Shore-Long Island Jewish teams up with Lenox Hill
North-Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, the third-largest secular healthcare network in the country, announces its affiliation with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 5/20/10

Time for the stars of technology management to shine
Lori Catron, Biomedical Engineering Manager at St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center, and Tessie Martinez, Manager of Purchasing at Children's Hospital are among those recognized for their expertise.
Full story; AAMI News; 5/20/10

Cutting edge medicine: New look inside the heart
Doctors at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, say new technology provides faster, clearer images of heart vessels.
Full story; ABC News; 5/20/10

Methodist at forefront of accountable care
Methodist Medical Center is positioning itself to meet the healthcare reform legislation by teaming up with Premier healthcare alliance to create the first accountable care organizations in the country.
Full story; pjstar.com; 5/19/10

Aspects of healthcare reform law discussed at Billings forum
Billings forum addresses alternatives to medical litigation.
Full story; Billings Gazette; 5/19/10

MSHA wins healthcare marketing report awards
The Mountain States Health Alliance Communications and Marketing Department received two Gold Awards, a Silver, a Bronze and four Merit awards from Healthcare Marketing Report, the nation's leading healthcare marketing publication.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 5/18/10

Hospitals criticized over offers to save money by sharing electronic patient data
Texas Health Resources and Children's Medical Center Dallas announced April 27 that patients seen at one hospital will have their records available electronically at the other if they need to be admitted.
Full story; The Dallas Morning News; 5/18/10

Florida Hospital wins Sterling Award
Florida Hospital wins the Governor Sterling Award. The award recognizes organizations and businesses in Florida that have successfully achieved performance excellence within their management and operations.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 5/18/10

Morton Plant North Bay names Hal Ziecheck COO
For the past 16 years, Ziecheck has been chief operating officer of Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater. Ziecheck led Morton Plant's efforts to become nationally recognized for innovations in patient care.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 5/17/10

Lab robots to save TriHealth millions
The automated chemistry lab system is now up and running at TriHealth's Good Samaritan and Bethesda North hospitals. It is expected to save up to $1 million a year.
Full story; cincinnati.com; 5/17/10

Hospital talking affiliation, merger with Cleveland Clinic
Hamot Health Foundation is talking about merging or affiliating with either the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center or the Cleveland Clinic.
Full story; Erie Times via GoErie.com; 5/16/10

A health system thrives... in Detroit?
Henry Ford Health System is thriving amidst economic carnage. It's not easy. It's certainly not as easy as many competitors have made it by abandoning the city altogether.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 5/14/10

Inpatient care to end, ER to close at AGH Suburban in Bellevue
West Penn Allegheny Health Systems officials meet with residents to talk about ER closing.
Full story; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; 5/14/10

Milwaukee health systems using iPads, tablets to boost efficiency
A nurse and director of clinical adoption and transformation at Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care is among those using the new iPad for work.
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 5/14/10

Liska joining Mercy Health Partners
Lee Ann Liska is joining Mercy Health Partners. Liska will begin as chief operating officer of the hospital system in late June.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 5/13/10

Heartland Health cuts costs with Premier
Heartland worked with Premier to refine its processes, streamlining everything from its patient throughput to space tracking in the cath labs. Premier tools helped Heartland maximize contract utilization and track metrics like supply expenses per adjusted patient days. Benchmarking labor standards and reviewing spend processes led to savings of $1.5 million in the first year.
Full story (middle of page); Materials Management in Health Care; 5/13/10

Surgeons at TriHealth Hatton Institute research alternative to spinal lumbar fusion
Surgeons at Bethesda North and Good Samaritan hospitals are participating in a clinical study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a new minimally invasive procedure to treat low back pain caused by degenerative disc disease.
Full story; TriHealth via cincinnati.com; 5/12/10

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researcher wins Science Center grant
A doctor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, received a grant to support his work developing a technology that is expected to significantly reduce the 100,000 surgeries performed each year in the United States to replace blocked stents.
Full story; Philadelphia Business Journal; 5/12/10

SSM, SLU team to expand clinical research
SSM Health Care and the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have teamed to make advanced clinical research available to a wider patient base.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 5/12/10

Nemours names chief nursing executive
Barbara DeBenham Meeks has been tapped for the newly created leadership position of chief nursing executive of Nemours Children's Hospital.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 5/12/10

Kettering Health Network opens neuro center
Kettering's neuro center will treat chronic neurological and balance disorders with neurology and physical physicians, therapists and specialized equipment. The combination of services makes the center the first of its kind in southwest Ohio.
Full story; Dayton Business Journal; 5/11/10

TriHealth installs total chemistry laboratory robotic system
TriHealth, the community partnership of Bethesda North and Good Samaritan hospitals, has equipped both hospitals and its Bethesda Oak site with a state-of-the-art, fully automated in-house laboratory robotics system.
Full story; TriHealth via cincinnati.com; 5/11/10

Arizona hospitals work to keep patients from being infected
Officials with Banner Health go public with how they worked to fight a recent outbreak of a superbug known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA.
Full story; The Arizona Republic; 5/11/10

Breast center at Bethesda North is first in the region to be accredited by NAPBC
"At Bethesda North Hospital, our top priorities are quality, safety and service. We are proud to be the first in the region to receive full accreditation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers," says Sher McClanahan, chief operating officer of Bethesda North Hospital, part of TriHealth.
Full story; cincinnati.com; 5/10/10

Retiring Kettering Health Network CEO to stay in community
Frank Perez says advice from Virginia Kettering led him to embrace region. For the past 16 years, he has led Kettering Medical Center and served as head of the growing Kettering Health Network.
Full story; Dayton Daily News; 5/9/10

HealthWise: They got your back and trust
Nurse navigators at Alegent Health guide seriously ill patients through the complex and often bewildering healthcare system.
Full story; Omaha World-Herald; 5/8/10

Fairview's Amplatz Children's Hospital to offer high-tech amenities
A parade of 60 to 70 ambulances with a police escort will transfer patients across the river from the East Bank of the University of Minnesota to the new University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital next March. For the first time, all of the hospital's young patients will be under one roof.
Full story; Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal; 5/7/10

Meaningful use adds to CIO workload
Craig Richardville, CIO for the Carolinas HealthCare System, and William Spooner, CIO of Sharp HealthCare in San Diego discuss aspects surrounding EHR implementation and Premier's new meaningful use best-practices library.
Full story; Healthcare IT News; 5/6/10

Giles county hospital gets upgrade
Carilion Giles Community Hospital is an 86,388 square foot facility that includes 21 single rooms for patient care and four rooms for intensive care. The "critical access hospital" is designed as a rapid diagnostic center that allows for treatment of patients in a non-emergency setting.
Full story; Bluefield Daily Telegraph; 5/6/10

St. Joseph's Children's Hospital opens retail store
St. Joseph's Safety Store sells low-cost, injury prevention-products such as safety gates, bike helmets, child passenger safety seats, cabinet locks, fire extinguishers, smoke alarms and window blind cord wraps.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 5/6/10

Election leads Union to shelve hospital sale
Carolinas HealthCare System remains eager to continue its long-term lease to operate CMC-Union.
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 5/6/10

Kettering Health Network gets governor's award
Kettering Health Network was the only one of four applicants to receive the Governor's Award for Platinum Level performance, a state extension of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
Full story; Dayton Daily News; 5/5/10

E-pharmacy catches drug mistakes for rural hospitals in five states
Banner Health, the non-profit, Phoenix-based 22-hospital system that stretches across seven states, from Alaska to Nebraska, is finding solutions for eight of its small, rural facilities that don't have pharmacy staff to review prescriptions around-the-clock.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 5/5/10

Nurkin named Johnson City Medical Center CEO
Bradley K. (Brad) Nurkin has been named the CEO of Johnson City Medical Center. Nurkin is a seasoned healthcare professional with broad and successful experience in the leadership of large and small hospital organizations.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance website; 5/5/10

Beavercreek hospital to be named for Soin family
Kettering Health Network has named a hospital in honor of Indu and Raj Soin after the longtime philanthropists gave the largest single gift in KHN history.
Full story; Dayton Daily News; 5/4/10

M.D. Anderson strikes back with new logo
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is doing with its own logo what it hopes all of its patients will do with cancer – striking it out.
Full story; Houston Business Journal; 5/4/10

Going mobile
GNYHA Ventures plans to loan about 150 iPads to hospital CEOs, chief financial officers, materials management executives and pharmacy managers in an effort to determine how mobile technology can be used to facilitate better healthcare operations and communications. "On the group purchasing piece, I'm absolutely looking at how to support our customers with information flow. It might be a purchasing manager on the floor talking to a doctor and he would be able to punch up the contract information he needs to make a purchasing decision," said Lee Perlman, president of GNYHA Ventures.
Full story; Modern Healthcare; 5/3/10

Mercy exec taps local successes in job at parent firm
Steven Mickus is assuming the role of Catholic Healthcare Partners chief operating officer, a job that opened when former Catholic Healthcare Partners top executive A. David Jimenez retired last month. As Catholic Healthcare's chief operating officer, Mr. Mickus is overseeing operations for Ohio's largest healthcare system.
Full story; toledoblade.com; 5/2/10

April 2010

Carolinas HealthCare shuffles execs
Carolinas HealthCare System has made several changes among its administrative personnel, promoting Phyllis Wingate-Jones to division president of Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast in Concord and also giving her responsibility for operations at Carolinas Medical Center-University.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 4/30/10

Mercy Hospital expansion adds helipad
The completion of a $32 million emergency department at Mercy Hospital enables the use of a helipad at the South Buffalo hospital for the first time in more than a decade. Mercy is part of the Catholic Health System.
Full story; Business First of Buffalo; 4/30/10

With St. Jude, NIH in hand, Computable Genomix targeting drug makers
St. Jude will help Computable Genomix market GeneIndexer as a viable product, especially in the pharmaceutical market. GeneIndexer could benefit drug researchers in isolating which genes control the proteins that are the cause of different diseases.
Full story; Memphis Business Journal; 4/30/10

Deals signed ahead of Marin hospital turnover
The Marin Healthcare District, which will regain control of Marin General Hospital in less than nine weeks, has negotiated $60 million in loans from Union Bank and signed a host of other contracts to see it through the transition.
Full story; San Francisco Business Times; 4/30/10

Kettering Health Network awarded for quality
KHN received the Governor's Award or Platinum Level Award from Ohio Partnership for Excellence, a state entity of the Baldrige National Quality Program.
Full story; Dayton Business Journal; 4/30/10

Local hospitals seeing pink
BayCare Health System is coming off its strongest year yet. Other Florida hospitals are also doing well.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 4/30/10

Ascension hospitals get $2.4M in stimulus
Three Ascension Health hospitals have been awarded $2.4 million in federal stimulus money to expand research programs that address disparities in cancer care, particularly for minority patients and those living in rural communities.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 4/30/10

Catholic Healthcare West to provide medical directors for CVS clinics in Phoenix
The arrangement will allow Catholic Healthcare West to expand its development of electronic medical records in this kind of ambulatory setting for family illnesses, as well as integrate patients into a medical home.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 4/30/10

Cleveland Clinic's 8th annual minority men's health fair draws 1,500 participants
Dr. Charles Modlin, director of Minority Men's Health Center at the Cleveland Clinic, started the yearly event in 2003 and holds weekly health clinics at the Cleveland Clinic.
Full story; cleveland.com; 4/29/10

Could streamlining medical billing save $7 billion a year?
A team from Massachusetts General Hospital and its physicians organization examined the time and costs associated with the third-party billing system used in the U.S. and calculated that streamlining its typical administrative inefficiencies could save four hours per week for doctors, five hours for support staff and a total of $7 billion per year.
Full story; The Wall Street Journal; 4/29/10

When less is more
Five of Premier's largest Catholic health-system members across the country agreed to form the Catholic Contracting Group (CCG), a strategic alliance to aggregate and leverage purchasing volume.
Full story; The Journal of Healthcare Contracting; 4/29/10

The doctors at Mercy Medical Center will see you soon
Thousands of people came and stood in lines that snaked around the grounds of the new Mercy Medical Center waiting patiently to get a tour of the new facility.
Full story; Merced Sun-Star; 4/26/10

Moffitt Cancer Center gets $2.8 million grant for Project Quit
The study will involve about 2,000 cigarette smokers who want information on how to quit smoking. Smokers who sign up for the study will receive different booklets through the mail.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 4/28/10

Tri-County Hospital headed to dry ground
Tri-County Memorial Hospital will be relocated and rebuilt following a settlement agreement with federal agencies. The hospital, part of the TLC Health Network, was evacuated last August following severe flooding.
Full story; Business First of Buffalo; 4/27/10

Cleveland Clinic promotes two executives
Spurred by federal health reform, the Cleveland Clinic has promoted two executives to roles that will focus on better integrating the health system's network of hospitals and promoting quality of care.
Full story; MedCity news; 4/27/10

Children's Medical Center Dallas, Texas Health Resources hospitals can now share records electronically
Young patients rushed to Children's Medical Center Dallas from any one of the 13 local hospitals owned by Texas Health Resources now will have their health records instantly uploaded with the click of a mouse.
Full story; Dallas Morning News via HealthLeaders Media; 4/28/10

Park Nicollet rolls out an online diagnosis service
Minnesota-based Park Nicollet Health Services will start diagnosing minor health problems such as bladder infections and allergies online using special technology.
Full story; Minneapolis Star Tribune via HealthLeaders Media; 4/28/10

Children's Medical Center Dallas plans pediatric outpatient facility
Children's Medical Center Dallas is expected to announce it will spend $21 million to build a 34,000-square-foot outpatient specialty center on 10 acres.
Full story; Dallas Morning News via HealthLeaders Media; 4/26/10

Nemours and Wolfson children's hospitals earn accreditation
The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons has granted accreditation to the joint Pediatric Cancer Program of Nemours Children's Clinic and Wolfson Children's Hospital.
Full story; Jacksonville Business Journal; 4/26/10

Florida Hospital's 172-acre Health Village moving ahead
Florida Hospital's new health village will bring with it many new jobs and medical and residential space.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 4/23/10

Business group backs Adventist HealthCare hospital plan
Adventist HealthCare has received a vote of confidence from area business leaders. The business leaders have sent a letter to Maryland hospital regulators in support of Adventist HealthCare's hospital plan for Clarksburg.
Full story; Washington Business Journal; 4/22/10

A look at Vanderbilt Medical Center's expansion
Leaders of Vanderbilt Medical Center discuss how they have survived these tough economic times and positioned their team to be ready for uncompensated care.
Full story; Nashville Business Journal; 4/23/10

Healthcare providers experiment with lump-sum pricing
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach will begin charging lump-sum fees for hip and knee replacements.
Full story; Los Angeles Times; 4/24/10

Can't drive 55
Palmetto Health, Norton Healthcare, St. John's Health System and Blair Child's, senior vice president with Premier, comment on the new healthcare reform law. A slew of newly proposed quality measures have providers clamoring for clarification and wondering about the burdens that additional reporting requirements may place on their organizations.
Full story (subscription required); Modern Healthcare; 4/26/10

SSM Health Care gets $16.M in tax-exempt bonds
SSM Health Care will use the funds to assist with various hospital construction projects. The work that is underway has also brought the addition of many new jobs.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 4/22/10

North Shore-LIJ, EPA Sign Pact on Green Initiatives
North Shore-LIJ Health System and the Environmental Protection Agency used Thursday's Earth Day celebrations to sign a five-year agreement on wide-ranging environmental stewardship programs.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 4/23/10

MSHA earns national green award for reprocessing
Mountain States Health Alliance is dedicated to becoming the green healthcare system of Tennessee and recently formalized those efforts into a program called Mountain States Earth Care. This program works to identify and implement sustainable efforts inside the healthcare system and then sharing those results throughout all its facilities in Tennessee and Virginia.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 4/23/10

Top 25 minority executives in healthcare 2010
Hospital CEOs from Catholic Healthcare West, Carondelet Health Network, New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. and Battle Creek Health System are named among the top minority executives by Modern Healthcare.
Full story; Modern Healthcare; 4/22/10

Norton joins national network of cancer centers
Norton Cancer Institute is one of 14 new sites chosen to join a national network of community-based cancer centers. The program's goals include reducing healthcare disparities for individuals with cancer.
Full story; Business First of Louisville; 4/21/10

Construction of new Smyth County Community Hospital to begin
Mountain States Health Alliance says with a total of 150,373 square feet, the new, four-story hospital will also feature 14 inpatient rehab beds, an 11-room emergency department, and three operating rooms.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 4/21/10

Cleveland Clinic Florida is expanding
In May, Cleveland Clinic plans to start construction on a 9,750-square-foot expansion of its offices in West Palm Beach's CityPlace Tower.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 4/21/10

Tufts Medical Center and a marketing lesson
Tufts Medical Center has always stayed true to its confusingly named children's hospital, Floating Hospital for Children. By partnering with two suburban hospitals and launching two coinciding ad campaigns, Tufts increased brand awareness and consumer preference.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 4/21/10

1-year-old SSM St. Clare plans $4.8M expansion
The new SSM St. Clare inpatient wing will be located in a space on the hospital's fifth floor that was built in the original construction so the hospital could expand quickly, if needed, and with minimal disruption to surrounding patients.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 4/20/10

Baptist Health System's new West Kendall hospital will be complete in about a year
Baptist Health officials say new hospital may open in Spring of 2011. Area residents say it can't come soon enough.
Full story; Miami Herald; 4/20/10

Catholic Healthcare Partners pledges more minority spending
Michael Connelly, president and CEO of Cincinnati-based Catholic Healthcare Partners, says CHP has been doubling its minority spend every year and by 2012 will be at 10 percent.
Full story; Business Courier; 4/19/10

Cleveland Clinic launches mobile website for smartphones
The Clinic's new mobile site will allow users to search for doctors by name, location or department, obtain general information such as hours, parking options and directions.
Full story; Med City News; 4/20/10

Aurora eyes Richfield for next hospital
Aurora Health Care is considering a 50 acre site as a possible future location for another hospital.
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 4/16/10

Vanderbilt's MyHealth system gives patients access to health records
Vanderbilt Medical Center's health portal began as an avenue for patients to send messages to doctors with whom they had appointments. It expanded later to include lab results, online bill payment, health tips and more.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 4/19/10

Baptist Healthcare opens on-site clinic for Appriss workers
The clinic is part of a broader initiative by Baptist Healthcare System that aims to tailor healthcare needs to employers and help control their healthcare costs.
Full story; Business First of Louisville; 4/16/10

Combination of UCH, Adventist could shake up the landscape
A proposed merger between University Community Health and Adventist Health System would change the road map for healthcare services in the Tampa Bay area. Adventist would become the number three player in the market.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 4/16/10

Hard-fought new hospital could be coming to Irmo
Palmetto Health might soon win its long battle to build Parkridge Hospital in Irmo. Residents in Irmo recently received an update in the mail. The notice shows a shovel in a pile of dirt and this headline: "Are you wondering why we haven't broken ground for your hospital?"
Full story; Columbia Free Times; 4/14/10

Methodist announces affiliation with hospital in Botswana
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare entered into an affiliation agreement with Bokamoso Private Hospital in Gaborone, Botswana and assisted in developing policies and procedures, clinical protocols and other requirements for optimum hospital operations. A 200-bed acute care hospital, Bokamoso Private Hospital was opened on January 11, 2010, by OR International LLC, a hospital development and management company.
Full story; Methodist Healthcare Web site; 4/13/10

New surgery center part of JCMC’s update plan
A new, $65 million inpatient surgical center will be constructed at Johnson City Medical Center, creating a new venue for cutting-edge procedures. The new, 16-room surgical center will replace the current 15 rooms housed in the core of JCMC. Because of the difficulty of updating the existing rooms due to infrastructure and size restrictions, Mountain States Health Alliance officials decided to build the new center onto the southwest side of the hospital.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance Web site; 4/13/10

Hospital among tops in several categories
FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital’s cardiac and orthopedic programs received high praise in recent statewide hospital rankings released by Business North Carolina magazine.
Full story; The Pilot; 4/14/10

Three benefits loom in hospital merger
When your local newspaper is one of a chain, or single-owner group of newspapers, it doesn’t feel so much like a hometown newspaper anymore. Readers know some decisions will be made out of town. Does the same attitude apply to the changed status of a local hospital? Rainy Atkins, chief operating officer of Southwest Health System, believes the outcome will be positive if the system affiliates with PeaceHealth, based at Bellevue.
Full story; The Columbian; 4/14/10

Medical Center receives accreditation honors
The Medical Center at Bowling Green received a full cycle three accreditation for chest pain. This makes The Medical Center the 40th accredited chest pain center in the nation and the only hospital in south central Kentucky accredited with PCI.
Full story; WBKO; 4/13/10

Hospital lauds Hope for lifesaving actions
Deonte Hope almost didn't stop. The Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital emergency room technician had just finished his first shift back at work after having surgery a week earlier. He was tired and ready to go home to Bloxom. When he passed by a van that had stopped in the middle of Hospital Road and saw a woman screaming into a cell phone while two others along the roadside nearby were clearly distressed, the 20-year-old initially kept driving. But when he reevaluated the scene, he went back.
Full story; The Daily Times; 4/14/10

Methodist, University of Tennessee to develop Memphis sickle cell center
A coalition of city, community and healthcare leaders announced a $5 million effort to start a center for the treatment of adult sickle cell. The Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center of Memphis is a joint program between Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. More participants are planned, according to a news release.
Full story; Memphis Business Journal; 4/13/10

SSM St. Clare Health Center raises $2.6 million
SSM St. Clare Health Center said Tuesday it has raised $2.6 million, surpassing its three-year campaign goal of $2.5 million. The 154-bed Fenton hospital, which replaced SSM St. Joseph Hospital of Kirkwood, celebrated its one-year birthday March 30.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 4/13/10

Large healthcare purchaser takes leap into ACOs
The California Public Employees' Retirement System agrees to work with Catholic Healthcare West and others to coordinate patient care. They have learned a lot in just 3 months.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 4/8/10

Levy tells hospitalists to focus on values, not health reform debate
Paul Levy, president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, tells doctors to ignore healthcare reform debate and to focus on why they became doctors in the first place.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 4/12/10

Aurora funds new research chair at UWM
Aurora Health Care Foundation has partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to establish a new research chair. In honor of G. Edwin Howe, Aurora's founder, the Foundation has funded the Howe Chair for Healthcare Transformation at UWM. The chair's intent is to develop expertise in the healthcare transformation field.
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 4/12/10

TriHealth's new leadership team set to enact plan
TriHealth adds several team members at executive and director levels. The range of expertise positions TriHealth well to carry out its strategic plan, which involves expanding its range of services and its geography while sticking to the focus of quality care.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 4/9/10

Getting in front of reform
Catholic Healthcare West is one of several healthcare organizations that helped shape the reform package that finally wriggled its way into law late last month.
Full story; San Francisco Business Times; 4/9/10

Coalition aims to slow rise in healthcare costs
Aurora Health Care, Cleveland Clinic and others are helping try to change the way doctors and hospitals are paid. They want the focus to be quality, not quantity.
Full story; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; 4/10/10

New Aurora, Columbia St. Mary's hospitals on track
Officials with Aurora Health Care, which will open an 89-bed, $184 million hospital in late 2010, and Columbia St. Mary's, a 513-bed hospital in Milwaukee in October, say both projects are on schedule.
Full story; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 4/9/10

Northern California already innovating healthcare
Adventist Health and Catholic Healthcare West are working on a couple of pilot projects to improve healthcare quality while cutting costs.
Full story; San Francisco Business Times; 4/9/10

Knapp, Valley Baptist hospitals to merge
The move should mean more efficient healthcare for consumers as the organizations combine resources.
Full story; The Monitor; 4/6/10

Access to affordable care vital
CEO of Catholic Healthcare West says new healthcare legislation addresses the real problems in our health care system: too many people without coverage and the high cost of care for all.
Full story; The Las Vegas Sun; 4/9/10

$25 million children's hospital upgrade planned
Officials with Memorial Health say the project includes a consolidation and upgrade of its children's hospital and outpatient center.
Full story; savannahnow.com; 4/8/10

Cleveland Clinic picks new leader for $1.25 billion fundraising campaign
The Cleveland Clinic has wooed and won a heavy hitter in the world of major philanthropic campaigns from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Armando Chardiet will become the Clinic's Institutional Relations and Development chairman.
Full story; Med City News; 4/8/10

Carolinas HealthCare System expands hospital
Carolinas Medical Center-Pineville will add a 114-bed patient tower, a maternity-center expansion and the addition of a surgical unit.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 4/7/10

St. Vincent's votes to close hospital in Manhattan
The exact timing for the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, which has about 400 inpatient beds, was not immediately clear, but the process of shutting down has already begun.
Full story; The New York Times via HealthLeaders Media; 4/7/10

Bluefield hospital board agrees to sell facility to Community Health Systems
Board Chairman R.E. Perkinson Jr. says the deal will enable the hospital to maintain healthcare in the area.
Full story; The Associated Press via WHNT News; 4/1/10

Children's hospital piloting new iPad app
The Walt Disney Pavilion at Florida Hospital for Children is piloting a new iPad application using interactive video to explain common medical procedures such as CT scans and MRIs to patients.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 4/6/10

Frank Gehry, Cleveland Clinic team up to create a new Las Vegas facility
Architect Frank Gehry stands in front of his most recent creation, the $100 million Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. It is a research and treatment facility for such neurological disorders as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's and ALS.
Full story; The Washington Post; 4/6/10

Football stars again turn out for Golf Classic
Annual Golf Classic benefiting Niswonger Children's Hospital will again be a place where football stars come to play on June 28. The Mountain States Foundation organizes the event.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 4/6/10

Seattle OKs Children's Hospital expansion
The Seattle City Council has approved Seattle Children's Hospital's plan to expand in the upscale Laurelhurst neighborhood by adding 350 beds in four phases over the next 20 years.
Full story; Puget Sound Business Journal; 4/5/10

Morton Plant Hospital begins $25 million Axelrod Pavilion
The project broke ground March 30, and construction is expected to wrap up in May 2011. The Axelrod Pavilion will house an expanded Susan Cheek Needler Breast Center, which provides diagnostic breast imaging and intervention services.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 4/5/10

Construction starts on Adventist's new headquarters
Construction will begin immediately on the first phase of the more than 20-acre site, with completion expected in about 18 months. Approximately 260 employees, many of whom currently work in two offices owned by Adventist in Winter Park, Florida, will move to the new facility when it is complete.
Full story; MSN; 4/5/10

Former Army chief joins trauma team at MSHA
Dr. Christoph Robert Kaufmann, MD, MPH, FACS, a native of Switzerland, has joined Mountain States Trauma Services as medical director of trauma and acute care surgery services.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 4/5/10

Carle Clinic Association purchase seeks to improve continuum of care
The Carle Foundation in Urbana, IL, has purchased the Carle Clinic Association and its assets, including Health Alliance Medical Plans, for $250 million.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 4/2/10

Florida Hospital expands neonatal unit
Florida Hospital for Children is adding 20 private neonatal intensive care unit rooms, bringing the total number of beds to 81.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 4/1/10

New CEO named for Mercy Health Partners NEPA
John Starcher, CEO of Catholic Healthcare Partners Eastern Division, has announced the promotion of Kevin Cook to president and CEO of Mercy Health Partners Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Full story; The Abington Journal; 4/1/10

Pediatric cardiology telemedicine offers needed care to infants
Southeastern Regional Medical Center's pediatric cardiology telemedicine program offers prompt care for babies in need.
Full story; bladenjournal.com; 4/1/10

March 2010

Adventist and Tampa group explore merger
By joining Winter Park-based Adventist Health System, Tampa Bay-based University Community Health would increase access to physicians and medical specialists.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 3/31/10

St. Luke's says no to nicotine users
St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network will begin screening job applicants for nicotine starting May 1, as part of its routine pre-employment drug screening. Those candidates who test positive will not be hired, but they can test again in six months to be reconsidered.
Full story; phillyburbs.com; 3/31/10

Baystate Health improves recruiting productivity with resume mirror software
By collecting job applicant data automatically from candidate resumes, recruiters now have centralized and complete resume and contact data to help identify and hire the best available healthcare workers for their facilities.
Full story; PR Web; 3/31/10

St. Joe's to shift pediatric cases to Phoenix Children's
It's not quite a merger, but more of a strategic alliance where St. Joseph's Hospital's parent, San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West, will have a minority interest in PCH.
Full story; Phoenix Business Journal; 3/31/10

Saint Louise hospital names interim CFO
Saint Louise Regional Hospital named Nicole Thompson interim chief financial officer.
Full story; Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal; 3/30/10

Mission driven, financially strong
Banner Health, Parkland Health and others share the lessons they have learned to help with cost cutting measures.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 3/31/10

SSM St. Mary's Health Center starts $7M overhaul
The outside facelift will complement recent interior renovations, including an expanded emergency room with a dedicated chest pain center.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 3/29/10

Top 100 hospitals thrive even in economic downturn
Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospital national benchmark study identifies hospitals that are thriving when it comes to cost and quality care. Geisinger Medical Center and Gaston Memorial Hospital named among the winners.
Full story; Healthcare Finance News; 3/29/10

Westmoreland Hospital ER renovation begins
The expansion of Westmoreland Hospital's emergency department began on Monday. The project is expected to last 9 months and includes adding on an additional 3,400 square feet according to Excela Health.
Full story; Pittsburgh Business Times; 3/29/10

Hospital opens sleep medicine program
Milton Hospital, an affiliate of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has entered a partnership with Sleep HealthCenters to develop a sleep medicine program. Officials say the moves comes in response to increased awareness about how sleep deficiencies impact health.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 3/29/10

Healthcare legislation scrutinized
Leader of Mercy Health Partners says payment reform is still needed and discusses the reasons why.
Full story; timesleader.com; 3/28/10

Olive Branch hospital verdict could arrive in coming weeks
A decision on Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare's request to build a hospital in the Memphis area known as Olive Branch may still be a couple of months away. Construction could begin in 2011.
Full story; The Commercial Appeal; 3/28/10

Mount Sinai climbs to profits
Mount Sinai's management and doctors engineered its financial turnaround by attracting more patients who underwent cardiac surgery and more patients from commercial insurance and Medicare, and boosting patient volume in its emergency rooms and outpatient centers.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 3/26/10

SW Washington Health System, suitor have shared vision
Southwest and PeaceHealth have much in common including shared values and a mission for delivering high-quality medical care.
Full story; The Columbian; 3/28/10

Holy Cross and Mercy Hospitals announce staff promotions
After leading Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale and Mercy Hospital in Miami to the top five percent in the nation for clinical excellence, John C. Johnson has been named to a new regional position where he will assume responsibilities for more Catholic Health East hospitals that also will enable him to remain actively involved in the growth and development of both Holy Cross and Mercy.
Full story; PR Web; 3/24/10

Carolinas hospitals look for savings from healthcare reform
Hospital officials are still sorting out how the landmark legislation will affect their operations. Charlotte-based Carolinas HealthCare System — which owns, operates or manages 32 hospitals — says its costs for charity care, discounts for uninsured and bad debt costs totaled $177 million in 2008. (Totals for 2009 aren’t yet available.) It provided free or discounted care to nearly 216,000 patients.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 3/26/10

Stroke centers ahead for Medina, Lewiston
Two more area hospitals are expected to receive state approval as designated stroke centers in early April. The State Department of Health has recommended approvals for Medina Memorial Health Care Facility and Mount St. Mary Hospital and Health Center into the state stroke center program. The State Hospital Review & Planning Council are expected to accept the recommendations at its April 8 meeting. Currently, Niagara Falls Memorial Hospital is the only hospital in Niagara, Orleans or Genesee counties designated in the state program. Adding Medina and Mount St. Mary expands options for patients suffering from stroke symptoms.
Full story; Business First of Buffalo; 3/25/10

MSHA statement on healthcare reform vote
CEO of Mountain States Health Alliance says it is difficult to tell just how the healthcare legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives will eventually impact hospitals and patients on the local level.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 3/22/10

Cleveland Clinic earns honor as most ethical company
Cleveland's famous healthcare provider was one of only two non-profit health systems named this year. Premier is also on the list.
Full story; The Cleveland Leader; 3/24/10

Cost of healthcare reform concerns some health leaders
Baystate Health and other hospitals in Massachusetts respond to healthcare reform. The federal government plans to finance the reforms though taxes on high-cost health plans, a Medicare payroll tax on capital gains, dividends and interest income, fees on the healthcare industry, flexible spending accounts and $500 billion in savings from the expected growth of the Medicare systems over 10 years. That has some concerned.
Full story; The Republican; 3/23/10

St. Mary's Medical Center to start $22.75M cancer center project
St. Mary's, part of Catholic Healthcare West, says there are not enough radiation therapy services in San Francisco to meet the growing need for such services.
Full story; San Francisco Business Times; 3/23/10

Bon Secours Charity Health System appoints Philip Patterson as CEO
Patterson will lead the strategy, operations and performance of BSCHS, which includes accountability for three acute care hospitals.
Full story; PRNewswire; 3/22/10

East Morgan County Hospital wins six Banner awards
East Morgan County Hospital helps lead Banner Health with respect to superior outcomes, clinical quality indicators, patient satisfaction, productivity measures and engagement of staff.
Full story; The Fort Morgan Times; 3/22/10

Florida Hospital hires doctors for heart transplant program
Adventist Health Care System's Florida Hospital received state approval in August 2008 to launch a heart transplant program. Florida Hospital also received state backing to begin lung transplants.
Full story; Orlando Business Journal; 3/22/10

Summa Health System plans $65 million emergency services growth
The plan includes the development of free-standing 24/7 emergency departments including one on the Summa Health Center at Lake Medina campus that is currently under construction.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 3/22/10

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center chief urges more cost oversight
Hospital leader says Massachusetts regulators should more closely oversee hospital costs, including setting prices, and limiting new programs that make money for hospitals but drive up overall costs.
Full story; The Boston Globe via Health Leaders Media; 3/22/10

Columbia primary care practice receives highest designation
Palmetto Health Family Medicine Center is the first primary care practice in South Carolina to be recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as a Level-III Patient-Centered Medical Home.
Full story; Columbia Regional Business Report; 3/16/10

Gaston hospital adds region's 4th full-fledged trauma center
Set for a summer opening, the trauma center will be the 13th in North Carolina and the fourth in the Charlotte region. It will offer a higher level of care within the emergency room department.
Full story; Charlotte Observer; 3/22/10

Mercy Health Partners readies for role as health giant
Mercy Health Partners is now taking a leading role in the greater Cincinnati hospital market. With the addition of Jewish Hospital, the group now has the highest market share.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 3/19/10

New guidelines aim to prevent unnecessary death from thoracic aortic disease
"If thoracic aortic disease can be detected early and managed, it gives us the opportunity to select patients for surgical or endovascular repair when the patient is stable," says Loren Hiratzka, M.D., who chaired the guidelines writing committee and is the medical director of cardiac surgery for TriHealth.
Full story; American College of Cardiology; 3/16/10

Cleveland Clinic program linking chronic-disease patients directly to doctors shows success
The project found a significant change in the average number of days between doctor's office visits for diabetic and hypertensive patients, who were able to increase the number of days between appointments by 71 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
Full story; The Plain Dealer via cleveland.com; 3/16/10

Robotic surgery catches on
A doctor with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center says most patients prefer a robot when is comes to surgery. But what about the costs?
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 3/15/10

Hospital partnership could speed up diagnosis of infectious diseases
Kettering Medical Center expects a partnership with an infectious disease diagnostic company to improve patient care and save the hospital money through more rapid diagnoses.
Full story; Dayton Daily News; 3/12/10

Making women's health work
With a competitor already distinguishing itself in the market based on birthing amenities, Carolinas Health System decided to brand its obstetrics services around quality instead of immediately rushing a new women's hospital.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 3/16/10

Detroit Medical Center announces healthcare partnerships
Detroit Medical Center's Children's Hospital of Michigan has established new agreements with Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and Hurley Medical Center to expand pediatric surgical expertise at these two hospitals.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 3/15/10

Pulling back the curtain on the high costs
Northeast Health considers merging with other hospitals in order to trim healthcare costs.
Full story; The Business Review - Albany; 3/12/10

Breaking the bottleneck
Heartland Health tracks its progress for admission and transfers on a score card. The goal is to streamline each process.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 3/15/10

Researchers at Henry Ford offer new hope to vitiligo patients
In a unique study at Henry Ford Hospital, researchers have shown that skin transplant surgery is safe and effective for treating vitiligo.
Full story; Henry Ford Health System; 3/9/10

Group lauds four females who've reached the stars
Katherine Guthrie, regional director of cancer care services for Catholic Healthcare West in its Central Coast Service area, said she goes about her work to improve cancer care and the lives of cancer patients without the expectation of being recognized with an award.
Full story; Santa Maria Times; 3/11/10

Adventist Health partners with Blue Shield
Adventist Health, Blue Shield of California and The California Health Care Coalition have entered into a unique partnership bringing together a health system, a health plan, and large group purchasers to launch the Hospital Quality Improvement pilot.
Full story; Adventist Health; 3/10/10

Summa Health System plans $65 million emergency services network growth
"With the significant expansion of our tertiary hospital emergency department and Level 1 trauma center, supported by a community hospital and free-standing emergency departments, we're able to give our communities the best access to the emergency medical care they need," says Thomas Strauss, president and CEO, Summa Health System.
Full story; ohio.com; 3/10/10

Hendrick Health Center honored with Gallup Great Workplace Award
"We are extremely pleased with the announcement of this prestigious award," said Tim Lancaster, president and CEO of Hendrick. "To be recognized four years in a row as one of the best places to work in the world is simply outstanding."
Full story; Hendrick Health System; 3/10/10

After surgery, shoulder movement may not be up to par
The director of the Herrick Davis Motion Analysis Lab at Henry Ford Hospital discusses a recent study that found shoulder motion may be not be what it used to be after surgery.
Full story; Los Angeles Times; 3/8/10

St. Jude's Research Hospital among most trusted non-profit
One of the most critical elements of a non-profit's brand name is trust. Therefore, it is no surprise that many of the most trusted non-profits also achieve the highest overall brand equity scores. Cleveland Clinic also is on the most trusted list.
Full story; Harris Interactive; 3/4/10

Carolinas HealthCare System nets $470M in 2009
The Charlotte-based healthcare system continued to grow despite a difficult economy. It added services, expanded its facilities and its physician network, and signed new management contracts in 2009.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 3/9/10

St. Luke's Hospital workers among happiest
Employees at St. Luke's Hospital are among of the happiest healthcare workers in the nation, according to a recent survey. St. Luke's ranked third in overall job satisfaction.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 3/9/10

Western Massachusetts hospitals offer Rx for job development
Baystate Health and others are training those who need jobs now for careers in healthcare.
Full story; The Republican Editorials via masslive.com; 3/9/10

MSHA increases focus on being green
Mountain States Earth Care is a new program focused on identifying and growing "green" efforts inside the healthcare system. From the construction of the new hospitals to recycling on patient floors, Mountain States Earth Care will serve as an umbrella program guiding all of the organization's environmentally friendly initiatives.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 3/8/10

St. Elizabeth sells TransCare
The deal is expected to result in expanded emergency medical services in northern Kentucky. The goal is to keep TransCare's strong team intact.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 3/8/10

Baystate Medical Center retains magnet designation
Baystate Medical Center has once again been designated a Magnet hospital for excellence in nursing services. The recognition means the hospital has been Magnet-certified since 2005.
Full story; Gannett Healthcare Group via Nurse Week; 3/8/10

Doctors give back, learn at clinic
TriHealth facility teaches new physicians essential skills while also helping people in the community. The teaching clinic handled 27,149 visits last year.
Full story; Cincinnati.com; 3/5/10

U of L Hospital wins stroke care award
The University of Louisville Hospital has been recognized for its commitment and success in treating stroke patients according to nationally accepted care standards and recommendations.
Full story; Business First of Louisville; 3/5/10

Alexian Brothers and Bon Secours win best place to work award
The health systems will receive the 2010 Gallup Great Workplace Award at a gala during the Gallup Summit 2010. The award is based on the most rigorous workplace research ever conducted.
Full story; Gallup via PR-USA.net; 3/8/10

Geisinger executive discusses Global Location Number Sunrise
Deborah Templeton, vice president of supply-chain services for Geisinger Health System, says there's still time to prepare hospitals for Global Location Number Sunrise. The healthcare industry is reaching the first milestone in this effort that will inaugurate consistent, global standards to reduce costs, improve operations and better serve patients.
Full story (subscription required); Modern Healthcare; 3/8/10

State approves $200 million makeover for Bon Secours DePaul hospital
The hospital will have an intensive care unit, obstetrical unit, full service emergency department and an advanced imaging center. The 300,000 square foot, $200 million facility should be completed in late 2014.
Full story; WVEC.com; 3/5/10

Hospitals reverse policy on children visitors
Visitors age 18 and under were banned from Gaston Memorial Hospital, Cleveland Regional Medical Center, Kings Mountain Hospital and Carolinas Medical Center-Lincoln in fall 2009. The restrictions were put in place because of the rapidly spreading swine flu. Now those policies have been lifted.
Full story; The Star; 3/3/10

Kelley School of Business to honor Methodist CEO
Michael Bryant, president and chief executive officer of Methodist Health in Peoria, Illinois, will be among those honored for professional achievement.
Full story; Indiana University via Newswise; 3/4/10

Major expansion of Sequoia Hospital set to begin
Catholic Healthcare West hired an Arizona-based construction group to start construction in April on a 148,000-square-foot pavilion that will be attached to the existing hospital.
Full story; mercurynews.com; 3/4/10

One year celebration held at Niswonger Children's Hospital
Dennis Vonderfecht, president and CEO of Mountain States Health Alliance, the parent company of Niswonger Children's Hospital, says the hospital is making an important difference to the children and parents of the region.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 3/2/10

Emory, Children's Healthcare to build $90M pediatric center
Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta will build a $90 million research center that could elevate metro Atlanta to the top tier of pediatric research.
Full story; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; 3/2/10

TriHealth named best for women execs
The National Association for Female Executives includes TriHealth hospital system among others as being the best for executive women.
Full story; bizjournals via MSN; 3/2/10

Inside Baystate's cardiovascular rehab & wellness program
Baystate rehab center offers patients the exercise equipment and guidance they need, but with trained medical professionals always on hand if something goes wrong.
Full story; Business West online; 3/1/10

Cleveland Clinic and Microsoft partner up for promising pilot program
The use of at-home medical devices to connect doctors and patients via the Internet can help patients and their physicians work more efficiently together to manage chronic conditions, according to research at Cleveland Clinic.
Full story; PRNewswire; 3/1/10

At Bon Secours female executives excel
The Richmond arm of Bon Secours Virginia Health System and the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System have been named to a list of top 10 nonprofit companies for female executives.
Full story; Richmond Times; 3/2/10

West Penn reports $2.7M revenue gain
Improving investment returns helped West Penn Allegheny Health System turn profits for the three and six month periods ending December 31 compared to a year ago.
Full story; Pittsburgh Business Times; 3/1/10

Toshiba Classic golf tournament benefits Hoag Memorial
The seven-day PGA Tour event generates millions of dollars for the local economy and raises about $1 million each year for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
Full story; Daily Pilot; 3/1/10

Mercy completes buy of Jewish Hospital
After months of negotiating and navigating through controversy, Mercy Health Partners has completed its $180 million acquisition of Jewish Hospital in Kenwood.
Full story; Business Courier of Cincinnati; 3/1/10

February 2010

Researchers at Henry Ford Hospital study vitamin B3 treatment for stroke patients
Henry Ford Hospital researchers investigate the effects of an extended-release form of niacin on stroke patients. Henry Ford is the only site nationally conducting such a study.
Full story; Henry Ford Health System; 2/24/10

Drastic surgery opens door to a normal life
A young boy recently underwent a procedure at the Cleveland Clinic known as a hemispherectomy. By removing the abnormal portions of his brain that had been constantly misfiring, doctors were trying to provide the infant with a permanent reprieve from frequent seizures that medications couldn't stop.
Full story; ohio.com; 2/28/10

Mountain States Health Alliance PR executive joins Tennessee healthcare marketing group
Ed Herbert has been named president of the Tennessee Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations for 2010. Herbert, who is the vice president of Communications and Marketing for Mountain States Health Alliance, was elected to the volunteer position recently at the organization's annual conference.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 2/25/10

Hospitals seek drug cost savings through 340B participation
Detroit Medical Center and others save money in the federal 340B drug-pricing program.
Full story; American Society of Health System Pharmacists; 2/25/10

New program strives to match people with new physicians
The idea for a doctor-patient match event using the speed-dating format came from Mandy Forbus, a marketing specialist with Texas Health Resources.
Full story; ABC News; 2/24/10

MSHA receives excellence award for second time
Mountain States Health Alliance was formally recognized as the recipient of a 2009 excellence award.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 2/25/10

Morton Plant North Bay Hospital doubles size
The expansion is part of a $49 million project that doubled the size of the campus and increased the number of patient beds by 25 percent to 154.
Full story; Tampa Bay Business Journal; 2/25/10

CHW increases budget to $1 billion for electronic health records
Catholic Healthcare West, says it's increasing funding for electronic health records by $419 million to just over $1 billion system wide.
Full story; San Francisco Business Times; 2/24/10

CMC to offer treatment for deadly twin syndrome
Special procedure treats a rare abnormality called twin-twin transfusion syndrome.
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 2/23/10

Innovation is key to healthcare shift
CEO of Cleveland Clinic says changes are needed in order to move from chronic disease to chronic health.
Full story; UVa Today; 2/22/10

Levine Children's Hospital gets $5.7M for cancer research
Eight philanthropic organizations and families in the Charlotte region have committed $5.7 million to create the Carolinas Kids Cancer Research Coalition.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 2/23/10

Carolinas HealthCare System launches stroke network
Network offers hospitals access to stroke-treatment experts to determine the best treatment plans and, if necessary, coordinates rapid transfer of patients to the network's two stroke centers.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 2/22/10

Baptist Health to open new clinics
Three new outpatient centers will open in Coral Gables and South Miami this year.
Full story; South Florida Business Journal; 2/22/10

Five hospital leaders reveal their secrets to better patient experience
Leaders from Henry Ford Health System and Montefiore Medical Center discuss uncompensated care and the patient experience.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 2/22/10

Breakthrough navigator program keeps patients out of hospital
A program at Good Samaritan Hospital is helping patients who are critically ill stay out of the hospital.
Full story; WKRC-TV; 2/3/10

Methodist Charlton Medical Center physician installed as president of Dallas County Medical Society
Dr. Stephen Ozanne, the 127th president of the Dallas County Medical Society, is an orthopedic surgeon on the medical staff of Methodist Health System.
Full story; Methodist Health System; 2/18/10

TriHealth offers college courses to employees
Professors teach classes one night a week at TriHealth's offices in Avondale, part of one bachelor's degree program and one leading to a master's degree.
Full story; Cincinnati.com; 2/18/10

Cleveland Clinic chief on the business of health
The CEO of Cleveland Clinic says the secret is that regardless of what happens with healthcare reform legislation, healthcare costs are going to continue to increase.
Full story; Fortune Magazine via CNN Money; 2/18/10

SSM Health Care hospital wins design award
St. Clare Health Center has a "patient-centric" design meant to improve satisfaction and efficiency.
Full story; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; 2/18/10

Sharp Hospitals designated as Blue Distinction Centers for spine surgery
All of Sharp Healthcare's four acute-care hospitals have been selected by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California as Blue Distinction Centers, a designation awarded to medical facilities nationwide that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality health care in a variety of areas.
Full story; Sharp HealthCare; 2/18/10

Dog is an important part of the Alexian team
Meet Classon, a mixed breed Cocker spaniel and Welsh corgi, working at the Alexian Brothers Health System headquarters, home to more than 450 corporate employees from both Alexian Brothers Medical Center and St. Alexius Medical Center.
Full story; Daily Herald; 2/17/10

Lowe's will bring its workers to Cleveland Clinic for heart surgery
With medical costs climbing and healthcare reform stalled, Lowe's Inc. decided to shop nationally for the best deal in heart surgery for its employees, and it landed at the Cleveland Clinic.
Full story; Cleveland.com; 2/17/10

Bon Secours hospitals named Blue Distinction Centers for orthopedic care
Bon Secours Orthopedic Institute announces that orthopedic programs at Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center and Mary Immaculate Hospital have been designated Blue Distinction Centers for spine surgery and joint replacement by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia.
Full story; Bon Secours; 2/16/10

A healthy economy depends on a healthy work force
The CEO of CaroMont Health and Gaston Memorial Hospital says to remain competitive in the global markets, we must have a healthier work force.
Full story; Gaston Gazette; 2/16/10

Methodist Charlton Medical Center earns quality respiratory care recognition
Methodist Charlton Medical Center recently earned Quality Respiratory Care Recognition under a national program aimed at helping patients and families make informed decisions about the quality of the respiratory care services available in hospitals.
Full story; Methodist Health System; 2/16/10

Patients are finding facility fees for visits to doctors
Last year, the Cleveland Clinic started billing facility fees averaging $55 for patients at outpatient facilities within a 35-mile radius of the main campus.
Full story; Ohio.com; 2/14/10

Baystate working to address costs
Baystate Health has implemented cost containment strategies and enhanced efficiencies while continuing to increase quality and patient outcomes.
Full story; The Republican; 2/14/10

Chandler Medical Center expansion to add 200 jobs
The Catholic Healthcare West project will bring new jobs and enlarge cardiac catheterization labs.
Full story; The Arizona Republic; 2/11/10

Cleveland Clinic's study could crack autism puzzle
A Cleveland Clinic researcher released a study that may provide some answers in the autism puzzle and information about a potential cause.
Full story; NBC via WSFA News; 2/10/10

Cleveland Clinic receives $5.4 million to continue multiple sclerosis study
The grant from the National Institutes of Health will support research that began in 1999 and will extend it another five years.
Full story; Crain's Cleveland Business; 2/10/10

New facility planned for Howard Memorial Hospital
The Frank R. Howard Foundation and Adventist Health announce they have signed a letter of intent for a new community hospital to be built in Willits, California.
Full story; Adventist Health; 2/11/10

Hospitals, legislators working on plan to fill reimbursement gap
The CEO of Mountain States Health Alliance says state funds are needed to draw down the federal matching funds that help support the TennCare program for hospitals. If these funds are not available, hospitals, communities, and TennCare enrollees will suffer.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 2/11/10

Longo named Corporate Compliance Officer for Adventist Health
Kevin Longo was promoted to assistant vice president and Corporate Compliance Officer for Adventist Health.br> Full story; Adventist Health; 2/10/10

There are big bucks in better patient flow
In the case of Missouri-based Heartland Health, improving the surgery department patient flow garnered them over $300,000 in savings in the first year.
Full story; HealthLeaders Media; 2/8/10

Carolinas HealthCare System volunteers to join navy rescue mission in Haiti
Through an agreement with the Department of the Navy, CHS is organizing volunteer groups who will spend two weeks at a time providing care to victims of the January earthquake.
Full story; PRNewswire; 2/8/10

Gaston Memorial receives state award
Gaston Memorial Hospital will receive a state award this week for its roll in raising awareness about Inclusive Health, North Carolina's high-risk insurance pool that provides health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions who have few or no coverage options.
Full story; The Charlotte Observer; 2/8/10

Pediatric hospitals find profits, growth
Carolinas Healthcare System is considering expanding Levine's Children's Hospital.
Full story; Fierce Healthcare; 2/8/10

Adventist Health builds replacement hospital
Adventist Health has committed $58 million to build a new Howard Memorial Hospital, allowing plans to proceed after six years of fundraising.
Full story; pressdemocrat.com; 2/5/10

Baptist hospital forms neurology group
Baptist Health said it has merged existing neurology practices and hired new staff to form Baptist Neurology Group.
Full story; Jacksonville Business Journal; 2/5/10

Sharp Healthcare CIO discusses IT issues
William Spooner, senior VP and CIO of Sharp Healthcare will receive the 2009 John E. Gall CIO of the year award at the annual HIMSS conference in Atlanta on March 2. In a recent interview he discusses healthcare IT.
Full story; Healthcare IT News; 2/4/10

Sharp HealthCare rated top healthcare network in California
For the 12th year in a row, Sharp HealthCare has been named among the top 100 integrated healthcare networks in the nation in an annual survey. It is ranked 6th in the nation.
Full story; PRNewswire via Healthcare Industry Today; 2/3/10

CaroMont Health names new vice president of public policy and partnerships
Rowena mms has been appointed as the Vice President of Public Policy and Partnerships at CaroMont Health. The new leadership role is part of a re-alignment of the organization's management structure.
Full story; CaroMont Health; 2/4/10

Mountain States donation to bolster nursing program
Mountain States Health Alliance's $450,000 donation to the Virginia Appalachia ricollege Nursing Program allows them to grow their our own talent while investing in the educational institutions in their region.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 2/3/10

Locals tell of devastation, hope in Haiti
Alamance Regional Medical Center and others offer help to Haiti.
Full story; thetimesnews.com; 2/4/10

Akron General puts ER wait times on billboards, Internet
Akron General Health System recently began advertising up-to-the-minute wait times for its emergency rooms on billboards throughout town.
Full story; Ohio.com; 2/4/10

Collaborative focuses on fighting youth obesity epidemic
Officials with Mountain States Health Alliance and East Tennessee State University have created a new initiative to help fight the obesity epidemic facing the Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia region.
Full story; Mountain States Health Alliance; 2/4/10

Nonprofits serving children and homeless receive grants
A focus on children and the homeless led to Mercy Medical Center awarding $77,956 in grants to local non-profits. Mercy, with parent company Catholic Healthcare West, awards grants to community organizations each year.
Full story; Merced Sun-Star; 2/3/10

Victims from Haiti arrive in Atlanta
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta helps victims from Haiti.
Full story; The New York Times; 2/3/10

Cutting-edge robotic exoskeleton allows wheelchair-bound to stand and walk
The exoskeleton is being tested at MossRehab, a rehabilitation and research center in Philadelphia that is part of the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network.
Full story; ABC News; 2/4/10

SPX raises $275K for St. Jude Hospital
SPX Corp. has raised $275,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at an auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Full story; Charlotte Business Journal; 2/2/10

Family tradition lives on through Haitian hospital
The son of the former head of surgery at SSM St. Mary’s Health Center is helping patients in Haiti.
Full story; St. Louis Business Journal; 2/2/10

Hospitals rank among nation's best for patient outcomes
Summa Health System is rated in the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide in a study released last week by HealthGrades.
Full story; ohio.com; 2/1/10

Process-of-care measures help hospital stand out nationally
Western Baptist Hospital is top scorer in seven pneumonia process-of-care core measures.
Full story; Fierce Healthcare; 2/1/10

Children's Hospital reports revenue surge
Children’s Hospital in Boston saw its operating income jump 38 percent in fiscal 2009 on a surge in patient-related revenue.
Full story; Boston Business Journal; 2/1/10

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