Articles
Leveraging Technology, Care Delivery, Patient and Family Education/Engagement, Rural issues, Strategic Planning, Leveraging Technology
AHA issues guide on hospital-community partnerships
Population Health
Helping hospitals create community partnerships
A new guide from the American Hospital Association’s Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence initiative highlights promising practices for creating effective and sustainable hospital-community partnerships to build a culture of health.
Leadership, Care Delivery
Embracing civility
We’re four months away from the presidential election, and a lot of Americans are already worn down by the nastiness, name-calling and inanity. Those of us with a low tolerance for watching grown-ups make wild-eyed accusations on TV may have to go back to reading books again. How extreme would that be?
Births of the Nation
Births in the Nation
3,977,745 births occurred in the U.S. in 2015, a 1% decline from 2014.
The decline follows an increase in births from 2013 to 2014, the first increase since 2007.
The rate among teenagers was 22.3 births per 1,000 an 8% decline from 2014.
The birth rate among teenagers has fallen more than 46% since 2007 and 64% since 1991.
The rate of preterm births increased slightly from 9.57% in 2014 to 9.62% in 2015.
Care Delivery, Quality & Patient Safety, Workforce
Hepatitis C, weight gain, football and more
Hep C deaths at all-time high
19,659: Number of U.S. deaths related to the hepatitis C virus in 2014, the highest number in history. The number of acute HCV cases hit 2,194 in 2014, more than 2.5 times the number in 2010.
Increased testing and increased access to treatment are considered the best ways to reverse the trend.
Care Delivery, Quality & Patient Safety
Remembering Emily
You might conclude, judging by the media fixation on whoever says the most incendiary and idiotic things the loudest, that deep thinking about hard issues has gone utterly out of style.
Emily Friedman proved otherwise. In her writing for this publication and others, she challenged us to examine, dissect and understand the most complex and challenging issues in one of the most complex and challenging areas of our lives — health care. She drew on a lifetime of observation and study — and, yes, deep thinking.
Workforce Supply and Demand, Workforce
Appointments
Appointments
• The Houston County Health Care Authority appointed Richard O. Sutton system CEO of Southeast Alabama Medical Center and president of the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine as of May 16. In this role, Sutton has executive oversight for Southeast Alabama Medical Center, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Southeast Alabama Medical Center Foundation and Medical Center Barbour. Sutton was CEO for three Banner Health Northern Colorado Hospitals, North Colorado Medical Center, McKee Medical Center and Banner Fort Collins Medical Center.
Financial Oversight, Care Delivery, Workforce
Century Club Growing
Century Club Growing
Number of Americans 100 years old and older:
1980: 15,000
2000: 50,281
Table of Contents
Features
8
Cover Story
Patient Insights
Consumer segmentation is a business strategy long used in the retail world. Here’s how several hospitals and health systems are adapting it to better understand their patients, improve care and meet the demands of population health management. | By Lola Butcher
13
Governance
History Lessons