Issues & Trends

American Hospital Association content on issues and trends in the health care field.

Recognizing the importance of social media is the first step in taking your hospital into the digital world. Understanding the value and the potential of this medium can help to leverage your community benefit programs and patient engagement in a way never possible before the advent of the Internet.
Hospitals are making greater use of new technologies to improve emergency department throughput. Digital registration kiosks and bedside registration systems streamline the process, allowing patients to be treated more quickly. Electronic patient tracking boards can reduce wait times and improve…
Hospitals can build stronger connections to the community through popular social media sites and apps. Some hospitals are hiring full-time and freelance journalists to write stories and produce videos on health trends, news of the day and the hospital itself. “We’re updating the site with two to…
Fundraising at U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals increased more than 7 percent in 2014, continuing a recovery trend from the low-giving years of the recession, according to a survey by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The 2014 Annual Development Survey analyzed…
Penny Wheeler, M.D., was barely into her tenure as CEO of Allina Health and fresh from a transition period earlier this year with retiring CEO Kenneth Paulus when the topic turned to who might replace her.
Primary care physicians, followed by psychiatrists, topped a list of 20 most in-demand medical specialists, according to a report from physician search firm Merritt Hawkins. The firm tracked its physician and advanced practitioner recruiting assignments and found that it was retained to conduct…
Wurlitzer, Kodak, Digital Equipment Corporation — the business world is filled with the names of once great and dominant companies that ignored the winds of change. Their stories offer lessons to other industries, including health care, on the importance of recognizing change and adopting a…
The overuse of antibiotics in both medicine and livestock has been making headlines recently, and patients and community members may be turning to you with questions. The American Hospital Association, in fact, is already addressing the public health and national security threat…
Cases involving mental disorders and their associated expenditures increased more than those of heart disease, cancer or any of the other top five costliest conditions, according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report. The number of patients treated for mental disorders…
In health care, there is no more business as usual. Health care organizations today face new challenges, and opportunities, from retail players, technology startups, consumerism and others. This gatefold exerpts two infographics from The Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market…