Operational Excellence
Trustee Talking Points
Trustee Talking Points
Misuse of prescription opioids is reaching crisis proportions in the United States, with an estimated 44 people dying every day from an overdose of such painkillers.
The problem cuts across demographic and geographic categories, enveloping the…
Our Obesity Problem
36.5% of American adults are obese.
Here’s how it breaks down by age.
The Center for Healthcare Governance winter symposium in February was a terrific event, and not only because it gave some of us a chance to thaw out in the Phoenix sunshine. This was my first CHG meeting since becoming editor of Trustee in the fall, and what impressed me most was how eager…
When you agreed to serve on the board of a hospital, you probably knew that health care was changing. But I bet you didn't anticipate how sweeping that transformation would be — from how providers are reimbursed to how and where care is delivered; from medical technology that's…
Infant mortality hits record low
The U.S. mortality rate fell 2.3% in 2014, to a record low 582.1 deaths per 100,000 live births. The drop was led by a 13.5% decline in deaths from respiratory illness.
Trustee Talking Points
Trustee Talking Points
Health care reimbursement is moving away from the fee-for-service model to value-based payment.
The trend is being pushed by Medicare, private insurers and companies that provide coverage plans for their employees.…
2015 was the year of the health care security breach. Nearly 100 million electronic health records were compromised, according to a December 2015 IBM Security report, blowing away the number of data breaches that occurred in the computer services and financial sectors.
Trustee Talking Points
Trustee Talking Points
Cost is driving a rise in ambulatory care and a proliferation of outpatient settings.
Technology enables these facilities to deliver care across multiple settings.
Roughly eight models of ambulatory sites have emerged.
Differences between these…
Hospitals are making “substantial progress in improving safety,” according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report that found a 17 percent decline in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2014. That saved 87,000 lives and nearly $20 billion in health costs. HACs include adverse…
Deeply held beliefs can blind boards to the true nature of change. It’s time to challenge the orthodoxies. In the early 2000s, the Nokia board debated creating a smartphone. The company’s wireless handset was the global best seller. Management believed consumers would not use a touch…