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The purpose of not-for-profit hospitals has become synonymous in the public's mind with charity care. But the mission and contributions of not-for-profit hospitals are far broader than that. And it's [...]

THE NUMBERS DO NOT PAINT A PRETTY PICTURE: Together, blacks, American Indians and Alaska Natives receive worse health care than whites for 40 percent of 44 quality measures studied by [...]

Jeanne Musgrove is wrestling with how to prepare for a wave of cancer patients that may never arrive. As Piedmont Medical Center's oncology services director, Musgrove has heard local physicians [...]

Of all the advances that hospitals are making in the delivery of care, nowhere is the impact felt more dramatically than in the patient room. Even as room decor grows [...]

It's not your grandmother's health care anymore. Or is it? Women's health, a key component in many provider's business strategies, has moved beyond obstetrics and gynecology to encompass a sweeping [...]

Imagine this: An international terrorist finds a hole in your hospital networks computer system, and takes remote control of the organization. Using the electronic billing connection to Medicare, he penetrates [...]

Nestled at the foot of southern California's San Gabriel Mountains and blocks from the 210 Freeway, Methodist Hospital sits in a pleasant neighborhood of well-tended lawns and palm trees. It's [...]

Hospitals in towns and cities along the U.S.-Mexican border have long been accustomed to treating patients whose first language is Spanish, and whose English proficiency is limited. Such patients are [...]

More than 41 million Americans lack health care coverage. Some forecasters expect that figure to climb past 60 million within a few years and to encompass a broader socioeconomic cross [...]

For years, cardiology has been health care's golden child. Fueled by advances in technology and by demographic changes requiring more care, cardiovascular services expanded steadily over the past decade, hitting [...]

A new breed is evolving in health care. A provider-sponsored network is part insurance function and part provider function. But no one knows exactly how it will behave. In the [...]

The emergence of community benefit standard programs seems to indicate a new era of public accountability, driven by external forces such as governmental and public scrutiny and by hospitals' desire [...]

Jim Knutson knows the value that Aircraft Gear Corp. receives for its health care dollars is often difficult to pin down. "We are seeing cases where we pay a lot [...]

Patient-centered care: Can your hospital afford not to have it? Have hospitals lost their personal touch? A new survey tool that measures the personal aspects of patient care can now [...]

Occupational health programs reap profits and referrals Hospitals with occupational health programs can build profitable bridges with employers. Programs that offer comprehensive, client-driven services are most likely to succeed, experts [...]

Catastrophe-driven.' Resurrection medicine.' These are two terms that Parkland Memorial Hospital's David Smith, M.D., uses to describe the emphasis of health care delivery today. Smith is out to change that, [...]

When Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital opened last year in Clark County, Wash., the areas obstetricians found themselves in a bind. The hospital was built to serve a rapidly growing region [...]

In a heart attack, every minute counts. But should patients spend a few more of those minutes getting to a hospital that can provide the most advanced treatment, rather than [...]

As patient populations become increasingly multicultural, hospitals are replacing words with international symbols on signage. An initiative called Signs That Work has tested which symbols are easily understood by most [...]

Picture a day when a patient walks into your finance office and asks how much a unit of A-positive blood used during surgery costs. And what about the sutures? After [...]

Low rates once ensured lots of patients. Not anymore. Andy Riddell once nailed down a managed care contract in a single day. But the hospital CEO credits a friendly staff [...]

Hospitals are expected to cooperate in providing a continuum of preventive and ambulatory services for the elderly as reform measures are implemented. Three hospitals in Salt Lake City, UT, are planning a network for geriatric care in the Intermountain Health Care system. The program offers health education and service discounts to seniors who become members of the organization. A 1991 American Hospital Assn survey shows that community hospitals provide the aged many services, of which the most popular is emergency response., Hospitals work together to fill gaps in continuum of care As health care reform moves forward, more hospitals likely will fill the gaps in the local continuum of care for [...]

An increasing number of hospitals have initiated healthcare programs for homeless persons. Hospitals are urged to take a leading role in this area. The most successful of these programs establish clinics in the community, rather than on hospital grounds. Collaboration with community social service agencies and careful planning are necessary. Funding is available through the Steward B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, Comic Relief, fund-raisers and state and local governments., A growing number of hospitals across the country are collaborating with others in their communities to provide health care to the homeless. Although only a handful of hospitals have so [...]

Partnerships between hospitals and local units of government are increasing as budgets are cut and medical expenses escalate. Some partnerships are based on volunteered services; others are based on contracts for specified services, such as obstetrical services. These partnerships may be compatible with national health care reforms and could eventually result in improved public health, overall., Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White had a problem. He wanted to broaden and improve the services offered in his city's health clinics and create links to nearby hospitals. But, like [...]

Medical prevention and wellness programs organized by hospitals are effective at educating consumers on health topics and generates goodwill for medical institutions. Hospitals have found that these programs do not alienate physicians. In fact, physicians were responsible for an effective prevention campaign using professional athletes. The advertising campaign promoted children wearing helmets for any sporting activity., Never underestimate the good will generated by prevention- and wellness-oriented marketing campaigns, hospital executives say. These programs focus on consumers' health education needs-rather than just promoting the hospital's image through [...]

Hospitals interested in purchasing positron emission tomography (PET) scanners are forced to weigh the cost of such equipment against their benefits. PET is a valuable diagnostic tool in cardiology, oncology and neurology, but its high price, $3 to $6 million, has forced some hospitals purchasing the equipment to collaborate in order to defray the cost. Institutions considering the acquisition of PET scanners should consider such factors as patient demand and reimbursement potential., When a local radiology group approached Sutter Community Hospitals about purchasing a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner several years ago, the Sacramento, Ca-based health care system turned to an unlikely [...]

Lawrence White Jr. and Grant Winn spent most of the 1980s out of step with their fellow hospital CEOS. During that era of cutthroat competition, White and Winn worked together [...]

8 On July 15, Dick Davidson takes the helm as president of the American Hospital Association. Davidson spoke with Hospitals editor Mary Grayson about his viewpoints on several major issues [...]

A women's health center can help build a hospital's image in the community and attract referrals to the specialists who admit inpatients. But to develop a successful center a hospital [...]

Automation: the key to lab profitability Do more with less. That's the task at hand for all hospital departments. Unlike many departments, however, hospital laboratories are in a position to [...]

* Charlton Methodist Hospital, Dallas, began a two-year expansion project for its emergency department. The $13.8 million project will increase the current 9,500-square-foot ED to 21,000 square [...]

* St. Vincent's Medical Center, Bridgeport, Conn., began construction in June on a project to add a 60,000-square-foot, two-story extension to the front of the existing building, new operating rooms, [...]

Children's providers use dolls, bubbles and whatever it takes to keep kids calm You might have noticed a new character on "ER" last spring--a"child life" intern named Rena, She was [...]

Maine hospital takes the tough ones, farms out the rest As with emergency departments, emergency phone lines are so overburdened that strapped staff could be forgiven for answering: "Are you [...]

CLICK HERE! * Need to find an article that appeared in 2000? Visit our article index, available only online. * Keep an eye on important, late-breaking developments in the health [...]

The slowdown in health spending growth may be coming to an end. Overall spending is expected to accelerate, driven in part by rising provider costs, insurers' inability to negotiate ever-increasing [...]

More demand, fewer staffers and financial strains push ERs to the brink. Is this the beginning of a wider crisis for the nation's health care delivery system? Like meteorologists tracking [...]

A new initiative seeks to tackle an age-old problem: the hospital bill Hospitals are turning off patients with bills that are confusing, complex, costly, and often wrong. Dick Davidson, president [...]

Once a hot business for hospitals in the 1980s with the advent of magnetic resonance imaging and CT scanning, radiology fell out of favor somewhat in the '90s. Health care [...]

McGaw Prize winner survives a closure threat to carry on and build on--a commitment to its hard-pressed community It's been called "The Rock," "The Heights," "Big County" and "Big General." [...]

In what some call a second "assault," rape victims brought to their local ER may sit for hours awaiting treatment--or even be turfed to another hospital. From the caregiver's viewpoint, [...]

It's a far cry from fish sticks. In fact, the menu at Zale Lipshy University Hospital is oh-so nouvelle, sporting haute cuisine entrees like honey-banana-cured pork loin with pineapple-avocado relish [...]

Hospital pharmacists, head nurses and other hospital executives underestimate the number of mistakes that take place in drug doses, according to a survey. More than half of patients who complain of chronic pain claim that their physicians fail to treat them adequately. Also, rural hospitals deliver superior care at lower prices than large city hospitals., CEOs and nursing administrators think they're well-aware of their hospitals' prescription and specimen collection errors, but a new poll from medical supply maker Becton Dickinson's B-D.id division shows they often [...]

Consider these audacious goals: Eliminate all preventable harm and score among the top 2 percent of hospitals on standard measures of patient satisfaction by 2012. That's what drives performance improvement [...]

OUR MISSION The AHA Quality Center is a resource of the American Hospital Association designed to help hospitals accelerate their quality improvement processes to achieve better outcomes for improve organizational [...]

Hospitals are finding not only a public relations benefit to providing health educational services to local schools and teenagers, but some tangible benefits as well, including new patients. For more [...]

As anyone who's ever slipped into the standard hospital gown can attest, these generic garments aren't exactly empowering. But a small and seemingly growing cottage industry is out to give [...]

The Spirit of Women Network in June released what it described as the first set of national standards that evaluate commitment to community excellence in women's health care. The objective [...]

Tired of losing money on employed physicians, some hospitals are converting their medical groups to federally qualified health centers. Not only does the move cut losses, it can also improve [...]