FierceHealthcare bills itself as “the leading source of healthcare management news for healthcare industry executives” and has picked nine movers and shakers to watch this year. Most are industry leaders, but No. 9 on the list is former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. “While at the moment, you can’t think of healthcare without thinking of President Obama, Sebelius’s name should be just as synonymous,” FierceHealthcare says.
A new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is yet more evidence of why hospitals work so hard to retain nurses. It says the cost of replacing a nurse is $36,567, with the loss of experienced nurses being especially costly.
The cost is based on termination payouts, filling temporary vacancies, additional ovrtime costs, and hiring and training new staff, the foundation says.
The electronic billboard in front of the Sedgwick County Extension building at 21st Street and Ridge Road has been advertising a class:
“Legally Secure Your Financial Future”
Is that first word necessary? Probably.
I met Anita Bruzzese a couple of years ago at a Royals game and found her to be a great conversationalist. I didn’t realize until later that she’s also a great writer, on all sorts of workplace issues.
In her blog today, she offers some tips to people who are conducting job interviews. She doesn’t name names, but she says the tips are based on horror stories she’s heard. Scary stuff, indeed.
TED (it stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) shows off some of the most amazing and entertaining scientific advances around, and one of the newest is simply astounding.
What it is: Pattie Maes of MIT shows off a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment.
What’s your opinion: The coolest thing you’ve ever seen or something to scary to ponder?
A national study by HCD Research of more than 900 physicians showed that 30 percent of them would choose a new profession if starting over today. Those between 35 and 64 were most likely to say they’d choose differently.
The doctors said negotiated rates and malpractice suits were their top two reasons for doing something different.
The docs didn’t say what they’d rather do – but that might something to spark a conversation next time you’re visiting yours.
Beginning Wednesday, Lawrence Memorial Hospital will sell water in paper cartons rather than bottles to be more environmentally conscious. It says it will be the first hospital in the country to make the switch.
The Lawrence Journal World quotes hospital officials about all the reasons for the switch, including the ease of storing square cartons.
The only downside I can think of: They’ll never fit in car or gym cup holders.
The next time you’re waiting to be called back to the exam room, remember this:
A 2008 survey by the Physicians’ Foundation showed that 78 percent of physicians say the practice of medicine has become less satisfying over the past five years.
Let’s hope yours is one of the 5.6 percent who find it more satisfying.
First, Wal-Mart, Target, Dillons and others said they’d offer certain prescription drugs for $4 for a 30-day supply.
The next big marketing move was offering 90-day supplies for $10.
Now comes Giant Food. Through March 21, it’s offering 14-day supplies of the most commonly prescribed generic antibiotics for free. “With cold and flu season in full-swing, we want to do what we can to help keep you and your family feeling your best during the winter months,” the company says.
And to keep you coming back.
Galichia Heart Hospital’s discounted fees are getting national attention.
In February, the hospital made news by announcing it would offer heart bypass surgery for a flat fee of $10,000, undercutting other hospitals’ charges by more than $20,000. And in April it treated its first out-of-country patient: a Canadian willing to pay cash for a hip replacement he would have waited months or years for back home.
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine noted those trends in its January issue on saving money. ” Forget traveling abroad to save on medical procedures. A trip to America’s heartland can be just as healthy for your wallet,” the article begins.
Nice to see us getting the attention.
Want to weigh in on what health care reform might look like after Jan. 20? More than 4,000 people already have, including former Sen. Tom Daschle, who will head Health and Human Services. He used a YouTube video on the change.gov Website to get the discussion going.
The site also has a word cloud, which searches for the most commonly used words mentioned in the discussion and arranges them by size according to their frequency. The biggest word on there: “insurance,” which is just a smidge bigger than “health.”
There should be some marketing potential here:
People who attend religious services regularly — and denomination didn’t matter — have a 20 percent overall lower risk of death than those who don’t, according to a new study by researchers from Yeshiva University, in the Bronx, and its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The results are an outgrowth of the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-term study following more than 90,000 women.