Business Casual

Medicare’s oft-cited Hospital Compare Web resource now features a new mini-tool that allows you to quickly compare up to three mortality graphs on hospitals within a zip code range.

The results will show you 30-day death (mortality) rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia. Yes, the data is risk-adjusted for balance.

Out of seven hospital choices, I chose to compare Galichia Heart Hospital, Via Christi Regional Medical Center and Wesley Medical Center, three acute-care hospitals/systems in Wichita with emergency departments. I am happy to report that all three hospital systems were very close to the national average and considered, statistically, “no different than the national rate.” However, it’s worth noting that both Galichia and Via Christi rates were consistently a few points better than the national average.

Walk-in, retail health clinics are savings consumers a lot of money over doctor’s office visits, a new study found.

The study looked at MinuteClinics — associated with CVS drugstores — vs. family doctors and the emergency department for the treatment of common ailments, such as sore throats and ear infections.

Reports the Pioneer Press on the study published in the latest issue of the journal Health Affairs:

The total cost of a patient treated at a MinuteClinic for one of five basic illnesses was $51 cheaper on average than a patient treated at urgent care and $55 cheaper than a patient treated by a primary-care doctor. Pharmacy costs were also slightly lower for the patients using MinuteClinics.

The study authors note that 10 clinical problems such as sinusitis and immunizations make up more than 90 percent of retail clinic visits. These same 10 clinical problems make up 13 percent of adult primary care visits, 30 percent of pediatric primary care visits, and 12 percent of emergency department visits.

But then the authors talk about the main issue that really concerns the medical establishment:

Whether there will be a future shift of care from emergency departments or primary care doctors to retail clinics is unknown.

More than 400 health care industry leaders are meeting in Washington today to figure out how they can put a stop to the hospital-acquired infections that impact about 2 million patients annually, kill as many as 100,000 patients and add as much as $20 billion in additional costs to the health care industry, organizers report.

In an informal poll of Chasing Zero Summit attendees, respondents said that of the 11 preventable conditions that will receive lower or no Medicare reimbursements, the top three most difficult conditions to address are HAIs (hospital acquired infections). In addition, 80 percent of poll respondents indicated that increasing hospital staff awareness, education and training related to infection prevention would have the most significant impact on providers’ abilities to reduce HAIs.

The first ever summit on hospital-acquired infections features a number of prominent speakers, including Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve System from 1987 to 2006; Thomas Valuck, Center for Medicare Management medical officer and senior advisor; Mark McClellan, director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution and Uwe Reinhardt, James Madison Professor of Political Economics at Princeton University.

Too bad it took Medicare’s plan to lower or deny claims for certain preventable conditions beginning next month to get these folks to the table, but I’m glad they’re there.

Seems Jeff Burkel, chief operating officer for MicroMass Communications, a health care advertising firm, has an image problem with Wichita.

Medical Marketing & Media, a health care marketing business publication, recently published a story on its Career & Salary Survey 2008, in which it is discovered that salaries across the health care marketing industry (read: pharmaceutical reps) have decreased by 3.7 percent — from $133,700 in 2007 to $128,800 this year — causing a shift in hiring and recruitment strategies.

In that story, Burkel is commenting that location can play a key factor in the hiring process for some candidates. Then he’s quoted:

“With our Raleigh location, we get [applicants] that are done with the Northeast scene, and are looking to escape,” he says. That isn’t always the case, however. Some locations are less appealing than others. “If you want to move people to Wichita, KS, forget about it,” says Burkel.

Has Burkel even been to Wichita and seen its unique, extremely prolific and robust health care sector?

His company’s headquarters are in Cary, N.C., and the firm has an office in Morristown, N.J.

Ahem.

I’ll stick with Wichita.

Harvard Men’s Health Watch says a quickie power nap in the afternoon at work is very good for alertness, performance and mood.

Those wiley researchers don’t recommend a two-hour nap, of course. A simple 20 to 40 minute nap sometime between noon and 4 p.m. should suffice. And make sure to give yourself 10 to 15 minutes to wake up fully before you resume a demanding task, Harvard pros say.

And just to shore up your argument when your boss asks where the heck you are, Harvard says this:

Voluntary napping … is not a sign of sleep deprivation, illness, or aging. In fact, a “power nap” can be helpful as well as enjoyable. Many studies of shift workers and other volunteers have reported that a nap as brief as 20 minutes can improve alertness, psychomotor performance, and mood.

Now get up and go nap! Harvard said so!

Despite projections for a weak 2007, Moody’s Investors Service conceded that nonprofit hospitals were fairly stable last year, despite the subprime mortgage-fueled financial markets meltdown, ongoing problems in the U.S. economy and continuous pressure on margins, Fierce HealthFinace reports.

But gone are the ubiquitous 5 percent to 6 percent margins. As Via Christi Health System can attest, just staying near the 2 percent mark is a coup these days.