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Deadliest, most common cancers get the least attention
Karen Selby Medical & Allied HealthcareCancer is one of the top five leading causes of death in the U.S. The American Cancer Society estimates 1.7 million new cases will be diagnosed and more than 600,000 people will die of the disease in 2019. Americans across the nation are responding to these alarming numbers, but the public and the federal government are focusing their concerns — and donations — on cancers getting the most publicity, not the ones killing the most people.
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Collaboration in healthcare: Beyond the silo
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareSilos are a common sight in the farmlands of the world, but what about the silos we inhabit as healthcare clinicians, researchers, academicians, and administrators? What would happen if the silos disappeared? What kind of collaborations might result and how would the face of medicine and healthcare change? Historically, nurses have been at the beck and call of physicians, relegated to tasks previously identified as "non-professional." Recently, the separate silos of nurses and doctors have become less pronounced, allowing for increased trust, collaboration, and shared practice.
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CMS: ACOs are producing savings, physician-based models faring best
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationAccountable care organizations (ACOs) are paying off big time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said, with the programs generating more than $739 million in net savings in 2018. ACOs are designed to lower growth in expenditures and improve care quality. For its part, an ACO agrees to be held accountable for the quality, cost, and experience of care of an assigned Medicare beneficiary population. According to Health Affairs, ACOs that successfully meet quality and savings requirements share a percentage of the achieved savings with Medicare.
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Optimizing quality of life and communication for older adults living with…
Carina Oltmann Medical & Allied HealthcareMiriam is sitting up in bed when I enter her hospital room. She is neatly groomed with a lovely short gray bob and large eyes that greet me warmly. Before her lie several untouched containers of vanilla pudding. The television is tuned to CNN and she tells me that she watches the business show religiously every day. I like Miriam’s warmth and friendliness immediately. As an oncology social worker, I have the privilege of working with adults undergoing treatment for cancer, primarily gynecologic and hepatobiliary cancer.
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5 strategies for reducing medication errors
Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied HealthcareAs a healthcare professional, you constantly monitor your hospital to make sure patient safety is the ultimate priority. But improving your approach on a constant basis is also vital. What strategies should you be implementing to ensure your patients receive their medication properly, without hazard and in a timely manner? Use these science-driven pieces of advice to accomplish these essential goals.
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Healthcare groups: ONC should delay data-blocking rules, focus on security
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareFederal policymakers in healthcare IT are up against it. As many as seven healthcare industry groups are encouraging these rulemakers to begin dealing with data-blocking regulations now, including delaying the publication of a final rule. The groups are raising the flag toward the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to issue another supplemental notice of rulemaking and clarify the language in the rules. The organizations cite confusion regarding ONC's definition and scope of electronic health information and health information networks.
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New research highlights potential incentives to encourage organ donation
Chelsea Adams Medical & Allied HealthcareThe donor-priority rule was developed as a potential way to encourage organ donor registrations. If a person signs up to be an organ donor, the potential donor will receive a higher priority on the transplant list if he or she ever needs an organ transplant. However, this arrangement brings about an unintended consequence. People who are at risk of needing an organ transplant are more likely to register as organ donors. And generally speaking, people who need organ transplants are sick. New research published in the journal Management Science pinpoints a potential solution.
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Resistance to change in healthcare: Our fatal flaw
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareIt’s been said that change is the only constant in the universe, and that also pertains to healthcare. Since the days of Hippocrates, Florence Nightingale, and many others, medicine and nursing have continued to morph, and those individuals and organizations willing to do so have also evolved apace. But for those who resist or fight change, becoming an irrelevant dinosaur is the likely result. Are you and your organization willing to play along?
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Report: Many US healthcare employees receive no cybersecurity training
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareThere's a healthcare data security problem in the U.S., and news reports suggest that insiders are not getting the amount of education they need to help keep hospital data safe. Per a new Kaspersky report, a massive number of the healthcare sector’s workforce does not receive the necessary training required to improve awareness of their organization’s policies, regulations, and rules. Nearly a quarter (24%) of U.S. healthcare employees have not received cybersecurity training, "but felt they should have," Health IT Security points out.
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5 ways professional coaching can help hospital physicians
Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare AdministrationExternal coaching can be a valuable tool in helping members of your hospital’s staff navigate their tasks more effectively. You may have primarily used it to train IT or administrative workers — but did you know that outside professional coaching can help your physicians perform better, too? Here are five science-driven ways can coaching help your doctors feel and do better — and why it's well worth the economic cost.
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