Give a listen… My guest today is Tim Pettry, Program Director for Continuous Improvement at the Cleveland Clinic’s Akron General (CCAG) Hospital where he directs the implementation of a Culture of Improvement for over 5,500 caregivers, utilizing the Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model. One of the biggest “take-aways” of this conversation is the difference in syntax...

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Ecosystems create powerful forces that can reshape and disrupt industries.  In healthcare, they have the potential to deliver a personalized and integrated experience to consumers, enhance provider productivity, engage formal and informal caregivers, and improve outcomes and affordability. We define an ecosystem as a set of capabilities and services that integrate value chain participants (customers,...

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By some estimates, work-related stress drains the US economy of nearly 300 billion dollars a year — and it can hurt your productivity and personal health too, says wellness advocate Rob Cooke. He shares some strategies to help put your mental, physical and emotional well-being back at the forefront.  Click here to watch….

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Topic: With everyone in the world being locked-down, bored  rigid with nothing much better to do and in desperate need of speaking with someone other than their significant other or dog, it’s a full-house at The Outliers Inn with guests who hail from the States, the UK, Germany, and Iceland being represented.  The episode is long,...

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This article means that technology-driven innovation holds the potential to improve our understanding of patients. At the same time, it enables the delivery of more convenient, individualized care, and create $350 billion–$410 billion in annual value by 2025. It remains true that while healthcare advances have delivered great benefits to society, bringing material improvements in...

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The Economist means that as life expectancy increases, it is accompanied by the rise of chronic diseases, and this further pushes up healthcare spending across the world. As result, it has become clear to many policymakers and healthcare providers that a business-as-usual approach to cost containment is no longer sustainable. To continue delivering accessible, high-quality...

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Fact of the day about the US of A: The very same blood test can cost $19 at one clinic and $522 at another clinic just blocks away – and nobody knows the difference until they get a bill weeks later. Journalist Jeanne Pinder says it doesn’t have to be this way. She’s built a...

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With changing health care reimbursement models, growing consumer demand, and advances in digital technologies, virtual care is a must-have for health systems. But how can hospitals and health systems gain physician buy-in? Deloitte means that it might be easier than you thought… Read more

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I am not easily impressed by technology.  In fact, I am often a contrarian and don’t easily buy into the hype of the “next great thing”.  It’s probably a combination of factors. One being that I started my professional career during the 1980’s and 90’s – a period of time when there was a veritable...

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“The greatest wealth is health” (Virgil, Ancient Roman poet). There is nothing more important than taking care of ourselves and each other. However, focusing a health system on the appropriate goals in a complex political and social environment requires investment in the right combination of time, money, intellect, and creativity. Government agencies are bringing pressure...

This post Measuring and Managing Patient Profitability appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

The Guardian reports that despite US legislation in 2010 that moved the country closer to achieving universal healthcare, costs have continued to rise and nearly 26 million Americans are still uninsured according to the Congressional Budget Office. As Republicans decide whether to repeal or replace the struggling healthcare policy, how does the existing US healthcare...

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Intensive care physician Peter Pronovost and chief engineers Alan Ravitz and Conrad Grant, contrasts the way we build hospitals to the approcah taken by an aircraft manufacturer upon deciding to create a new model. Where the former typically happens in a piecemeal, patchwork approach, the latter doesn’t ask pilots and crew to identify the best cabin, wings, jet engines, and other parts, to...

This post How Systems Engineering Can Help Fix Health Care appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

When the Obamacare Act was signed into law in 2010, it promised to provide health insurance to millions of American people. Since then, the law has been partly successful in pushing the U.S. uninsured rate down to a record low. However, the ACA’s new insurance markets are proving to be volatile, with insurers recording big...

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After a 1999 report revealed that upto 98,000 patients die in hospitals annually due to medical errors that could have been prevented, the attempt at improving health care has become a central goal in clinical, research, government and political arenas. With medical errors still being a pervasive problem, the healthcare industry is pressed to address this issue through...

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Recent articles in healthcare journals reveal a sad truth: hospitals are still not as safe as they should be.  One article states that one in three patients are harmed during a hospital stay and of this 33%, 7% either die or are permanently harmed.  There has been an emphasis on patient safety for over a...

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As the Economist says, a pair of straight and gleaming teeth makes for a beautiful smile. But how many people who have undergone a little dental maintenance realize that they may have some of the first products of a new industrial revolution inside their mouths? Who would’ve though that if you combine 3D printing and...

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This is Part II of a two part series – part 1 here Robert P. Thames, FACHE, FHFMA, President and CEO, Northern Arizona Healthcare PART II: STAGES OF EVOLUTION – AND HOW TO MIGRATE “You are here” and the Gretzky factor[i] To assist in gaining perspective on ‘where are we now?’ in the context of...

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Now here’s a bitter pill for Americans to swallow: The United States is the third most expensive country for medical care in the entire world. As revealed by an analysis by Bloomberg, health-care costs in the U.S. are surpassed only by Norway ($9,715 per person) and Switzerland. ($9,276 per person). Countries with the lowest health-care...

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Pfizer and Allergan are in talks to create the world’s biggest drug company by market value. The problem with this scenario? Pfizer’s take over of Allergan have faced a political backlash in the United States over fears that the deal would lead to the company shifting its headquarters and taxable profits to Ireland. But a Reuters...

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Bloomberg reports on how the backlash over surging drug prices is starting to take hold. With the average cost of branded cancer drugs doubling over the past decade to about $10,000 per month in the U.S., doctors, insurers and politicians are all moving in different directions to pressure drug-makers on pricing. Cancer doctors, in particular,...

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The Economist reports: Those pouring money into health-related mobile gadgets and apps believe they can work the miracle of making health care both better and cheaper. From this perspective, happiness is equated to “appiness”, meaning the opportunities created by combining health and technological applications. The promise of technologically-altered healthcare systems could pave the way to...

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Breaking Down Mass Spectrometry For many of you reading this article, the words mass spectrometry will probably mean nothing. However, in the growing field of healthcare and clinical diagnostics, it is an ever increasing term used in the medical lexicon. Mass Spectrometry is an analytical chemistry technique that has been around commercially since the 1950’s,...

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Reuters reports that soaring diabetes rates, driven by increasing obesity, have fuelled profits at the Danish company, Novo Nordisk’s Kalundborg factory for nearly two decades. Now, the company wants to tackle obesity head on by launching a specific treatment. At first thought, it seems to be a no-brainer. However, in a global economic downturn, modestly effective weight-loss...

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Back in 2006 when doctors started testing a melanoma treatment on chemotherapy patients with the hopes of shrinking tumors – they were used to facing slim odds. But now, a new drug called Zelboraf that targets specific mutations in cancer cells, is helping them beat those odds by showing signs of significant tumor shrinkage. These Zelboraf research tests,...

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Science fair winning teenagers, Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao, have identified a new bacteria that breaks down nasty compounds called phthalates, common to flexible plastics and linked to health problems. Because once it’s created, plastic (almost) never dies – they found an answer to the burning question of how to break down plastics – surprisingly...

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A Reuters analysis has found that the number of people working to implement “Obamacare” has reached the tens of thousands. Call them the Obama-army, if you will. Indeed, State offices that will run insurance exchanges are hiring tens of thousands, either on staff or through outsourcing firms. And futhermore, federal agencies that are key to implementing...

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This article by the Economist dives deep into the ever-growing problem of obesity in America. As a well know fact, two-thirds of American adults are overweight as is defined as having a body mass index of 25 or more. If current trends continue, by 2030 nearly half of American adults could be obese. While Americans...

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Those Americans who receive health care insurance through their employees may need to get comfortable with digging even deeper into their pockets. Over the next 18 months, businesses are expected to implement healthcare plans requiring higher deductibles. Large up-front, out-of-pocket costs are anticipated to become mandatory before any insurance coverage kicks in. This is because...

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Something is seriously wrong… The healthcare industry as a whole in the United States is corrupt, dysfunctional, ineffective, and inefficient.  And regardless of “party affiliation”, everyone appears to share this opinion.  The only real disagreement (and a heated disagreement at that) is what should be done about it, and whether what has been done to...

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Reuters reports on the dangers of pharmacies that mix or alter drugs without proper federal oversight. As it stands, the safety and efficacy of drugs made by these “compounding pharmacies” make for red alerts. Dr. Steven Galson, a top official at the Food and Drug Administration, has shed some light on the risks from an industry that’s now...

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