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Biomedical subjects

R M Sigmond

Publications and source records attributed to R M Sigmond.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

1996 Andrew Pattullo lecture. A vision of the role of health administration education in the transformation of the American health system.

In summary, it is my conviction that each of the AUPHA programs would be well advised to re-discover a shared vision of health care as public service, caring for communities as well as for patients and enrolled populations. I am also convinced that each program should be shaping a shared vision of the role of the academic program in providing intellectual leadership in this respect. These processes can be designed to have impact on all of the activities of the program, starting with low hanging fruit, and moving higher with growing confidence and commitment. The key task for AUPHA as an organization right now is ro re-examine its own vision as a basis for providing strong leadership to the field. This involves promoting visioning as a management tool, helping to sharpen the accreditation requirements in this respect, and carrying out the recommendation of the Pew Health Professions Commission to bring the academic and practitioner worlds into closer synch. The talent and the zeal are evident. What is required now is the will to make changes. Continued transformation of the American Health system and of the academic programs in health administration are both inevitable. Managing the transformation is more exciting, more productive, more professionally satisfying and more fun than just surviving or not surviving at all. Managing a transformation is not easy, especially in academia. Just watching it happen is not nearly as satisfying or as much fun.

Consumer Advocacy↗
PubMed1995

Back to the future: partnerships and coordination for community health.

In the current tumultuous health care scene, competitive health plans and capitated delivery systems are becoming the driving forces in the health care marketplace. Although these plans may be successful in containing costs, their competitive nature prevents them from providing leadership in comprehensive, coordinated initiatives to benefit the entire community. In contrast, executives and trustees at the frontiers of health services management are reaching beyond the current scene toward a vision of community care networks. They are taking incremental steps to coordinate care of patients, enrolled populations, and communities--both within and among independent organizations in the public, for-profit, and not-for-profit sectors. As they bring increasing competence in coordination to bear on complex problems of long standing, a health care system that actually delivers more for less to all is a real possibility. My historical perspective, dating back to the studies of the Committee on the Costs of Medical Care (1928-1932), convinces me that community coordination is the missing element in moving from our current fragmented health system to an ever more effective system. This article suggests that the CCMC was on the right track in recommending that every community have an agency to exercise coordination functions, relying on the power of knowledge and persuasion rather than control. Presented here are details of how to organize and manage such an entity as well as a discussion of the nature of the leadership and the incentives required to overcome obstacles to this essential approach.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

A catalyst for change. A new book depicts the hospital as an instrument for forming social policy.

Most health policy experts see the hospital as the enemy of the people or, at best, as a body repair shop. Rosemary Steven's new book, In Sickness and in Wealth, provides a solid, factual, historical basis for such negative perceptions of the hospital's future role. But in a final brief chapter, she suggests that the voluntary hospital may emerge as an instrument of social policy. Stevens believes that this expanded role is "justified by the historical record--and in the absence of any better alternative." She outlines a three-point program for hospitals to meet the current challenges: "lobbying by consumer groups, hospitals, employers and others for public policy designed to improve individual insurance coverage; mobilization at the local level to define and meet community needs; pressures within the system to bring the major players together to work for common goals." Then hospitals, she continues, "may expand into multi-faceted health-care complexes as the basic notion of the 'hospital' extends beyond the walls of the institution," and "the hospital becomes, in effect, the health-care system."

Forecasting↗
PubMed1980

Why neither competition nor regulation is the whole answer.

The full potential of competitive marketplace incentives and governmental regulatory incentives in the health field will be achieved only in effective interaction with voluntary incentives. This article examines the relationships among regulation, competition, and voluntary discipline and the implications of a balanced approach in health planning.

Capitation Fee↗
PubMed1978

Can restructuring health care financing hold down costs?

Various proposals have been made to restructure health care financing arrangements in the interests of cost containment and a more efficient delivery system. The proposals include prospective payment arrangements, capitation payment arrangements, and methods to encourage consumer cost sharing and cost awareness. Most promising of the proposals are those that encourage joint community action by coalitions of hospitals, physicians, Blue Cross-Blue Shield Plans, commercial insurers, consumers, and industry.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗