Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Hudson.
What's the difference between inducement and encouragement? That's a key question in the Hanlester Network case. Attorneys and other experts are carefully sifting through the implications of Hanlester, and what its precise--and very important--effects may be on joint ventures with physicians.
The time is now for community benefit standards programs. Indeed, not-for-profit hospitals are picking up the pace in this area and adopting such programs, motivated by a wide range of factors external and internal. On the one hand, increased public scrutiny of the not-for-profit institution's role, increased attention from the IRS, and encouragement at the national hospital association level are all influences here. But there is also a growing feeling among many hospitals that community benefit standards programs can enhance their public image--and that they're the right thing to do.
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Hospital billing and pricing practices are drawing increasing heat from lawmakers, employers and consumers. In a four-part package, we explore various aspects of this issue. First, an overview. With public dissatisfaction growing, leaders on Capitol Hill are delving into hospital administrative costs and practices as never before. Second, the pricing controversy. Hospitals have three antidotes to the problem: streamline their charge structures, keep prices closely tied to costs, and explain the complexities of cost-shifting to businesses. Many hospitals are already moving forward on this. On page 29, the consumer angle. While a number of lawsuits in Florida have alleged overcharging by hospitals, Nevada has begun operating a new commission charged specifically with arbitrating patient billing disputes. On page 31, the receivables management story. Hospitals must carefully examine the efficiency of all their business office functions to make billing and collection improvements, experts say; relying on automation alone will not work.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
At times, it seems as though every hospital, hospital association, philanthropic foundation and major corporation in the United States is involved in the quality movement in health care. The explosion of quality measurement initiatives that began in the 1980s is continuing apace, with earlier programs being expanded, enhanced, modified and replicated throughout the country in a variety of settings. This cover story looks at the broad efforts to develop clinical quality measurement tools from four different perspectives. First, we provide an update on the Maryland Quality Indicator Project and its ongoing use as a role model for many of the newer clinical indicator projects now being developed. Part two looks at the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and its Agenda for Change project, as well as other large-scale quality measurement programs under way in the private sector that are attempting to determine what indicators are meaningful to use. Part three examines the growing role of corporate payers in pushing hospital-comparison and other assessment programs forward. And in the final section, we look at the federal government's role in developing practice guidelines and outcomes research.
Using positional cloning strategies, we have identified a CTG triplet repeat that undergoes expansion in myotonic dystrophy patients. This sequence is highly variable in the normal population. PCR analysis of the interval containing this repeat indicates that unaffected individuals have been 5 and 27 copies. Myotonic dystrophy patients who are minimally affected have at least 50 repeats, while more severely affected patients have expansion of the repeat containing segment up to several kilobase pairs. The CTG repeat is transcribed and is located in the 3' untranslated region of an mRNA that is expressed in tissues affected by myotonic dystrophy. This mRNA encodes a polypeptide that is a member of the protein kinase family.
U.S. hospitals are facing an emergency care crisis. At the same time emergency departments are overflowing with uninsured patients seeking primary care, violence-related trauma cases are soaring, leaving underfunded trauma systems on the verge of collapse. In a special cover package, we explore the causes of the crisis, the current prospects for change, and related issues in emergency care today. Beginning on page 26, we present an overview of the crisis, with particular attention to the breakdown of trauma systems. Starting on page 30, we look at the growing threat of violence itself entering hospital EDs; on pages 34-35, we examine how hospitals are attracting and retaining critically needed clinicians, and how trauma systems are dealing with ongoing shortages of specialists. On pages 37-38, we explore the patient satisfaction question; and on pages 38-39, we present the latest data on emergency care utilization from the American Hospital Association.
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A new survey finds that the number of directors' and officers' liability insurance claims in health care has increased since last year. Wrongful employee termination and physician credentialing topped the list of claims.
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