by Tony Chen

Think back just a year ago, to February 2008. Oh, things back in the "good ole" days of 2008 were so much simpler. Consider the headlines of the day brought news such as Mitt Romney winning the Maine Caucus and Ralph Nader entering the 2008 presidential campaign. The Dow was down to 12,000 from high of 14,000, while the NASDAQ vacillated around 2,500.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, let's all step back and take a deep breath for a second. Most experts agree that in 12 to 18 months, this recession will be over. Things won't go back to normal--whatever that means--but things are going to be a whole lot better than they are now, psychologically and otherwise.

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by Christopher Cornue

This story has been around for a few weeks, but in case you haven't seen it: take a look at this incredible story with horrifying examples included. Let's keep these examples in mind when we're talking about our own issues stateside.

by Dr. Kenneth H. Cohn

I am writing this post in the moment as I cover surgery at a rural hospital in New Hampshire over the weekend.

Yesterday, I had the humbling responsibility of telling a patient brought in by ambulance with severe abdominal pain that she needed an operation, and that I did not know what caused her pain. Her white blood count was elevated (over 17,000), and her computerized tomographic (CT) scan showed a large amount of fluid around the liver and in her pelvis, with a non-visualizing appendix. I told her that the source of her problem could be anywhere from her stomach to her rectum--including her reproductive organs--and asked a gynecologic surgeon to be on call to see her preoperatively and assist me in surgery.

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by Nick Jacobs

Last week it was my privilege to spend a few hours with an entrepreneur who compiled every quality indicator published by all 20 organizations that list themselves as having a mission that is directed toward "healthcare quality." I can't remember if there were 20 or 30,000 of them, but it was a boatload.

The entrepreneur then had a software expert create grids and graphs and quantitative tables in relational databases that would compile all of the related indicators, cross reference them, and pull them together into the appropriate job descriptions. This system was constructed to enable employers to objectively quantify these job descriptions and thus to evaluate the employees in a more appropriate, efficient, and comprehensive manner.

All of this would lead to higher quality care, reduce costs normally created from employee turnover, and lead to a better workplace and better patient care.

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by Tony Chen

Since we've blogged extensively in the past about hospitals and social media, here's a quick note: Henry Ford Hospital will be sharing a live kidney cancer surgery on Twitter on Monday.

From their PR team:

Dr. Craig Rogers will lead a surgical team from Henry Ford Hospital as they perform a robotic partial nephrectomy. The public will be able to receive updates and information from OR 25 at Henry Ford Hospital, and communicate with the surgeons via the Twitter microblogging service. Henry Ford is a teaching hospital.

Also, check out Ed Bennett's tally list of Hospitals using social networking tools. Can you believe that there's 60 hospitals on twitter already? Yes, that's only about 1 percent of the all the hospitals in the country.

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by Tony Chen

If this didn't already start in your hospital three months ago, it will start soon enough. In order to survive the coming year or two of increasing bad debt, increasing charity care, other reimbursement cuts, declining elective surgery volumes, more complex delayed-care stuff showing up in the ER, and decreasing philanthropy, it is time for the serious business of cost-cutting.

What is your hospital planning? Where do you look first to cut costs? The real question is, where do you look that you haven't already?

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