by Christopher Cornue

"The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future--must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm." – Hippocrates

Today we celebrate our trusted colleagues, friends and medical leaders. Each March 30, our country recognizes the significant accomplishments of our physicians...from the simple prevention of a disease to the saving of a human life. Their accomplishments and daily acts are to be praised and thanked.

Some quick facts and information about this day of recognition:

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by Tony Chen

Follow Hospital Impact on Twitter. There, I'll be providing daily links, "recently heard" quotes, & commentary on the news of the day.

What is twitter, you ask? Well, think about it like a blend between a blog and an instant message. Entries are limited to 140 characters and show up on your "followers'" homepage. See wikipedia's explanation of Twitter.

At the end of the day, twitter is basically a new communication tool. You can blast information out, you can interact with like-minded followers and readers. And you can learn more about your market - real-time. Every day, I'm getting at least a couple of hospitals who sign up for twitter and start following us. More on how hospitals can use twitter in a later post.

In the meantime, head over to twitter.com/hospitalimpact and tell me what you think. Waste of time or useful communication tool?

by Dr. Kenneth H. Cohn

A cherished friend and mentor who lives in Atlanta described her recent spring weather as, "It’s just pollen now. All the beauty is gone because of a frost. Just as the buds begin to emerge, living things are the most vulnerable."

As I read Tony Chen's latest post, "TIME's 10 world-changing ideas and healthcare," his last line--"It's chaotic times like these where new leaders can emerge"--triggered thoughts of emergence again.

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by Tony Chen

Recently, TIME magazine (is it still an actual magazine?) came out with the 10 big ideas that are changing the world today. As I read through this mostly fantastic (and maybe fantastical-sounding?) list, I couldn't help but think about the impact on health care for six of those big ideas.

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by Christopher Cornue

McKinsey & Company have launched a new product simply titled "What Matters." According to McKinsey, they have created this site to provide "knowledge derived from convening some of the best thinkers from around the world."

There are many topics, but of most interest to me (and probably most of you) is the one on healthcare. It's a very interesting read and I encourage you all to take a quick look (and a deeper dive, if your curiosity gets the best of you...like it did with me).

The link is here. Enjoy.

by Nick Jacobs

Periodically, my life crashes into certain realities that did not seem to be even a consideration days earlier. For the past six months, my consulting has directed me toward a project that had been ruminating in my mind for over five years, and that project involved the networking of approximately 20 rural hospitals via dark fiber. The purpose of the network was to create a virtual health system that was not dominated by one super tertiary power, the normal system that typically takes the "Community" out of community health care.

During my explorations, a very savvy facilitator appeared on the scene that worked with a stable of consultants responsible for telemedicine efforts in military medicine, the originators of these technological advances. Through her, I began to learn about the unlimited possibilities represented by this connectivity, ranging from telepharmacy to telepsychiatry. Of course, as a virtual health system, all of the less subtle and far less challenging aspects of centralizing finance and billing also were on the table for consideration, and eventual implementation.

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by Tony Chen

Here's a few things I've been hearing from other hospitals on the impact of this recession.

"Bad debt is going through the roof."

"Even administrative employees are being asked to take unpaid time off, go on furloughs."

"Merit increases are frozen. So are open positions."

"Surprisingly, volumes are up 5 to 8 percent from last year. It's just that we're not getting paid for the services we provided."

"We are actually having one of the strongest years in the hospital's history."

"We're actually doing okay, though we are reconsidering a major capital project."

One thing to recognize is that while we like to look at national numbers, our hospital systems all operate in local environments. Yes, all of our investment incomes were smashed, but each market (some folks say it's probably 250 to 300 local markets around the country) will have unique dynamics to deal with.

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