The Business of Surgery Axios published a link-rich roundup regarding the crisis facing Hennepin Healthcare, particularly its flagship facility Minneapolis’ Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), the majority of whose patients are uninsured or on Medicaid. The mainstream media outlet frames HCMC’s troubles, including a potential closure, as “a warning” and a “canary in the coal…
A subsidiary of Community Health Systems last week signed a definitive agreement to sell “substantially all of the assets” of four Northwest Health hospitals in Arkansas, along with their associated outpatient centers and practices, to Freeman Health System of Joplin, Mo., for $112 million. The hospitals are: 128-bed Northwest Medical…
Is a hybrid operating room an effective marketing tool? For one health system, it garnered coverage on local TV news. KSAT-TV in San Antonio last week reported that Baptist Health System’s hybrid OR “saved an 82-year-old patient’s life” after doctors found an aneurysm. The patient, facing major surgery for an…
The first case of the day is a complex orthopedic procedure. Loaner trays were expected the afternoon before but arrived late in the evening. Sterile processing adjusted priorities to accommodate the load. The industry representative is already in the department at 6:00 a.m., confirming instrumentation and reviewing implant availability with…
KVVU-TV in Las Vegas reports a confirmation from the CEO of Boulder City Hospital in Nevada that the facility will lay off approximately 70 employees and “end several services, including stays longer than 24 hours, as it transitions from a critical access hospital to a rural emergency hospital.” That transition will…
Several hospitals announced closures or severe cutbacks last week. St. Elizabeth Healthcare Dearborn Hospital ending overnight surgeries, closing ICU WXIX-TV reports that St. Elizabeth Healthcare Dearborn Hospital in Lawrenceburg, Ind., confirmed it will close its ICU and reduce perioperative services, including ending overnight surgeries, by the middle of May. Chief Nursing…
WZTV-TV in Nashville reports that it received an email from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) stating that it is halting gender-affirming plastic surgeries for adults. VUMC is in the process of contacting impacted patients regarding the new policy changes, says the TV station, which adds that VUMC released this statement on…
What exactly should the hospital of the future look like? Many in academia and beyond have taken a swing at this question. The latest to do so is Timothy Hoff, PhD, professor of management, healthcare systems and health policy at Northeastern University in Boston, and associate fellow at Green Templeton…
A report from WILX-TV in Lansing, Mich., examines the plight of rural hospitals in the Wolverine State. It’s the latest in a string of recent mainstream media reports that put the plight of rural hospitals in front of the general public. “Rural hospitals say their health care services are at…
Mark Maloney, founder and CEO of regulatory compliance and private practice consultancy Venops in Marietta, Ga., has published a colorful article in Orthopedics This Week that frames the future of independent orthopedics practices as a matter of “Cowboys vs. Ranchers.” “For much of the past half-century, orthopedic surgery in the…
