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Hospitals

Nurses and Nursing
commentary
On Nurse Staffing Ballot Measure, Massachusetts Voters Should Look to Evidence from California
Mahshid Abir, Jason E. Goldstick, Rosalie Malsberger, Claude Messan Setodji
Nov 2, 2018
Health Affairs Blog
Massachusetts residents will soon vote on the Patient Safety Act, a mandate to increase nurse-to-patient ratios in acute care facilities. Evaluating existing data on the impact of a similar nurse staffing law implemented in California in 2004 may help inform voters as they head to the polls.
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Health Care Quality Measurement
commentary
Personalized Hospital Ratings: Transparency for the Internet Age
Juliet Rumball-Smith, Jill Gurvey, Mark W. Friedberg @MWFriedberg
Aug 30, 2018
New England Journal of Medicine
Each annual release of hospital ratings captivates journalists, hospital leaders, and health care consumers in the United States. These ratings aggregate many measures into a single score for each hospital. But why should the opinions of report creators hold sway, if the intent is to inform patient choice? Why not ask patients instead?
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Hospitals
commentary
Community Hospitals: A Traditional Solution to Help Today's NHS?
Emma Pitchforth, Edwin van Teijlingen, Ellen Nolte
Jul 11, 2017
Health Service Journal
Community hospitals could be better integrated into the current healthcare system in England and can play an important role in the middle of the patient journey between home and hospital. If done correctly, community hospitals could be a traditional solution to help address some of the modern day challenges of the NHS.
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Electronic Medical Records
commentary
Ransomware Hackers Are Coming for Your Health Records
Lillian Ablon, Mark W. Friedberg @MWFriedberg
Apr 11, 2016
Newsweek
Cyber criminals may be preying on hospitals because cyber protection measures likely have not kept pace with electronic data collection and because hospitals typically do not have backup systems and databases in place, even though such attacks can strain health care systems and potentially put patients' lives at risk.
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Electronic Medical Records
commentary
Electronic Health Records: Yesterday's Ebola and Today's Zika
Shira H. Fischer @ShiraFischer
Feb 18, 2016
The Health Care Blog
Electronic health records in U.S. hospitals are not yet prompting for screening questions related to Zika virus. Why? The existing system is too slow to respond and when it does, it finds itself chasing the past.
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Emergency Preparedness
commentary
Saving Lives After Tragedy
Mahshid Abir, Christopher Nelson
Dec 14, 2015
U.S. News & World Report
Natural and man-made mass-casualty incidents are a growing threat. Evaluating successes and shortcomings after each crisis can contribute to the design and implementation of robust and resilient response systems and ensure the best possible outcomes for individuals and impacted communities.
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Health Care Quality
commentary
How Can Regulation Improve Quality of Care in the English Health Care System?
Christian Van Stolk
Nov 13, 2015
The RAND Blog
Inspections have become more prominent in England's approach to health service regulation as a way to identify problems before they occur. But the evidence of regulation contributing to better quality of care in different systems is scarce.
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Health Care Costs
commentary
A Tale of Two Deliveries, or an Out-of-Network Problem
Erin Audrey Taylor, Layla Parast
Nov 4, 2015
Health Affairs Blog
Two mothers gave birth within weeks of each other, at the same hospital, using the same employer-sponsored insurance. Both had an epidural. But one received a surprise physician bill for anesthesiology, while the other didn't have to pay a dime. Why?
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Health Care Financing
commentary
Paying for Pricey Medications: Debt Financing Options Could Provide a Solution
Soeren Mattke
Jun 22, 2015
BioProcess International Magazine
A new approach may be needed to finance an emerging breed of expensive but highly effective pharmaceuticals and vaccines. The health care industry could learn from other industry approaches such as equipment leases or supplier-financed credit.
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Bundled Payment for Health Services
commentary
The Winding Path to Effective Bundled Payment
M. Susan Ridgely, Peter S. Hussey
Aug 29, 2014
Health Affairs Blog
It's not unusual for a demonstration to fall short of its original objectives. Learning from such cases is part of the innovation process. This is especially worthwhile for bundled payment, which has many potential benefits for patients, providers, and payers.
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Influenza
commentary
Are County Masking Requirements the Future of Influenza Prevention?
Dmitry Khodyakov, Lori Uscher-Pines, Victoria Shier
Nov 20, 2013
The RAND Blog
If it doesn't seem that state laws as currently written can help increase the number of health care workers vaccinated against influenza, then what can? There is evidence that imposing consequences for vaccination refusal, including the requirement to wear a surgical mask, can help.
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Health Care Access
commentary
Saving Grady: Reflections on Kate Neuhausen's Narrative Matters Essay
Arthur L. Kellermann
Jun 10, 2013
Health Affairs Blog
It was widely assumed that Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital would be the next storied public hospital close its doors, but at its darkest hour, it received help from an unexpected quarter, says Art Kellermann.
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Emergency Preparedness
commentary
Lessons from Boston
Arthur L. Kellermann, Kobi Peleg
Apr 25, 2013
New England Journal of Medicine
Boston's health care providers reacted the way they did because they knew what they were supposed to do. Those who did not were smart enough to follow the lead of those who did. That's how a “ritualized” disaster plan works.
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Health Care Quality
blog
Paul O'Neill to President Obama: We Can Use the Internet to Address Medical Errors
Jan 30, 2013
Former Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill, a RAND Trustee and Health Advisory Board member, published an open letter to President Obama in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week in which he asks the president to use his executive power to address the problem of medical errors.
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Emergency Preparedness
commentary
Generation Ex
Arthur L. Kellermann
Nov 15, 2012
The RAND Blog
The problem is that on any given day, disaster preparedness takes a back seat to ongoing operations. The tyranny of the urgent prevents hospital administrators from making investments in preparedness, writes Art Kellermann.
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Patient Safety
blog
Multiple Patient Safety Events in Hospitals
Jun 5, 2012
A patient safety event is any event or action that could lead to a worse outcome for a patient, from bedsores to post-operative respiratory failure.
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Health Care Quality Measurement
commentary
Using Patient Surveys to Rate Hospitals
Marc N. Elliott, Alan M. Zaslavsky
Mar 22, 2012
New York Times
Hospitals that perform better on the survey tend to do better on clinical measures, have fewer readmissions within 30 days and have lower risk-adjusted mortality, write Marc Elliott and Alan Zaslavsky.
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commentary
Provider Consolidation Key Factor in Affordable Coverage
Glenn Melnick
Nov 28, 2011
California Healthline
Hospitals operating with little competition are able to charge health plans much higher prices, which are passed on to consumers in the form of higher insurance premiums, writes Glenn Melnick.
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