Archive for January, 2012

The Impact of Healthcare Reform on Urban & Safety Net Hospitals 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
“Patients must be moved efficiently from diagnosis to effective treatment with careful attention to their specific needs and unique circumstances,” says Mark Chastang, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Grady Health System. It is important to have caring and compassionate teams dedicated to creating new and more efficient methods of managing the total patient experience from admission to discharge.

A speaker at the marcus evans National Healthcare CXO Summit Spring 2012 in Hollywood, Florida, April 26-28, Chastang discusses the need to create a seamless provision of care.

How can healthcare professionals improve patient care and lower length of stay? 

There must be full commitment and high priority placed on improving quality and lowering patient length of stay at the highest levels of executive leadership. 

Committed and engaged leadership will create an organizational culture supportive of safe, efficient and high quality patient care. The absence of broad institutional commitment will result in poor to mediocre quality.

Efficiency in hospitals can save lives, costs and time. What best practices would you recommend for increasing efficiency within the hospital environment?

Senior leadership must be open to new ways of improving organizational performance at every level. Learning from others and a willingness to adopt industry best practices is important for top performance. At a minimum, setting reach goals and adopting national benchmarks for quality, safety as well as financial improvement will drive institutional performance. Focusing on systems and processes, not single events, that support safe and efficient patient care will help tremendously.

Hospitals are under great pressure to treat uninsured patients. What do you believe can be done?  

The new healthcare legislation attempts to reduce the financial pressures created by large numbers of uninsured patients by offering coverage for a major segment of this population. This will go far in improving bottom lines for many urban and so called safety net hospitals. The challenge for these hospitals is to keep cost down and run competitive on a cost and quality basis. Not all will survive.

One piece of advice?

Stay committed to high quality. This will require motivated, committed and expert staff. Pay attention to the needs of staff and caregivers. This is critical to advancing your mission and meeting the needs of patients.

Contact: Stacey Melvin, Journalist, marcus evans, Summits Division

Tel: + 357 22 849 400
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com

About the National Healthcare CXO Summit Spring 2012

This unique forum will take place at The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, Hollywood, Florida, April 26-28, 2012. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on continually finding ways to maximize budgets, developing an accountable care organization and ensuring compliance for upcoming transformations of our healthcare system.  

For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website

marcus evans group – healthcare sector portal

Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.

About marcus evans Summits

marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com 

All rights reserved. The above content may be republished or reproduced. Kindly inform us by sending an email to press@marcusevanscy.com

The Criticality of Re-Designing Healthcare Delivery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Healthcare must be re-designed so that patients can get the right care, at the right time and at the right cost,” says Ninfa M. Saunders, President & Chief Operating Officer, Virtua. Healthcare executives should look at processes and tools to re-engineer care delivery and adapt to the dynamics of the current environment, she adds.

A speaker at the marcus evans National Healthcare CXO Summit Spring 2012 in Hollywood, Florida, April 26-28, Saunders shares her view on why hospitals will not survive if they do not re-design.
 
How can healthcare executives navigate through the challenges of the current healthcare environment?

Healthcare executives must place more focus on the integration of strategies, processes and people. As we get into the changes of healthcare reform, thinking of new models that have a longitudinal view of population-based care as opposed to episodic is crucial. Look towards key measures such as people, growth, access, quality, cost and experience. 

What cost reduction strategies would you recommend?

The target of cost reduction is 20 to 25 per cent. To achieve this, organizations can look at three factors. Firstly, incremental cost reductions and reducing wherever possible, which will account for five to six per cent of reductions. Secondly, process improvement, looking at Six Sigma and Lean to remove waste and minimize variation. Thirdly, redesign the care delivery process, which should yield the highest cost reduction.  

Healthcare must be re-designed so that patients can get the right care, at the right time and at the right cost. This will involve developing new modalities. Healthcare providers will have to think outside the box.

How can healthcare delivery be re-designed? 

Healthcare executives must go back to the basics, look at adoption processes and identify where efforts are going. They can then start re-design by using processes and tools to re-engineer care delivery and adapting to the care dynamics of the current environment. If hospitals do not do this, they will not survive.

Virtua recently opened a new 358-bed facility from the bottom up, using Six Sigma. Our 213 patients were safely and efficiently moved from our old facility to the new one, without spending consulting dollars. Traditionally, facilities are built and organizations fit operations into a specific space; we however, designed the process and then built the facility around that. This saved us USD 14 million in change orders and allowed us to size appropriately in terms of total bed capacity. This has resulted in improvements in patient care, staff engagement and efficiency.

Contact: Stacey Melvin, Journalist, marcus evans, Summits Division

Tel: + 357 22 849 400
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com

About the National Healthcare CXO Summit Spring 2012

This unique forum will take place at The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, Hollywood, Florida, April 26-28, 2012. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on continually finding ways to maximize budgets, developing an accountable care organization and ensuring compliance for upcoming transformations of our healthcare system.  

For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website

marcus evans group – healthcare sector portal

Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.

About marcus evans Summits

marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com 

All rights reserved. The above content may be republished or reproduced. Kindly inform us by sending an email to press@marcusevanscy.com

Selecting Vendors for Better Long-Term Care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Long-term care (LTC) facilities should select and work closely with providers that have a broad range of solutions, are reactive to changing market demands, and thus offer value added solutions rather than just products, says Jim Ankoviak, Chief Executive Officer, Winco Mfg., LLC.

From a solution provider company at the marcus evans Long-Term Care CXO Summit Spring 2012, Ankoviak discusses strategies for the vendor selection process and what would improve patient care in LTC facilities. 

What would improve patient care in the LTC sector?

We work to improve patient care by providing the type of seating specific to the resident’s and the facility’s needs. Seating must be comfortable and safe for the patient, while reducing caregiver effort, the potential for strain or injury and time spent on cleaning. It must be durable for the LTC environment, and demonstrate great value.

LTC executives need to partner with providers like Winco that understand and can meet these needs across a broad spectrum of applications.

How can LTC facilities ensure that budget cuts do not affect the quality of care provided?

By selecting and then working closely with providers that add value, who provide a broad range of solutions, are reactive to changing market demands and thus offer value added solutions rather than just products.

What strategies for the efficient running of LTC facilities could you share?

Consolidating seating and furnishing needs with a single provider can simplify the order process, lock in and stabilize pricing, and manage purchase schedules to meet project requirements as needed. This would allow for balanced purchasing, predictable budgeting and the flexibility to adapt to unexpected changes.

How can they stay up-to-date with changing demographics?

LTC facilities must seek vendors with an established track record, not only for providing quality products, but also known for innovating, improving and continuously adding new products to their portfolio. The vendor should strive to include their facilities in requests for market feedback and in presenting new ideas proactively for their consideration. We listen closely to our customers and work with them to develop and test their innovation in real world settings.

Do you have a final piece of advice?

Explore the options available. Do not be hesitant to share your concerns and special requirements with your vendors. Winco prides itself in being able to react to ever evolving customer and market changes.

A partner who is willing to be innovative to help reduce operating expenses in ways beyond just price, is critical to establishing a long-term, sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship.

Contact: Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits Division

Tel: + 357 22 849 313
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com

About the Long-Term Care CXO Summit Spring 2012

Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on the Health Care Reform, innovative quality improvement, and staff recruitment and retention strategies.

For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website

marcus evans group – healthcare sector portal 

Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.

About Winco Mfg., LLC

Winco Mfg., LLC is an Ocala, FL based medical furnishings manufacturer whose Products are designed and assembled in an ISO9001/2008 certified facility and distributed worldwide. Winco established itself by providing innovative furnishings that enhance patient comfort, improve caregiver safety and convenience and exceed customer requirements for function, durability and aesthetics. 

For more information: www.wincomfg.com

About marcus evans Summits

marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com 

All rights reserved. The above content may be republished or reproduced – kindly inform us by sending an email to press@marcusevanscy.com