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Good Samaritan Declared One of "50 Best" Hospitals in U.S.
Wellpoint Ties Employee Pay to Member Health
HeartMath "Changing the Game of Golf"
Genentech Moves Up the "Wired 40" List
CMS Launches Interactive Learning Tool for Healthcare IT
AARP to Help Americans Find Comprehensive Health Info

HEALTHCARE TRENDS

Doc Turnover:  Up for Males, Down for Females
MDs Often Don't Consider Costs for Insured Patients
Wellness Benefits Positively Motivate & Retain Employees
Medicaid P4P Projected to Grow
U.S. Hospital Errors Continue to Rise

HEALTHCARE & GOVERNMENT

Senate Blocks Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Bill
It's Official:  Kolodner is National HIT Coordinator
CMS Grants "Grace Period" for NPI Compliance
Law Would Require Insurers to Get OK for Rate Increases

Click here to register and/or get more information on the Wednesday, June 6th Awards Event in Newport Beach, which will honor and award companies offering some of the most innovative Value-Driven Healthcare solutions to significant challenges facing the industry today.

Good Samaritan Declared One of "50 Best" Hospitals in U.S.
Congratulations to Good Samaritan Hospital, where Andy Leeka is CEO, on being named to Healthgrades "America's 50 Best Hospitals" for 2007. Good Sam was chosen based on an analysis of approximately 90 million hospitalization records from nearly 5,000 hospitals over the years 1999-2005. The 50 best facilities had patient outcomes that were in the top 5% in the nation the most consecutive times over the last five years, reflecting quality that is consistent across procedures and treatments over time. >>

WellPoint Ties Employee Pay to Member Health
WellPoint, Inc., where Chris Metz is a senior executive, has unveiled its Member Health Index, a comprehensive initiative designed to measure the improvement in the health of its 34 million members. WellPoint is the first health benefits company to directly link the improved health of its members with the compensation of every associate in the company. (Healthcare Business Weekly Update, 4/9/07)

HeartMath "Changing the Game of Golf"
HeartMath, where Bruce Cryer is CEO, is featured in the May 2007 Golf Digest - one of the nation's top magazines with over 1.5 million readers - which names HeartMath and its emWave as top innovations that are changing the game of golf. Laird Small, director of the Pebble Beach Golf Academy and the 2003 PGA of America Teacher of the Year, has been teaching the HeartMath system for five years to students ranging from PGA Tour professionals to CEOs. Also, golf instructors Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson have taught HeartMath for nearly a decade at their Vision54 schools in Phoenix, AZ. >>

Genentech Moves Up the "Wired 40" List
Genentech, where Art Small, MD, is a senior executive, has been ranked at number three on Wired magazine's "Wired 40" list for 2007, which consists of companies that are "masters of innovation and technology, global thinkers that dominate their industries and point the way to the future." To land a spot on the list, a business also needs the "X-factor — a hunger for new ideas and an impatience to put them into practice." This is Genentech's fourth year on the list, up from a number four ranking last year. >>   

CMS Launches Interactive Learning Tool for Healthcare IT 
CMS, where Jeff Flick is Regional Administrator and David Sayen is Associate Regional Administrator, has announced the national launch of DOQ-IT U (Doctor’s Office Quality Information Technology University) to support the successful adoption of health information technology in solo and small-to-medium sized physician practices. The interactive, Web-based e-learning system is available at no charge. The first learning sessions, available now, focus on physician office workflow redesign, culture change, and communication necessary for Electronic Health Record adoption, implementation of care management, and the incorporation of a strong patient self-management component to clinical care.  Meanwhile, CMS also announced that Medicare will provide funding for health insurance counseling in every state to help beneficiaries get the most from the health program. Each state will receive a share of $30 million in grant funds. >>

AARP to Help Americans Find Comprehensive Health Info 
AARP, where Jennie Chin Hansen is President-Elect, announced that it is dedicating a half-billion dollars over 10 years to a new program, "AARP Health AID," designed to help Americans find health information and assistance. The program will be funded with royalty revenues from newly announced relationships with UnitedHealth Group and Aetna that provide unique health insurance plans for the needs of AARP's diverse 38 million members and others 50+. >>  

HEALTHCARE TRENDS

Doc Turnover:  Up for Males, Down for Females
The average turnover rate among physicians employed by medical groups increased slightly to 6.7% in 2006, from 6.4% in 2005, according to an annual survey by Cejka Search. Turnover rates among males increased to 6.8% from 5.9% in 2005, while the percentage among women fell from 7.5% in 2005 to 6.6% last year. Don Fisher, AMGA’s CEO, said, "The current physician workforce is still dominated by male physicians age 42 and older. But this is changing. Women comprise half of the new medical school graduates for the first time in history. These trends will influence the way that medical groups recruit and retain physicians throughout their career cycles." (ModernPhysician.com, 4/2/07)

MDs Often Don't Consider Costs for Insured Patients
Many physicians do not routinely consider insured patients' out-of-pocket costs when recommending expensive medical care, according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change and the University of Chicago Hospitals. The authors note that previous research has shown physician decisions affect how 90% of every healthcare dollar is spent. The study found that while almost 80% of physicians consider patient costs when prescribing a generic over a brand-name drug, only 40.2% consider patient costs when deciding what diagnostic tests to recommend and 51.2% do so when deciding whether to hospitalize a patient when outpatient treatment is an option. (Healthcare Daily Data Byte, 04/16/07)

Wellness Benefits Positively Motivate & Retain Employees
Workplace wellness programs contribute to harder working employees and employees who want to remain in their current job longer, according to Principal Financial Group survey results. Employees who are offered these programs are responding by participating at work in blood pressure checks (81%), cholesterol screenings (73%), taking online health screenings (72%), utilizing health education tools (82%), and attending wellness seminars (68%). Also, 47% of workers surveyed agree that wellness benefits encourage them to work harder and perform better, while 48% said wellness offerings would encourage them to stay in their current employment situation. 57% believe wellness benefits are very or somewhat successful in reducing healthcare costs. When asked who benefits the most financially from reduced healthcare costs associated with wellness benefits, 55% chose "my family and me," up from 48% in 2004. (Healthcare Industry Weekly Watch, 4/16/07)

Medicaid P4P Projected to Grow
More than half of all state Medicaid programs have pay-for-performance initiatives to provide doctors with financial incentives for improved care, and that proportion is expected to grow to about 85% within five years, according to the Commonwealth Fund. The P4P incentives include bonuses, differential reimbursement rates, grants and penalties. The “vast majority" of state Medicaid directors reported that their priority in the incentive plans is to improve the quality of care rather that cut costs. (ModernPhysician.com, 4/12/06)

U.S. Hospital Errors Continue to Rise
Patient safety incidents in U.S. hospitals increased by 3% overall from 2003 to 2005, reports HealthGrades, an independent healthcare ratings company. America's top-rated centers had 40% lower rates of medical errors than the poorest-performing hospitals. (HealthDay News, 4/2/07)  Meanwhile, FamilyDoctor.org offers tips on how to prevent medical errors >> (thank you to Dave Haddick, CEO of KDH Systems, Inc., for passing this along).

HEALTHCARE & GOVERNMENT

Senate Blocks Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Bill
The Senate blocked legislation on Wednesday that would let the government negotiate Medicare drug prices. Democrats couldn't muster the 60 votes needed to bring the bill up for a vote. Under the Medicare drug benefit, private insurance plans negotiate with drug makers over the price of medicine for their customers. Some lawmakers, mostly Democrats, contend the government could use its leverage to drive a better bargain than individual insurers, which would lower the cost of the program for taxpayers and seniors. But Republicans countered Wednesday that the program is costing much less than expected precisely because it's the private sector, not the secretary of HHS, conducting the negotiations. They successfully blocked a motion to proceed to the bill. The tally was 55-42, five short of the votes needed to move ahead. (AP, 4/18/07)

It's Official:  Kolodner is National HIT Coordinator
HHS has named Robert Kolodner to head the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology effective immediately. A psychiatrist, Kolodner has been serving as interim national coordinator since Sept. 20, 2006, after the first person to hold that office, David Brailer, announced his resignation on April 20, 2006. (modernphysician.com, 4/18/07)

CMS Grants "Grace Period" for NPI Compliance
CMS is implementing a contingency plan for healthcare providers that will not meet the May 23, 2007, deadline for compliance with National Provider Identifier regulations. "Covered entities that have been making a good faith effort to comply with the NPI provisions may, for up to 12 months, implement contingency plans," CMS Acting Administrator Leslie Norwalk said April 2. Some entities may continue accepting older provider numbers on HIPAA transactions, Norwalk added. The NPI was established as the single acceptable identifier in 2004. Small health plans have until May 23, 2008, to comply. (AIS's Government News of the Week, 4/9/07)

Law Would Require Insurers to Get OK for Rate Increases
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights joined Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) to introduce legislation that would require HMOs and health insurers to justify their rates and get approval for increases. Jones' measure is especially important, said the consumer group, because of proposals by Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Don Perata (D-Oakland) that would require all Californians to buy health insurance but allow insurers to charge whatever they choose. The legislation is similar to requirements in the auto insurance market. (PRNewswire, 4/10/07)

UPCOMING ROUND TABLES & EVENTS

4/20 - Los Angeles Round Table
5/2 - Orange County Round Table
5/10 - Northern California Round Table
5/16 - Life Sciences Round Table
5/18 - Los Angeles Round Table
6/6 - Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event

For the most current ABL Healthcare Online and access to ABL.org, go to
 http://www.abl.org/new/html/resources_news_hc.asp