Insights

Whether you are a new employee or a seasoned professional with a new boss, taking time to consider three elements of "managing up" can help you establish trust and create an optimal working relationship with your boss.read more

Whether you are a hospital administrator, a physician, a nurse, or other member of your hospital’s family,you know well the true north of our daily purpose is to provide quality health care to patients. And the compass that helps us navigate that course is data.So where do hospitals and consumers go to get this data? One source is the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings. Here are several important changes from yesterday’s CMS update to its Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings as well what additional changes are still needed.read more

Are you a clinical leader, new accreditation professional or someone who is tired of performing the traditional “audit” to evaluate regulatory compliance? There has to be a better way, right? There is. You can shift from spending your time behind the computer sifting through emails and medical records, to engaging staff in a meaningful way to evaluate the care treatment and services being provided. Oh, and you will still be able to verify regulatory compliance and check the box on the audit form. Let me introduce you to leadership rounding and the tracer approach.read more

Clinical value analysis, in its essence, is a decision-making platform where the clinical value analysis team pulls data and information from various sources to tell a story around the initiative at hand. Most health care leaders believe their hospital supply chain and clinical strategy teams are working in alignment to achieve organizational goals for cost and quality of care. However, in our experience that is often not the case. Here's three ways to strengthen the relationship between hospital contracting and clinical value analysis teamsread more

Cyber intrusions continue to plague health care organizations and the impact has been heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic as resources and personnel are stretched thin and cyber attackers take advantage of increased vulnerabilities. As we move through the pandemic, we expect the rate and severity of cyber intrusions to rise.Here are five steps that pharmacy leaders can now to prepare and protect against cyber intrusions as well as to limit the impact when they occur.read more

Agrowing number of self-insured employers are bypassing traditional benefit networks offered by insurers and instead contracting directly with health systems to deliver health care services to their employees. Rising health care costs along with employers’ focus on improving quality and increasing patient engagement are key drivers fueling the growth of direct-to-employer contracting.Here are four keys to success for health systems who are positioning for success in direct-to-employer agreements.read more

As health care organizations, our sourcing practices directly impact the environment and the health of the communities we serve. To operate responsibly, it is essential that we consider how our purchases impact our patients, care givers and the environment. Here’s several actions you can take to move toward environmentally preferred sourcing.read more

Cyberattacks are at an all-time high, with health care consistently in the top five industries targeted by cyber criminals. Because health system pharmacies rely heavily on networks, software and electronic processes, they have wide exposure to these cyber intrusions. Developing a“downtime plan” for your hospital or health system pharmacy (for use while computers are off-line) can support continuity of care during a cyber security event. Here’s what you need to consider.read more

The disposable endoscopes market was valued at $1.3 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow 16.9% from 2021 to 2028 due to the low cost of maintenance, the rising prevalence of chronic diseases and concerns over cross-contamination of reusable scopes. A growing number of providers are exploring a potential shift from reprocessed to single-use endoscopes for their hospitals and outpatient facilities. Here's a few important considerations for this evolving market.read more

Nurses on the front line are often challenged to document each individual dose adjustment of complicated medication titrations while simultaneously providing emergent/urgent care to patients. Guidance from The Joint Commission provides the option of “block charting” as a documentation method for certain titration orders during urgent or emergent situations. Block charting may save nurses valuable time when seconds matter most but requires advance preparation. Here’s an overview of the guidance as well as some considerations to helpyou determine if block charting is right for your hospital.read more

Mark Twain once said, “the report of my death was an exaggeration.” And throughout history, that statement was misquoted many times by those wanting to embellish a misjudged outcome. Given recent news reports of the closing of some hospital retail pharmacies, that exaggeration sounds familiar, yet the outcome is more like a realignment of how the outpatient pharmacy is meeting the needs of health systems in a post-pandemic, transforming health care environment. While some health systems see advantages in selling to or partnering with retail pharmacy chains, others are identifying opportunities to develop their own outpatient pharmacy.read more

Health care leaders frequently state their organization is on a high-reliability journey—but why? The simple explanation is the desire to have more reliable outcomes and overall performance. Achieving high reliability in health care though is a challenge due to the complexity and the dependency on human factors. The good news is that other highly complex and risk-prone industries have had success achieving high reliability and they provide great insights for health care organizations. Here are fourpillars essential for high reliability.read more