Re-envisioning the diagnostic process is essential to improving healthcare, says report Ever since the Institute of Medicine published its landmark report, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, in 1999, the public, clinicians and suppliers have focused on one of healthcare’s greatest secrets: Healthcare providers make mistakes, and patients – as many as 100,000 a … [Read more...]
A long look at surgery
Identifying high-risk patients is just the first step inside the Perioperative Surgical Home Anesthesiologists, surgeons, nurses, respiratory therapists, physical rehabilitation specialists and others are starting to look at the perioperative process in a new way. Instead of viewing it as a series of disconnected snapshots, they are choosing to treat it as one continuous … [Read more...]
Patient safety: Front and center
Editor’s note: Last month, Repertoire interviewed Jennifer Lenoci-Edwards, patient safety director, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, about patient safety in the primary care office. This month, we talk to Rahul Nayak, M.D., MBA, who, while serving as Kaiser Permanente Georgia’s physician program director for patient safety, attended IHI’s Patient Safety Executive … [Read more...]
The annual physical: Is it worth it?
At $10 billion or so a year, some question the value of annual physicals Today, as healthcare providers – and consumers – preach the importance of preventive healthcare and population health, why would anyone diss the annual physical? An annual rite of passage for as many as one-third of U.S. adults, the physical is coming under attack from some providers, who question its … [Read more...]
CHAMPS: Full-Service Coalition
What began nearly a century ago as a local hospital association has grown in recent years to serve over 7,000 healthcare providers nationwide. Saving customers money is important, but CHAMPS Group Purchasing (Cleveland, Ohio) has discovered it takes much more than that to fill the needs of a growing membership. “We realized many years ago that it isn’t enough to simply save … [Read more...]
DISTRIBUTOR SALES STRATEGIES FROM HIDA: Complementary Strengths
By Elizabeth Hilla Making an effective joint sales demo Medical products distributors and manufacturers each serve two very unique, yet vital, roles when selling to healthcare providers. If you’re a distributor rep, asking your manufacturer counterpart to join you on product demonstrations is almost always a good idea. Your results can only improve if you stay … [Read more...]
HIDA Health Reform: State Regulatory Issues Create New Distribution Challenges, Opportunities
By Linda Rouse O’Neill Vice President, Government Affairs, HIDA On a day-to-day basis, our focus is on our customers and responsibilities, which makes it difficult to step back and learn about the healthcare policies developing in states outside our sales territory. Almost every day, new legislation gets introduced across the country on state and local levels that has … [Read more...]
Specialty Dealers Team Up
Manufacturers of innovative medical devices – that is, devices that are too new to attract big GPO contracts or general med/surg distribution contracts – have three choices to get their innovation to market: They can hire a direct sales force, try to contract with a national specialty dealer, or use local or regional specialty dealers, such as those in IMDA, the association for … [Read more...]
Practice Points: Seizing Seasonal Opportunities
Editor’s note: Welcome to Practice Points, by physician practice management experts Capko & Morgan. It is their belief – and ours too – that the more education sales reps receive on the issues facing their customers, the better prepared they are to provide solutions. Their emphasis is on helping physicians build patient-centered strategies and valuing staff’s … [Read more...]
PUBLISHER’S LETTER: What Brings Us Together?
We are all busier than ever. We receive hundreds of e-mails and texts each day, and rarely get a chance to talk live to our peers. All of this equals activity and a busyness required in order to remain relevant in an ultra-competitive marketplace. What it does not do is allow us time to reflect and work on our careers and educate ourselves, so we can better serve our … [Read more...]