Today the ACA is still alive. Donald Trump’s campaign boast that he would sign a bill repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare) on his inauguration day is long gone and forgotten. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s gamble that by April 28th the ACA would be effectively decimated using the expedited … Continue reading “The ACA Is Still Alive and Still in Danger”
These are uncertain times in American health care. The Republican Congress and President Trump have vowed to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly called Obamacare. They recently unveiled the American Health Care Act, the replacement plan, which has met with substantial resistance from all parts of the political spectrum. … Continue reading “Exploring the Next Phase of Health Care Reform: How Health Care Leaders Can Position Their Organizations for Success”
Health care leaders now face a perplexing mix of puzzles. With a political push to repeal and possibly replace Obamacare – more accurately the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or ACA – the financial, service delivery, and workforce foundations of the health system are in question. It is true that managing the current operations … Continue reading “Leading Health Care Through Unpredictable Times”
What comes to mind when you think of a laboratory? Perhaps scientific equipment – or maybe even all you’ve heard that can go wrong, like chemical explosions or fires. Many people believe that labs aren’t well-regulated or monitored or imagine absentminded scientists ignoring safety in the pursuit of a breakthrough. These more dangerous scenarios are … Continue reading “Five Ways Effective Laboratory Design Impacts Health, Safety, and Productivity”
One of the key developments resulting from health care reform is a growing reliance on using “big data” to guide health care systems’ efforts to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care. This trend explains why increasingly many organizations are employing Electronic Health Records (EHR) as a way to track measurable indicators of patient care and outcomes, as … Continue reading “Measuring Up: The Need to Incorporate Key Nursing Indicators in Electronic Health Records”
In the climate of health care reform, much attention has been paid to the Triple Aim of improving population health, reducing costs, and improving patient experience. The goals of the Triple Aim framework, which was developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, are complex and challenging, but become less so when broken into smaller goals … Continue reading “Improving Patient Experience and Reducing Cost by Measuring Outcomes”
In August 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak then raging in West Africa a “public health emergency of international concern,” a formal designation by the WHO’s Emergency Committee that reflects the fact that the disease was spreading internationally and posed a risk to other countries yet unaffected. By the time the … Continue reading “Vaccinating Against an Epidemic: The Story of an Ebola Vaccine”
Having an effective board of directors is crucial to an organization. Even if the average person might not be able to name an organization’s board members, they have a strong impact on how an organization runs, makes decisions, and ultimately, on its success. This is particularly true in the health care, biotech, and pharmaceutical spaces, … Continue reading “Why Diversity Matters: Women on Boards of Directors”
The passage of the Affordable Care Act has been profitable for pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., with more Americans now having access to prescription drugs. But as this article explores, there are many complexities inherent in the drug industry that need to be addressed moving forward.
Many factors could be blamed for the spread of tuberculosis in a rural Alabama town earlier this year, including its residents’ fears of being stigmatized in a small town, poverty line, and the legacy of the Tuskegee experiments.
