by Wendy Johnson

I'm excited to announce that FierceHealthIT is hosting a free networking party at this year's HiMSS10. RSVP today for our "Mix It!" cocktail party, which takes place at the World of Coca-Cola on Tuesday evening, March 2, from 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

Whether you're looking for a breather from heady discussions about meaningful use, interoperability, data security and the newly launched iPad--or want to continue those discussions in a more casual atmosphere with liquid refreshments in hand--we hope you'll make a point to stop by. The entire Fierce team will be there and we'd love to meet you.

As you may know, the World of Coca-Cola is one of Atlanta's premier tourist destinations. Stop by and you'll have a chance to taste different versions of the top-secret Coke recipe from around the globe. For more info or to RSVP, click here. Like many events that go on at HiMSS, our party isn't officially affiliated with or endorsed by HiMSS--but that won't stop it from being one of the most buzzed-about parties at this year's conference!

Mix It! is sponsored by our friends at Tableau Software. Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available--ping me directly at wjohnson@fiercemarkets.com for more details.

I hope to see you there! - Wendy Johnson, Healthcare group publisher

by Christopher Cornue

I've often written about (and will most likely continue to write about) the importance for leaders to be collaborative, seek counsel from many disparate individuals, and to recognize there are varying opinions and views to consider when making decisions. Essentially...to be open to debate. This, coupled with other leadership characteristics (e.g., being decisive), will make one an incredibly effective and impactful leader. I've come across some readings recently that help to reinforce this.

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by Wendy Johnson

We've had a dialogue on Hospital Impact about the pros and cons of using social media to promote your organization and connect with your community. Turns out that although nine in ten hospitals and health systems use Social Media to some degree, few are going about it in an organized way to really harness its power.

Only about one-third of hospitals have some kind of formal social media plan in place, let alone a budget for "social media employees."

These results come, perhaps not surprisingly, from a web marketing firm that specializes in healthcare. Still, those who are interested in using Twitter, Facebook and other avenues as a means of outreach may be interested in the results, including that hospitals have found it difficult to turn their social media efforts into new patient revenue.

How about you? Has your hospital figured out a way to turn your Twitter feed into revenue? How do you measure your return on the time you've invested in it?

Wendy Johnson is the publisher of Hospital Impact and FierceHealthcare, which delivers five healthcare management and IT newsletters for healthcare industry executives.

by Emily Paulsen

Part I of a two-part series

Since taking over as chief risk officer at the University of Michigan in 2002, Richard Boothman has gained national recognition for transforming how the institution responds to medical errors and malpractice claims. Two simple words are at the heart of the shift: "I'm sorry."

By apologizing to patients when a medical error takes place, the organization has cut its malpractice insurance cash reserves by a whopping 81 percent--down to $13 million from more than $70 million. Now, instead of engaging in a courtroom battle, physicians and hospital leaders discuss errors promptly after they occur, engaging in a constructive conversation with patients that identifies and compensates errors and ultimately leads to improvements in patient care, he says.

"If we make a mistake, we'll move quickly to apologize and compensate that patient," Boothman recently told CNN. "But if we didn't make a mistake, we talk to the patient and explain."

Of course, the hospital's physicians are well-insured.

"I've the luxury of saying to our physicians, no matter how big a case is, how bad a case is, 'You're completely insured and your personal assets are not at stake,'" he told CNN. You can't ask them to be totally honest when they have such things at stake."

Hospital Impact recently talked with Boothman about his program. Here's an excerpt of our conversation:

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by Robert B. Teague, M.D.

As we progress through yet another cycle of sound and fury of EMR hype--not to mention billions of dollars of public largesse--the question remains: Why doesn't anyone use these things?

For those of you with a dim view of human nature, pure petulance and willful obstruction seem to be the easy answer. I don't think so, though. The truth is, for clinical purposes, they don't work.

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by Maria K. Todd, MHA, PhD

It's been said that "no good deed goes unpunished." This is certainly true when it comes to negotiating with managed care companies, as I've learned the hard way. Little did I know; a contract that is never signed can still become binding if one party can prove that what actually happens in the relationship between the two parties demonstrates a meeting of the minds.

Many payer agreements have passed my desk during my career in managed care and healthcare administration. As a beginner, I thought that if we didn't sign the contract, we weren't bound by its terms. In one case, more than 15 years ago, a physician with whom I worked decided that he would refuse to sign the contract draft agreement.

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by Pam McNutt

Healthcare CIOs are understandably concerned about the scope of the work they'll be facing in implementing electronic health records. The promise of stimulus funding for healthcare organizations that "meaningfully use" electronic health records has definitely raised the profile of these clinical systems.

My peers' concern was apparent in a recently completed survey by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), which showed that CIOs are concerned about their ability to implement applications that are based on standards under consideration by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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by Nancy Cawley Jean

A crisis. Most hospitals have one at some point. If your organization hasn't faced one yet, it will. Whether a local disaster fills your ED to overflowing or a sentinel event occurs and makes the headlines, your staff and your board will need to know what happened, and the media will probably be camped outside your front door. For the communications team, it's all hands on deck.

While every situation is unique, when it comes to communication surrounding a crisis, there are general rules that apply to all. I believe that being visible, honest and timely are the most important.

In a crisis, the last thing you should do is assume it will all blow over, or that word will not get out. Definitely not true, particularly in the age of Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media. Playing possum will not make the situation go away. To use an old advertising tagline, "inquiring minds want to know."

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by Dr. Kenneth H. Cohn

I enjoyed reading Anthony Cirillo's post last week about how his views of healthcare changed once his mother became a patient--so much so that it inspired me to share my own experience.

Like the people whose sudden illness he describes in his post, I was cruising along in life until my third year of surgical residency, when I noticed a lump in my neck. It was later was diagnosed Stage 1A non-Hodgkin lymphoma. I received eight courses of chemotherapy, complicated by a Vincristine-related seizure that caused three compression fractures of my thoracic spine.

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by John Cunningham

Group purchasing in healthcare continues to be under scrutiny from lawmakers in Washington, but as a senior supply chain officer, I don't understand what the noise is all about.

Lawmakers have become convinced that GPOs restrict the provider's choice and ultimately dictate what providers can select and use. This could not be further from the truth.

Yes, GPO members are encouraged to purchase on the GPOs contracts in order to get the best value. But providers will still make choices outside of the GPO contract portfolio when it is in the provider's best interest to do so.

If anything, the value that GPOs provide to their members has been diluted over the past decade, due to pressures from manufacturers, suppliers, and their related industry associations.

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