By Anthony Cirillo

I'm insulted and you should be too.

I knew when I read this FierceHealthcare blurb that there was a blog lurking. But right after I read it I had to leave my desk for a doctor's appointment. Well that appointment sealed the deal.

When you arrive at your 2 p.m. appointment and are not seen until 3 p.m. that is an insult.

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by Gwen Darling

As hospitals continue to focus on demonstrating "meaningful use," one thing has become clear: The hunt for experienced Healthcare IT professionals is on, and the competition is fierce.

Fortunately many excellent educational programs are in full swing, working to produce the workforce of tomorrow. But in the meantime, any hospital employee who has played an integral part in a successful EMR implementation is one hot commodity. And if that employee happens to be certified in one or more key vendors' software modules? That employee isn't just hot, but on fire.

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By John Cunningham

Colleagues across the country tell me that their patient volumes are soft which is driving their expenses out of line with expectations when adjusted for volume.

This is a growing issue as inpatient volumes continue to be flat or down for lower acuity patients while many hospitals are experiencing growth and stronger volumes in some of their more complex patient populations, who need implantable devices such as stents, pacemakers, and total joint replacements.

When the expense of high cost, complex volume is spread across a smaller base of adjusted patient days, the expenses are naturally inflated.

In times like these, supply chain executives and their teams have to be ever more diligent in helping end users right size their purchasing and inventory practices,

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by Thomas Dahlborg

It's no secret that Americans are getting fatter and that more Americans can expect to get sick and die from obesity-related complications, such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

But while it is great news that people are universally acknowledging that obesity is a huge health issue, the current healthcare system does not position physicians (and other practitioners) to best leverage their skills, wisdom, heart and energy to help individual patients understand and address the root causes of their obesity.

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Back-office automation and process improvements have rarely been a high priority for U.S. hospitals, writes Jim McDowell, senior director for healthcare insight and industry strategy at Oracle Corp. in Phoenix.

Over the past dozen years alone, hospitals and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) have focused on everything from the Y2K problem to primary medical records system overhauls, and now the push for health information exchanges and meaningful use threatens to keep back-office systems squarely on the back burner. FierceHealthFinance