Blog
BCBS North Carolina pilots Bundled Payment for Knee Replacement

March 1, 2013

Bundled payment starting with

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Spine Implant Analysis Case Study- $2 Million Savings Opportunity

July 31, 2012

Strategic Healthcare Services, LLC (SHS) performed a supply cost spend analysis for a large health system in the Midwest.  The spend analysis focused on implants and supplies used on spinal fusions during a 12 month period.  The health system’s data set contained nearly $11 million in supply spend and 45,000 line items. Methodology The data [...]

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Re OUTCOMES- “Mergers between insurers and hospitals expected to accelerate”

April 10, 2012

Just read an archieved article from amednews, posted 10-25-10: “Mergers between insurers and hospitals expected to accelerate” In speaking about the future of outcomes, the author makes the following observation: “Physician practices face the same challenges small hospitals do in making the investments necessary to comply with health system reform, Callahan said. ‘Not only do [...]

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Becker’s Spine Review- 4 Strategies to Prepare for Changes in Reimbursement

March 27, 2012

Changes in Reimbursement- Orthopedics, Neurosciences, Spine

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Vega Healthcare cited in Advisory Board Publication

January 20, 2012

Patrick’s article on Nurse Navigation for Spine, was cited in the Advisory Board’s December 2011 publication; Neurosciences Service Line Outlook. The original article was published by Becker’s Orthopedics and Spine and can be linked:  http://www.beckersorthopedicandspine.com/spine/item/9221-how-clinical-navigation-can-work-in-spine-care Neurosciences-Service-Line-Strategic-Outlook 95

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Orthopreneur.com: “Helping your hospital help your practice”

December 16, 2011

This article will provide guidance on how orthopaedists can initiate, develop and sustain collaborations with hospitals.

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Patrick blogs for MedicalDeviceSummit.com’s “Summit Soapbox”

October 27, 2011

Device manufacturer’s newest customers

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7 Reasons Hospitals Struggle to Align With Physicians

September 18, 2011

A very insightful article, posted on Becker’s ASC page, link below. By Rachel Fields | August 09, 2011 http://www.beckersasc.com/asc-transactions-and-valuation-issues/7-reasons-hospitals-struggle-to-align-with-physicians.html#.TnCLebZKDME.mailto Physician-hospital alignment is becoming more important as hospitals seek to lower costs, improve care and prepare themselves for payment models that reward collaboration. Kenneth Cohn, MD, MBA, FACS, a practicing surgeon and the author of Getting [...]

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Payer acquires practices- UHG’s planned acquisiton of Monarch HealthCare

September 8, 2011

Readers may recall the recent post on Dancing with Physicians and the commentary about payers purchasing practices:   http://vegahealthcare.com/dancing-with-physicians-positioning-for-the-future-in-spine-neurosciences-and-orthopedics/ In that blog, I had postulated that payers owning or managing practices could dramatically impact physicians practices and hospital-physician relationships.  Check the link below to ModernHealthcare.com and the article on UHG’s planned acquisiton of Monarch HealthCare. “UnitedHealth Group [...]

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Nurse Navigation for Spine- faster, more effective

September 1, 2011

PREFACE The topic of “clinical navigation” has gained a wider audience, both within the healthcare community as well as in popular media.  On August 16th, 2011, the Wall Street Journal published an article, “When a Doctor Isn’t Enough; Nurse Navigators Help Patients Through Maze of Cancer-Treatment Decisions, Fears,” by Laura Landro, Assistant Managing Editor and [...]

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“When a Doctor Isn’t Enough,” Patient Navigation- spine navigation modeled after cancer

August 27, 2011

cancer navigation – spine navigation mirror one another

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Dancing with Physicians; Physician opportunities for positioning in the future in spine, neurosciences and orthopedics

August 21, 2011

Physician’s dance partners; Hospitals, Payers, both?

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PCP’s -Spine Specialists: the consultation chain

August 12, 2011

PCPs- customer service from Spine specialists

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Strategy or Tactics or, Strategy then Tactics? Part II

July 22, 2011

Sun Tzu- Strategist and Tactician

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Vertigo – BPPV & Physical Therapy Treatment

July 22, 2011

BPPV is the most common peripheral vestibular disorder

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Disruptive Physician Behavior- Effective Intervention & Risk Management

June 23, 2011

Disruptive, intimidating behavior by physicians imperils patient care, threatens practice management growth and places hospital systems at legal risk.

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Patient Experience- a beautiful illustration

June 22, 2011

Patients and families assume clinical competence- its patient experience that really sets treatment apart from other healthcare experiences…

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Marketing your Spine Center? Don’t forget about Nurse Navigation

June 22, 2011

Spine programs are challenged to deliver a remarkable patient experience- patient navigation is the “glue” that holds it together.

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Integrating Acquired Physician Practices: Independence vs. Autonomy

June 22, 2011

Acquiring Physician Practices- HealthLeaders Magazine

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Making Loyal Customers Out of a New Generation of Patients

June 10, 2011

This excellent brief article appeared in:   http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag/HHNDaily/HHNDailyDisplay.dhtml?id=2990009432)  Bolding is mine- Patrick Making Loyal Customers Out of a New Generation of Patients By Haydn Bush    June 06, 2011 A new generation of patients are placing a higher emphasis on timely customer service. Last week, I took my wife to the local hospital for a checkup and some tests. [...]

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Implant Cost Management- Effective Strategies in a New Environment

June 9, 2011

implantable medical devices are among the highest cost line items in a hospital budget

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Keys to Stroke Certification by Pat Dunn

May 6, 2011

For Stroke, the development of core competencies, including equipment, training and process, such as the use of protocols required to become a Primary Stroke Center is necessary for providing adequate care and providing up to date treatment

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Patrick Dunn guest blogs- Total Joint Reconstruction and Diabetes; Pre- & Post-Operative Management

April 27, 2011

There are currently 25.8 million children and adults in the US that have diabetes, which is 8.3% of the population. Also, there are another 79 million people in this country with prediabetes.

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Guest bloggers welcome…

April 18, 2011

I am regularly inviting colleagues to provide a blog… Bloggers can select their topic. The topic should be of interest to clinical and administration professionals working in healthcare. In addition, feel free to suggest other colleagues who may have an interest in a blog forum. Please contact me if you would like to post a [...]

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PCP’s

March 26, 2011

Across the country primary care physicians represent the core referral base for orthopedic and spine specialist. After PCP referral, word-of-mouth referral (patient reputation) and advertising are second and third respectively.

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Strategy or Tactics, or Strategy then Tactics?

March 22, 2011

When working with client hospitals I often encounter five tactical approaches to building incremental volumes, either alone or in combination: -recruit a new surgeon with incremental volume -appoint a Medical Director -assign an effective hospital manager to organize the services -build new patient care facilities or remodel existing space -develop and implement marketing & promotional [...]

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Primary Care Physicians- the base of the Specialist referral chain

March 22, 2011

PCP’s are often underappreciated by specialists.  Across the country primary care physicians represent the core referral base for orthopedic and spine specialist.  After PCP referral, word-of-mouth referral (patient reputation) and advertising are second and third respectively.  Some PCP’s have a high level of comfort treating orthopedic, back and neck pain while others have a preference [...]

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case studies

Frederick Memorial Hospital

Project: Joint and Spine Programs

VIEW CASE STUDY

Sinai Hospital

Project: Spine Center

VIEW CASE STUDY

Rockingham Memorial Hospital

Project: Musculoskeletal Serviceline Assessment and Business Plan

VIEW CASE STUDY

recent news

August 27, 2011

cancer navigation – spine navigation mirror one another

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July 14, 2011

VA Hospital Joint Replacement

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TESTIMONIALS

Patrick’s knowledge, experience and insights have been invaluable for establishing credibility and momentum through all phases of our spine initiatives.

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