News roundup Sept 14-18

The percentage of older adults who had ever participated in a telehealth visit rose from 4% in May 2019 to 30% in June 2020, according to the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. However, the poll also found that these patients still considered in-office visits more effective, and many of them had no choice but to see their doctor via telehealth.

Performance evaluations for medical staff leaders do not have to be lengthy or intimidating. The evaluator should assess whether the leader successfully achieves the following.

Does your organized medical staff structure help or hinder the strategic development and mutual success of physicians and the hospital? A comprehensive medical staff development plan is incomplete without an analysis of the effectiveness of your medical staff structure and processes. The following best practices will help you conduct such an analysis.

As 2020 launched, healthcare executives had no way of knowing the havoc a novel virus that had emerged in Wuhan, China, would wreak on the healthcare industry. By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization acknowledged a pandemic was in progress, and COVID-19 began impacting the U.S. population. Hospitals and healthcare systems went into overdrive, brainstorming new ways to protect patients, and providers set out to devise new ways to deliver care.

The process of a hearing following the medical executive committee’s (MEC) recommendation is an important right that must be spelled out in the bylaws. The hearing process will be explored in depth in four separate installments. This month, we will examine the initiation and notice of a fair hearing. Subsequent installments will examine the hearing panel and presiding officer; the pre-hearing and hearing procedure; and the appeals and external reporting process.