Hospital Noise: The Issue That Just Won’t Go Away

September 16, 2016

In reviewing my posts from the past year, I discovered that have not written about hospital noise for a while. I have, however, given presentations about hospital noise, offering my

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What Can We Do To Improve the Patient Experience of Dying?

September 9, 2016

It has been 40 years since Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) was introduced as the first right for a patient to refuse medical care. However, in a recent article in the New

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When the Healthcare System Has a Stroke

September 2, 2016

Not sure you heard, but one of the arteries in the heart of the U.S. healthcare system collapsed. Yup, a stroke. Blockages abound; both brain and heart. In addition, the system suffers from obesity and malnutrition.

Aetna is ending its participation in the state exchanges leaving millions abandoned without insurance, and with few options. Aetna is the largest insurer, but not the only one to exit the insurance exchanges.

Their reason? “Too many sick people.”

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Happy 20th Birthday, HIPAA!

August 19, 2016

Birthdays are always fun. Well, sometimes. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is 20 years old this year. It was born out of wedlock, the result of a

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Removing Pain Management Questions is Not the Answer

August 12, 2016

When I first read about the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ proposal to remove the pain management questions from the HCAHPS survey to combat the opioid epidemic, I thought it

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Overall Hospital Star Rating System is Seriously Flawed

August 5, 2016

When I first heard that CMS planned on introducing a hospital star rating system, I thought, “We’ve done it! We’ve finally reduced healthcare to 5 stars, like a Motel-8!” This

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What Do Patient Satisfaction Surveys & the HCAHPS Survey Tell Us?

July 29, 2016

There are many similarities between patient experience surveys and the HCAHPS survey. They are both directed to patients, they both have multiple-choice questions, and they are both used to help hospitals improve

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When What We Believe and Practice is Outdated

July 15, 2016

Through the history of science, beliefs have been disproven by empirical evidence and still, whole societies have refused to be influenced by new information. In fact, science was once considered

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Music as Environmental Design: What Does the Patient Hear?

July 8, 2016

Today I walked to Starbucks about mile and a half from my home.  It’s a good way to get an early three-mile walk in before my day starts. I have done this for

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Encore Post: Hospital Room as the Classroom of Recovery

July 1, 2016

Note:  This is a post from 2014 that is still relevant to the hot-button issue of preventing readmissions. There are many ways to learn.  However, the ultimate goal of all teaching is to

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