Dr. Gary S. Kaplan, chairman and CEO of Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center, has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement/
Virginia Mason Medical Center has launched a blog that will focus on quality improvement processes aimed at improving patient safety and cutting costs. The Seattle hospital established a national reputation for quality improvement by adapting “lean” manufacturing techniques to medicine
Virginia Mason has launched online portal — calledMyVM — or anyone who is receiving outpatient care at Virginia Mason facilities.
“I practiced for 30 years without knowing how long patients waited to see me,” says Dr. Robert Mecklenburg of Seattle’s Virginia Mason. After meeting with employers, “you realize how important it is to see patients when they need to be seen,” Mecklenburg says,. “Any wait is not OK.”
The purpose of the new center is to evaluate the effectiveness of hospital’s improvement initiatives more rigorously and publish the results in medical journals and other publications.
Swedish Medical Center’s First Hill Hospital and Virginia Mason Medical Center both make the “Top Hospital” list put out each year by The Leapfrog Group, a health-quality improvement group.
From our inbox: Seattle’s PATH teams up with MERCK for maternal health project. Polyclinic launches clinical research division. Virginia Mason and Wenatchee Medical Center form heart affiliation.
Evergreen Healthcare and Virginia Mason will remain two distinct entities. Neither organization foresees any reduction in services or staff as a result of this partnership.
Medicare’s new Hospital Compare website allows you to compare hospitals side-by-side on a variety of patient safety and patient satisfaction measures. But are the comparisons fair?
Kay A. Branz was previously vice president of Communications and Marketing for the American College of Healthcare Executives based in Chicago.
New hires include specialists in cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, thoracic surgery, radiation oncology, and emergency medicine.
Seattle hospital’s first-in-the-nation program called “another important first in the field of infection control and prevention”.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
View Calendar
✔ Subscribe
Add to Google
Seattle Times Health News
Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
Recent Comments