Air Force ACHE Regent

If you want to review the NDAA Section 703 Report To Congress, here’s a direct link.

www.health.mil

Writing an effective email takes practice and being willing to learn.

Steve Jobs Knew How to Write an Email. Here's How He Did It A detailed look at an old email from Steve Jobs teaches some important lessons.

Trust is a foundational requirement for establishing a successful organization.

These 3 Levels of Trust Will Make or Break Your Business. Creating a virtuous circle of trust in your business and with future franchisees can be a practical process of clear steps.

As many of us heard at ACHE Congress this week, the healthcare landscape is changing at a rapid pace. Larger healthcare acquisitions have the potential to accelerate the changing landscape.

If Walmart acquired Humana, they would be able to cut costs within their own insurance plans since they’re the country’s largest private employer.

What’s your take on this potential acquisition?

Walmart in Early-Stage Acquisition Talks With Humana Walmart is in preliminary talks to buy insurer Humana, a deal that would mark a dramatic shift for the retail behemoth and would be the latest in a recent flurry of big deals in health-care services.

Does your organization want to save 💰💰?
This article explains how a healthcare organization saved $4.3M with a nursing analytics dashboard.

How Mercy Hospital Network saved $4.3 million with nursing analytics dashboard Staff created the dashboard for tracking multiple performance metrics, including leakage.

It’s great to see Air Force healthcare professionals investing time and money into new and advanced medical and surgical operations to ensure better outcomes.

This article highlights the efforts taken at Keesler’s Military Treatment Facility to continue on the path of Trusted Care.

Air Force robotic surgery training program aims at improving patient outcomes Robotic surgery is becoming the standard of care for many specialties and procedures

When Albert Einstein was asked how he would spend his time if given an hour to solve a difficult problem, he said he’d spend 55 minutes defining the problem and alternatives and 5 minutes solving it.

In many situations, it’s wise to take a similar approach when trying to bridge strategy and ex*****on. This article provides some insight into how ‘high-performing’ teams bridge the gap.

How the Most Successful Teams Bridge the Strategy-Execution Gap They spend 54% more time setting direction.

At every level of healthcare we are charged to identify solutions to challenges, discover efficiencies, and continue to deliver safe and quality care. As the healthcare landscape changes, it’s paramount to be an informed leader so we can operate at the highest level in our decision space.

Here’s an article that provides some insight into what discussions are occurring behind the scenes with regards to military and veteran healthcare.

We’ve begun to see small breadcrumbs of this.

VA's quiet plan to widen private care with TRICARE stirs ire As part of its effort to expand private health care, the Department of Veterans Affairs is exploring the possibility of merging its health system with the Pentagon's, a cost-saving measure that veterans groups say could threaten the viability of VA hospitals and clinics. VA spokesman Curt...

As hospital administrators and healthcare leaders, we constantly strive to advance all facets of healthcare operations and healthcare delivery. One of our primary objectives is to foster a culture of continuous process improvement in an effort to create a more pleasant and enjoyable patient experience.

This is an interesting article on how some leading medical treatment facilities are leveraging the benefits of an approach called "design thinking" to reimagine the delivery of healthcare and enhance the patient experience.

What are your thoughts? Is the process of implementing and executing "design thinking" worth the time and effort required? Do you believe it will yield a reasonable ROI?

Should hospitals invest time and resources in reducing or eliminating missed medical appointments? Is whether a patient keeps or "no-shows" a scheduled medical appointment an individual or hospital responsibility?

Comment below...

Health Care Providers Can Use Design Thinking to Improve Patient Experiences Solving problems starts with understanding people’s needs.

TRICARE Reform implementation on 1 Jan 18...

The FY17 National Defense Authorization Act provided the requirements to reform the TRICARE benefit. The attached link to the Interim Final Rule (policy document) describes some of the significant and overarching changes.

The Interim Final Rule is available for public comment on the Federal Register until 28 November 2017.

www.gpo.gov

As healthcare administrators, we have the privilege of navigating an ever-changing healthcare landscape. Our Military Health System is changing in terms of how the benefit is delivered and how the enterprise is structured. Please take a look at the article to gain some insight into the work being performed with regards to our organizational structure.

Defense Health Reform:: Steps Taken to Plan the Transfer of the Administration of the Military Treatment Facilities to the Defense Health Agency, but Work Remains to Finalize the Plan TBD