Beth Burmahl
Articles
Operational Excellence, Quality & Patient Safety
Designing for disaster
In 2001, when Tropical Storm Allison tore through Texas, dumping torrential rainfall on Houston and surrounding areas, Houston’s Texas Medical Center was hit especially hard. The largest medical complex in the world, home to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, was decimated by the storm that dumped more than 3 feet of rain, flooding buildings throughout the complex. While MD Anderson itself was minimally affected primarily due to its location, Allison caused millions of dollars in damage to the medical center overall. .
Operational Excellence, Strategic Planning
Building efforts focus on efficiency
From bottlenecks in emergency departments to communication breakdowns between departments to lengthy walks down corridors, hospitals face daily inefficiencies that can affect patient care, staff performance and their own bottom line..
Operational Excellence, Quality & Patient Safety
An Ounce of Prevention Hospitals Look to Prevention for Better Security
[byline] Story by Beth Burmahl with data by Jamie Morgan and Suzanna Hoppszallern [body] Amid increasing security risks and growing pressure from regulatory agencies — including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — a vast majority of hospitals have adopted training programs on managing aggressive behavior in order to de-escalate security situations before they erupt..
Health Information Technology (HIT), Operational Excellence, Leveraging Technology
Cybersecurity Remains Top Problem Cybersecurity remains ongoing problem for hospitals
Hospitals continue to funnel significant resources into securing the electronic health record information that is increasingly the target of cyberattacks. But staying one step ahead of increasingly sophisticated hackers continues to be an ongoing challenge..
Operational Excellence, Quality & Patient Safety
Hospitals look to prevention for better security
Amid increasing security risks and growing pressure from regulatory agencies — including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — a vast majority of hospitals have adopted training programs on managing aggressive behavior in order to de-escalate security situations before they eru.
Governance Effectiveness, Operational Excellence, Care Delivery, Quality & Patient Safety, Strategic Planning, Leveraging Technology, Issues & Trends
Building hospitals to improve patient safety
Trustee Talking Points Trustee Talking Points Hospital leaders — executives and trustees — must pay attention to how facilities affect infection control and patient safety. Medicare and insurers are tying reimbursement to measures on health care-associated infection rates and other safety issues. New products and technologies hold the promise of creating a safer environment. Beyond the mandates of codes, re.
Delivery System Transformation, Financial Oversight, Governance Effectiveness, Operational Excellence, Strategic Planning, Issues & Trends
Hospitals take individual paths toward sustainability and green processes
U.S. hospitals are embracing tried-and-true sustainability methods and launching new initiatives tailored to their individual budgets and staffing needs. Here’s a sample of initiatives underway, from the Health Facilities Management/American Society for Healthcare Engineering/Association for the Healthcare Environment 2015 Sustainable Operations Survey..