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A Swing of Fortune for Rural Hospitals?

The primary purpose of hospitals will always be to provide acute, short-term care. But if you think about it, hospital facilities can serve patients in many more ways than that narrow perception.That’s part of the idea behind a “swing bed,” a coding term created in the 1980s by Congress in

SCHA Business Solutions Company Unveils New Plan, New Brand

SCHA Solutions is now Solvent Networks, but there’s no change in its core mission of connecting hospitals needing business solutions with partners who can provide them.A wholly-owned company of the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA), Solvent Networks recently unveiled a new strategic plan to increase services for state hospitals and

POST Legislation Introduced in SC Legislature This Session

On Tuesday, February 19, Rep. Gary Clary (R – Pickens) introduced H.4004, the “Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) Act” that would allow POST forms signed by physicians to govern the administration of life-sustaining care.Based on the “the POLST paradigm” that encourages patients to talk extensively with their doctors

Indiana Reconsiders CON Repeal as South Carolina Contemplates Changes

In 1999 the state of Indiana repealed its Certificate of Need (CON) program, a complex regulatory framework aimed to ensure access to health services and control healthcare growth. Among the reasons to repeal CON was the idea that unstifled competition in healthcare would lead to lower costs and increased innovation. According

A New Leader

Tod Augsburger, President and CEO of Lexington Medical Center since 2015, became the new board chair of SCHA last week at the Association’s Annual Meeting. Augsburger takes the reins from the outgoing chair, MUSC CEO Pat Cawley, MD, and will serve a one-year term until the 2020 SCHA Annual Meeting. Augsburger

South Carolina Hospitals’ Zero Harm Approach Leads National Trend

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently released a report announcing a downward trend from 2014-2017 in hospital-acquired conditions (HACs). The agency’s analysis of preliminary data suggests HACs are down during the period by 13 percent, and this after a previous decrease from 2010-2014 of 17%.  The big headline?

Healthcare Highlights from the 2019 State of the State Address

Governor McMaster’s first State of the State since being re-elected in November was heavy on major policy proposals regarding education and economic growth. In the speech, McMaster championed South Carolina’s “red hot” status as he called for, among other things, a $2.2 billion tax cut, a 5% teacher pay raise,

Flu Watch 2019

Last year’s flu season in South Carolina was a historically dangerous one, hospitalizing thousands and leading to the deaths of nearly 300 people. This year is not quite as bad, but it’s still a cause for concern according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC). As

The Warm Embrace

The power of a hug is undeniable. From our earliest moments to our last, hugs not only provide emotional comfort and support, but they also have real physical and psychological effects. This is doubly true for newborns. Medical studies suggest that the effects of human touch and skin-to-skin contact are a

Built to Serve

The closing of Fairfield Memorial hospital could have been a huge blow to access to care for one of South Carolina’s most rural and underserved areas. Instead, Providence Health-Fairfield’s newly-constructed freestanding emergency room, a state-of-the-art facility that ensures comprehensive emergency medical care, launched in time to continuously meet those needs.The

SCHA Legislative Priorities for 2019

While the legislative attention at the State House for 2019 is expected to continue focusing on energy issues from last year as well as look to education reform, health care is an ever-pressing concern as well, and SCHA will be there.Our priorities for this year will be continuing to work

Making Prices Transparent

Starting January 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented a new rule formally requiring all hospitals to post a list of prices for services and procedures online, a move that CMS hopes will improve transparency and provide more public information around the costs of healthcare.Now every hospital

AccessHealth SC is Making a Difference

AccessHealth SC, a statewide effort that encourages and supports community-based networks of care, began in 2008 as way to bring together a broad range of healthcare providers and health-related resources to improve the care of uninsured South Carolinians. By leveraging resources and aligning services with a coordinated approach to care,

Engineering Leadership

When Patrick Bonds started working at Lexington Medical Center a decade ago after leaving the Marines, he was looking for a solid healthcare career that fit with his mechanical mindset.“When I started at Lexington Medical Center ten years ago, I knew I wanted to stay in healthcare, and I knew

Coaching for Tomorrow

The SimCOACH™ parked just outside of the Heyward Career & Technology Center in Northeast Columbia looks a bit like a rental RV you might take on a trip to Yellowstone or to a weekend tailgate. The fully-equipped mobile simulation laboratory owned by the Palmetto Health-University of South Carolina School of