Expert Advice

What’s New (or False) About the Flu: Doing Your Part for a Safe Healing Environment

10/20/2017

Given your role in providing a safe healing environment for patients, it’s important to clear up what’s new and what’s downright false about the flu, so you and your team don’t unknowingly put patients (and each other) at risk for a nasty bout of the illness. 

Regulatory Changes: 3 Frequent Survey Findings

10/5/2017

As regulations change, one way to help ensure a successful survey is paying attention to findings at other facilities — particularly those in your region. If other hospitals are getting “dinged” for a particular deficiency, it’s only smart to preemptively address those same issues in your own hospital before a surveyor walks through your doors.

3 Steps for a High-ROI Human Capital Strategy

9/28/2017

Think the skills gap is bad now?
 
Older workers are retiring in droves, at the tune of 10,000 each day, driving what one media outlet dubbed the “Baby Boomer Retirement Crisis.” Many of your facilities workers are poised to join that number, taking their skills and organizational knowledge with them. That’s not even counting the workforce damage healthcare facilities have suffered from downsizing, siloed functions, and fragmented recruiting. 

How to botch your succession plan: 3 mistakes that will cost you

8/24/2017

Planning for tomorrow’s workforce tends to hang low in the list of emergencies, distractions and to-do’s fighting for your attention each day. But have you contemplated your facilities management workforce lately? Chances are many of your employees are nearing retirement, eyeing a new job, or lacking the skills you’ll need in a not-so-distant future. 

Gaps, Prep Essentials for the Next Infectious Disease Outbreak

6/13/2017

Healthcare facilities around the world are woefully unprepared for the next infectious disease outbreak, concluded a recent report published by the British Medical Journal. Here in the U.S., inadequacies in managing outbreaks were plain to see in past responses. 

The Joint Commission: Top 6 Failures Contributing to Violence in Healthcare Settings

5/31/2017

Violence in healthcare settings is underreported and growing, warns The Joint Commission (TJC).
 
With that in mind, TJC recently updated an alert first issued in 2010, highlighting top six “contributing causal factors,” or failures by healthcare facilities that contributed to violent incidents in recent years.  

Severe Weather Preparedness: 4 Foundational Components

5/11/2017

Approximately 98% of presidentially declared disasters are weather related, leading to approximately 500 deaths and $15 billion in damages annually. When disaster strikes a community, the healthcare facility is a crucial asset in the response and recovery of the community.  

Connecting the Dots Between Value and Metrics

4/26/2017

We often think of metrics as straight-forward, devoid of ambivalence, bias or misinterpretation, but you know better: Data can take on new meanings depending on how it’s presented, or by whom.
 

Associate Engagement as a Revenue Enhancer

4/14/2017

At many healthcare facilities, associate engagement is an untapped means of enhancing revenue, and one already available to you.
 
An associate who feels valued will always do more than required, consider what’s best for the organization as they make decisions, and stick around for the long run. 

Active Shooter Preparedness for Healthcare Facilities

3/27/2017

The following infographic addresses planning and response strategies, along with the importance of preparedness through training and effective communications during a crisis. 
 

The Hospital Administrator’s Impact & Responsibility for the Physical Environment

3/16/2017

Code compliance is changing, placing greater responsibility for the physical environment squarely on the shoulders of hospital administrators. 

4 New Challenges Driving Costs & Safety Violations at Healthcare Facilities

2/20/2017

The healthcare terrain has shifted dramatically over the past few years, and evolving regulation and market behavior continue to bring new challenges you didn’t have to worry about just a few years ago. In facilities management, four obstacles can cause costs and safety violations to mount, unless hospital leaders are aware and equipped to tackle them effectively. 

How Optimized FTEs Boost Revenue

2/7/2017

As you strategize to make the coming year better (and more profitable) than the last, you’ll be tasked with finding new ways to get more done while cutting costs—again. 

How Healthcare Facilities Are Losing Money “Behind the Wall”

1/25/2017

In the endless effort to boost revenue, many healthcare organizations reserve their dollars for high-visibility, high-ROI areas, postponing or cutting corners in hard-to-see facility improvements—only to learn delaying those investments multiplies costs in the long run. Not only that, but the practice puts the organization’s compliance, patient safety and experience at risk—not to mention reimbursements.

Wasteful or Essential?

1/6/2017

When your facilities team comes to you seeking funding for new tools, services or changes to your facilities environment, how do you discern the essential from the wasteful? Put another way, how do you capture the right context and severity of those requests, and weigh them against cost-reduction goals?

A Year in Review with Medxcel FM

12/15/2016

2016 was a BIG year for us and we wanted to share some of the highlights with you.

Disaster Preparedness: Managing a Healthy Healing Environment amidst a Wildfire

12/1/2016

We, amongst everyone else in the nation, have been keeping a close eye on the impact of the wildfires ripping through the Smoky Mountains.  The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency have been putting their disaster preparedness plans in action and working tirelessly to contain the disaster, but a wildfire of this magnitude has everyone on edge, hoping for no casualties and feeling heartbroken over the damage that has already been caused. 

Keeping Your Healing Environment Safe amongst the Tinsel and Trees

11/15/2016

The holidays are typically a time of year full of joy and cheer, and the twinkle lights, sparkly garland and ornaments seem to get most of us into the holiday spirit. However, holiday decorations do pose a severe fire threat if not properly controlled. If you are not careful, this joyous season could create hazards that impact the safety and compliance of your facility. 
 

When Disasters Strike: 3 Indispensable Practices for Patient Safety, Business Continuity & Financial Health

10/24/2016

Just days before the CMS flips the switch on its new emergency preparedness requirements, we’ve been reminiscing about seemingly harmless oversights that can backfire in big ways, increasing risks to patients, hospital operations and revenue in the event of a disaster.
 
In this article we list three habits your organization must cultivate to avoid common tripwires that can worsen conditions as you go into crisis mode.

3 Emergency Management Missteps That Sink Profits, Put Patients and Facilities at Risk

10/24/2016

From storms to hurricanes and floods, natural disasters have ravaged many communities in recent years, prompting the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue new emergency preparedness requirements for healthcare providers, effective in November, 2016.