23 Apr
I admit they are cute.
The temptation to take one home is hard to resist.
I’m talking about the little bundles of fluff that show up this time of year in garden centers, pet stores, feed stores and farm and home centers: baby chicks, baby ducks and baby rabbits.
10 Apr
As the new kid on the blog, I thought I would introduce myself. All of the below is what the PR gurus say I should put on my resume and my Linked-in profile:
I cook, I farm, I teach.
I split my time between two worlds. In one, I’m an assistant professor here in the Des Moines University health care administration program. I also teach food policy courses in our master of public health program. This year, I am serving a year-long term as president of the Iowa Food Systems Council board of directors.
12 Mar
by Barb Boose
For nearly three decades, Des Moines University has given students real-world preparation to advance or change their careers as leaders in health care administration. To ensure DMU’s master of health care administration program continues to offer students highly relevant, evidence-based experiences they can immediately apply in their work, the College of Health Sciences recently revised its curriculum to include both online courses and new on-campus executive residencies, a blend the U.S. Department of Education states produces the highest student outcomes.
21 Feb
by Barb Boose
It’s well-documented and well-known that the United States spends more on health care than any other developed nation. Many assume these higher costs are caused by Americans’ widespread over-consumption of medical resources. Similarly, many assume the U.S. has a boundless supply of physicians and hospital service capacity.
Both assumptions are far from being accurate, however. In fact, while the U.S. does spend more on health care, as a percentage of its Gross Domestic Product, than any other country, we have the fewest licensed hospital beds among the top seven developed countries, our physician availability is quite low and our numbers of medical school graduates is comparatively modest. How will we accommodate increased demand from newly insured patients?
13 Feb
by Barb Boose
Coordinated medical care, with fewer hand-offs, more efficiency and lower costs, is a goal for many organizations. Consumers/patients seem to want it, and health care payers – including Medicare under the auspices of the Accountable Care Organization policies of health care reform – are increasingly changing their payment methodologies to favor those who can produce it. The demand for more coordinated care continues to push medical care providers toward greater “integration.”
But what exactly does coordinated care look like? And how do physicians, hospitals and other components of the health care delivery system get there?
13 Dec
by Barb Boose
I’d like to believe health care professionals are committed to patient satisfaction, but going forward the level of “care quality” will take on greater importance: Starting in October 2012, according to Healthcare.gov, Medicare will reward hospitals “that provide high quality care for their patients through the new Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program…for the first time, hospitals across the country will be paid for inpatient acute care services based on care quality, not just the quantity of services they provide.”
The program will use quality measures relating to reductions in length of patient stays, occurrence of preventable illness or injury in the facility, and errors in hospital care. These issues add to patient suffering and lead to significant unnecessary health care spending.
Des Moines University has nine different health-related grad programs. Founded in 1898 it is the second oldest osteopathic school and is the largest med. school in Iowa. DMU also offers podiatric medicine, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, anatomy, biomedical sciences, health care administration and public health programs.
With a 22-acre campus in Des Moines plus programs that can be taken online, the whole world is our neighborhood. Won't you be our neighbor?
DMU around the web
