Being in healthcare in recent years, has not always been a fun place to be, though the industry does offer a lot of opportunity. CEO’s in the field have had to take a lot of heat, but there have been quite a few who have really been successful in their field. Here are 20 that we believe have made a huge difference in the last decade.

1. David Blair, CEO of Catalyst Health Solutions: Blair was ranked one of the best CEO’s under age 40. Under his direction, Catalyst Health Solutions has grown revenue from $5 million to $3.6 billion in 11 years.
2. Paul Diaz, CEO of Kindred Healthcare: Kindred Healthcare owns hospitals and long term care facilities. Diaz raised revenue more than 4% in one year. He is recognized as one of the most powerful people in healthcare and as one of the most successful minority CEOs. He is also listed as one of the most respected CEO’s of 2010 by CEO Quarterly Magazine and the International Institute of Management.
3. Nick Turkal, MD: The CEO of Aurora Health Systems was ranked among 2010′s best physician leaders. Aurora Health Care is a not-for-profit Wisconsin health care provider and a national leader in efforts to improve health care quality.
4. Ron Anderson, MD: Anderson is the President and CEO of Parkland Health Systems in Texas. He has been their CEO for 26 years. He has served on the National Health Policy Initiative to advise the White House on healthcare issues as well as the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
5. Warren Browner, MD: Browner is the CEO of California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, where he has published a number of books on clinical research.
6. Delos Cosgrove, MD: Cosgrove is the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Dr. Cosgrove currently oversees the Cleveland Clinic, nine community hospitals, 14 family health centers and ASCs, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Cleveland Clinic Toronto and the developing Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in this role, which he has held since 2004.
7. Melinda Estes, MD: Dr. Estes is the CEO of Fletcher Allen Healthcare, a role she has held since 2003. She was previously the CEO and Chair of the Board of Cleveland Clinic in Florida.
8. Joseph Golbus, MD: Golbus is the president of the North Shore Health System Medical Group and is also an associate professor of Medicine and Northwestern University.
9. Larry Goodman, MD: Goodman is the CEO of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He was previously the Dean of Medicine at Rush University Medical College.
10. David Feinberg, MD: Feinberg is the CEO of UCLA Hospital Systems in Los Angeles, and is also an associate vice chancellor at UCLA.
11. Gary Gottlieb: Gottlieb is the CEO of Partners Health System in Boston. He is also a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
12. Roberta Luskin-Hawk, MD: Hawk is the CEO of Resurrection Health Care’s St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chicago. She is also co founder of Lakeshore Infectious Disease Associates. She is a highly respected HIV/AIDS advocate.
13. Rodney Hockman, MD: Hockman is the CEO of Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. He was formerly the executive vice president of Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk, VA.
14. Gary Kaplan, MD: Kaplan is the CEO of Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. He has been awarded the John M. Eisenberg Award from the National Quality Forum. He also was recognized by the Medical Group Management Association as the recipient of the Harr J. Harwick Lifetime Acheivement Award.
15. David Grange: CEO of PPD. Grange is the CEO of PPD, the healthcare company that is listed on Forbes Platinum list.
16. Marc Casper: Casper is the CEO of Thermo-Fisher Scientific, a position he has held since 2009. Prior to that he was COO. Casper also has the distinction of being the highest paid CEO in healthcare.
17. William Weldon, Johnson and Johnson: Weldon has been the CEO of Johnson and Johnson since 2002, though he has been with the company since 1972.
18. Miles D. White, CEO of Abbott Labs: Abbott Labs is one of the US’ most successful healthcare companies. White has been at the helm since 1998.
19. John C. Lechleiter: Lechleiter is the CEO of Eli Lilly, a role he has held since 2005. He has been with the company since 1979, when his job was that of a chemist. Today, he is the seventh highest paid CEO in healthcare.
20. John C. Martin: Martin is the CEO of Gilead Sciences, where he has worked since 1990. He has been inducted into the National Academy of Engineering.

Obesity has become a global health epidemic, reaching across all developed nations and socio-economic levels. Is there a cure for obesity? Can it be prevented? The following top 50 blogs covering the global obesity epidemic ask those questions and some authors answer with their various methods on how to retain or regain health and fitness.

Cure obesity blogs

1. Dr. Sharma’s Obesity Notes: Dr. Arya M. Sharma offers his personal perspective on obesity and the obesity epidemic.
2. Eating Disorder Pro: Dr. J. Renae Norton became interested in the treatment of eating disorders while still in graduate school.
3. Igniting The War Against Obesity In Columbus: A Columbus, Ohio personal trainer has started an aggressive campaign against the obesity epidemic in his city.
4. Lincoln Childhood Obesity’s Blog: This blog is all about educating children and adults about obesity.
5. Obesity Cures Blog: Why trawl dozens of web sites for obesity-related news when you can get it all in one place?
6. Obesity Help: This portal carries a blog, community, forums and tools to help readers loose weight.
7. Obesity Panacea: Two researchers in pursuit of a cure for obesity offer their news and perspectives.
8. Research On Obesity: This blog provides answers and obesity help for real problems overweight or obese people face in their everyday life.
9. Sasse Guide Blog: Gain insight on medical weight loss, diet programs, scientifically-based weight loss and surgical weight loss from Kent C. Sasse, MD.
10. The Obesity Society: The Obesity Society is the leading scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity.

Blogs about, by and for obese individuals

11. BerthaButt NoMore: This blogger suffers from food addiction and “its outward manifestation, morbid obesity.”
12. Escape from Obesity: A look into the secret life and inner thoughts of an obese mom.
13. Fat to Fit: This blogger shares how portion sizes — even when it’s the ‘right’ food — can limit weight loss.
14. Fatty Weight Loss: The man who used to run this blog lost 40 pounds and left the blog to his mother, who has a history of gaining and losing weight at various points throughout her life.
15. Journeying to Lose 200 Pounds: Share a forty-year-old woman’s journey to lose 200 pounds and gain a healthier lifestyle.
16. My Journey to Fit: A forty-something woman’s weight loss journey, with a large dose of fitness thrown in for good measure.
17. My struggles with weight loss and bariatric surgery: This blog author suffers from bipolar disease as well as obesity.
18. Obese Like Me: This blog is a resource of various information for obese people.
19. Obesity Fighter: This blog offers daily inspiration for weight loss, including tips, news and success stories.
20. Slim Fit Mama: A woman losing weight shares her struggles and stories about other overweight individuals.
21. The Big Fat Obesity Blog: If you’re “fat and out of shape, this blog’s for you.”
22. The Token Fat Girl: This woman talks about losing weight, motivation, fashion, food, and struggles about losing weight.

Overcame obesity blogs

23. Daily Diet Blog: This blog is about diets, but it also talks about weight loss success stories that can provide impetus to lose weight.
24. Fabulous @ 50: This woman began to diet when she was at 371 pounds. She turned to bariatric surgery, which — although painful for her — turned her life around.
25. Gettin’ Shrunk: The transformation is amazing in a woman that goes from 281 pounds to 137 pounds.
26. I used to be fat: This writer uses her blog as a “use this medium as a way to explore the strangeness of going from fat to not fat.”
27. Jack Sh*t, Gettin’ Fit: According to this site, “if you think losing weight is impossible, you don’t know Jack Sh*t.”
28. Kath Eats Real Food: Kath set out to lose 30 pounds and created a blog that is a healthy staple on many menus for losing weight.
29. Lose That Tyre: This blogger started blogging in 2005 as part of a project to track weight loss.
30. Pasta Queen: Jennette Fulda entered this world weighing 8 pounds 5 ounces and came close to leaving it at 372 pounds. Find out how she survived.
31. Prior Fat Girl: The journey of a 240-pound woman as she lost weight, including how she accomplished her goal and before-and-after photos.

Advocacy and support blogs

32. Big Fat Blog: BFB encourages others to blog about fat acceptance and fat rights.
33. Canadian Obesity Network: CON-RCO’s vision is to reduce the mental, physical and economic burden of obesity on Canadians.
34. Center for Science in the Public Interest: CSPI is a consumer advocacy organization whose twin missions are to conduct innovative research and advocacy programs in health and nutrition.
35. Eating Disorders Coalition News and Information: EDC’s mission is to advance the federal recognition of eating disorders as a public health priority.
36. Eating Disorder Hope Blog: You can find information, resources and hope to eating disorder sufferers, their loved ones & treatment providers.
37. Eating Disorders Treatment: This treatment center, with many locations, offers a blog based upon their healing philosophy.
38. Obesity Action Coalition Blog: This is a non profit patient-based organization dedicated to educating and advocating on behalf of all those affected by all forms of obesity.
39. The Plus Size Advocate: This blog contains politics and fashion, offered by a designer with a BMI of 27 (not yet obese).
40. Wedding Gown Challenge: Celebration of women who’ve chosen to be fit before, during and well after their wedding day…and an invitation to those who want to accomplish that goal.

Obesity Prevention

41. Bigger Fatter Blog: A tongue-in-cheek look at obesity, because “fat people are now the overwhelming majority.”
42. C-U Fit Families Blog: Stories of innovation and success in Champaign-Urbana’s collective and individual efforts to increase active living, access to healthy food, nutritious school lunches, and safe routes to school and work.
43. Civil Eats: Civil Eats promotes critical thought about sustainable agriculture and food systems as part of building economically and socially just communities.
44. Diets in Review: Learn more about every diet on the block, along with diets categorized by their methodologies.
45. Integrative Nutrition Blog: The world’s largest nutrition school offers a blog that can help individuals eat right, eat healthy and stay healthy.
46. Little Stomaks: This blog is all about science-driven real life toddler nutrition as an antidote against childhood obesity.
47. Natural Health for Christians: A faith-based look at obesity prevention through natural health, “for the healing of the nations.”
48. Nutrition Business Journal: This transparent journal carries blog entries that speak to raw foods, natural foods and organic selections for health.
49. The Web Directory of Weight Loss: This new blog offers ideas and news about the obesity epidemic.
50. Youth Becoming Healthy: This program is designed to remove all barriers to increased physical activity in middle school students and their families.

Healthcare management is a growing field. It’s a field that is expected to continue to grow for years to come, too, as the US rolls out wider healthcare coverage for its citizens. Many people are moving to healthcare management from other health related careers to increase their earning potential and provide them a challenging career. If you’re interested in moving into healthcare management, you may be interested in taking some of these open courseware classes. All are free, and they are offered by some of the most prestigious universities in the country.

1. Introduction to Health Policy: This course from Johns Hopkins explores the basic issues in health policy and management.This basic course will give you a very good overview of what the healthcare management field is all about and give you an introduction into health policy.
2. Health Issues for Aging Populations: This course from Johns Hopkins explores aging and health policy related to treating older persons. As baby boomers age, we will have more elderly patients than our country has ever seen, so more and more healthcare jobs will be related to gerontology. This is a good class for an overview of dealing with the health issues that are specific to older people.
3. Ethical Issues in Public Health: This course from Johns Hopkins explores ethics in healthcare.
4. America’s Battle for the Cure: The Culture and Politics of Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment: This course from Columbia University explores the politics and culture that surround breast cancer in the United States. This is a fascinating look at how breast cancer differs from other cancers from the perspective of the general public, and how that affects its treatment, research, etc.
5. Aging Health and Diversity: These podcasts from Berkeley explore aging and how different cultures embrace it.
6. Environmental Health: This course from Johns Hopkins explores environmental concerns and the health problems associated with them.
7. Biological Agents of Water and Foodborne Bioterrorism: This course from Johns Hopkins explores the possibility of bioterrorism through food and water borne illness.
8. Population Medicine: This course examines the role of healthcare on the general population.
9. History of Public Health: This course from Johns Hopkins examines the historical experience of health and illness from a population perspective.
10. Training Methods and Continuing Education for Health Workers: This course from Johns Hopkins focuses on training and continuing education as an important component of health service and personnel management.
11. Population Change and Public Health: A look at how our growing population impacts public health programs from Johns Hopkins.
12. Health Across Life Spans: This course, offered by Johns Hopkins, evaluates health of individuals across their lifespan and how it affects public health programs.
13. Competitive Decision Making and Negotiation: This course from MIT is centered on twelve negotiation exercises that simulate business situations. Students learn about distributive and mixed motive bargaining, among other techniques.
14. Communication for Managers: This course from MIT teaches writing and speaking skills necessary for a management position in any field.
15. Leadership and Personal Effectiveness Coaching Seminar: This seminar from MIT gives students opportunities to hone business communication skills through activities.
16. Managed Care: This course from Johns Hopkins teaches healthcare managers what they need to know about design, function, management, regulation, and evaluation of health insurance and managed care plans.
17. Designing and Sustaining Technology Innovation for Global Health Practice: This interesting course from MIT looks at health and healthcare management from a global perspective. It explores how global healthcare leaders must understand both the business of running a social venture as well as how to plan for and provide access to life saving medicines and essential health services.

As you can see, there’s a lot you can learn about the healthcare management field right from the privacy of your own home. Hopefully these courses will expand your knowledge and understanding of the field of healthcare management. It’s an exciting field that will offer lots of job opportunities in the future, in many diverse places and roles. After completing these open courseware classes, you may find that you would like to pursue your healthcare management education even further with classes that expand your career by providing college credits.

Social networking is one of the best tools to expand your business contacts, meet people who are interested in the same things you are, and be up to date on the latest news in your industry. But they key to success is to know what you want to get out of social media sites before you start. If you don’t know what the social media sites do and what they are about, you can’t make the most of them. Here’s a short list of the main ones and how you can use them in your business.

1. Mashable

   Mashable is a resource for anyone who wants to better understand the Web and the latest trends in social media. Twitter and Facebook can be a little confusing, but Mashable’s articles and easy to navigate site will help you learn how to use them for a variety of business, networking, marketing and PR purposes.

2. LinkedIn

   LinkedIn billed itself as a Facebook for professionals – it isn’t. It is, however, a great way to post your work history, recommendations from your boss (or your recommendations for your employees), and find out about other people’s professional pasts and interests. It’s also an easy way to keep track of business contacts in a more formal way than Facebook allows. There is no “status update” bar in which to share what you had for breakfast, which is a good thing.

3. Facebook

   Facebook isn’t just for reconnecting with long-lost friends or even web-stalking job applicants and employees. You can use Facebook to extend your professional connections by adding applications like “My LinkedIn Profile” which links a badge on your Facebook page to your LinkedIn page. You can also put up a Fan Page for your business to let your customers know what you’re doing. Facebook a terrific marketing tool because everyone is on it all day – yes, even your employees.

4. Twitter

   Twitter is not about informing your nearest and dearest that you are drinking your 5^th cup of tea, or to shout your political frustrations into the ether. Twitter is, by far, one of the best ways to keep up on news that affects your industry, find out what others in the industry are doing and saying, and learn from other professionals who are interested in the same issues you are. News travels faster on Twitter than the New York Times thanks to citizen journalism, and even politicians are on it (including the President).

5. Spiceworks

   If you are in charge of IT, you’ll look extra savvy if you suggest using Spiceworks in the IT department. Spiceworks is a social networking site specifically designed to help IT staff collaborate with each other, manage IT, take inventory, monitor, troubleshoot and run help desks for the IT network. It’s free and ad-supported, similar to Facebook, and works well in small to medium businesses.

]]> http://mastersinhealthcaremanagement.org/2010/5-social-media-sites-for-managers-executives/feed/ 0 http://mastersinhealthcaremanagement.org/2010/10-useful-tips-to-pick-the-healthcare-mba-program-thats-right-for-you/ http://mastersinhealthcaremanagement.org/2010/10-useful-tips-to-pick-the-healthcare-mba-program-thats-right-for-you/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:20:35 +0000 admin http://mastersinhealthcaremanagement.org/?p=15

It’s a very well known fact that the healthcare profession is a lucrative, yet extensive career path, and with so many different options and programs available, it can be difficult to decide which is right for you. However, in these kinds of situations you need to ensure that you’re going to do exactly what you want to do, and the following 10 tips can help you when it comes to making one of the most important decisions of your life – which Healthcare MBA program to choose. Some healthcare MBA programs are only available through online learning or distance learning, so before you choose, it’s important to decide what you want to achieve, and what you need from a program in order for it to suit you and therefore succeed.

The 10 tips for picking the right Healthcare MBA Program for you have to be:

1. Decide on what interests you, not what you’re good at
2. Think Realistically
3. Do all your research
4. Think about how you want to study
5. Research your career prospects once the course is complete
6. Look into your future income expectations
7. Focus on the little things, as well as the big things
8. Check if the costs are suitable for you and your budget
9. Research what you are likely to study to ensure every aspect suits you
10. And remember; you can always change your mind

Some of these are fairly straight forward. However, some may need a little explaining but don’t panic: all will soon become very clear, and once you know what you’ve got to do and what to look for you’ll be on the Healthcare MBA program that is perfectly suited to you in no time.

The very first thing you need to think about before choosing an MBA program is what are you truly interested in? This may not necessarily be what you’re good at, but instead what you love doing. This first step may seem like an obvious one, but too many students disregard this step and instead of choosing something they like and have an interest in, choose what they think they ought to choose. Sometimes, what you are good at isn’t what interests you the most and too many students drop out part way through their courses each year because they didn’t think it through!

You should always think realistically. It’s all well and good thinking everything will be fine and work out, but it’s essential to view things realistically. Will you be accepted onto the course? Do you have the grades? Will you benefit by doing work experience, or by improving your English language proficiency or GMAT scores? However, when thinking realistically, don’t be discouraged; every journey has its bumpy roads, the trick is to prove that this is your passion by doing everything you need to do in order to succeed in your application and future career.

Always do your research, a step most will struggle to do effectively. Narrow down your options and make sure you will make the right choice, do your homework and choose realistically and effectively. If the program you want to do is online, speak to other students, register for forums and get involved in online checks to make sure that you’re making the right decision.

Few people understand the meaning of ‘how you like to study’ but it’s very straightforward. If studies are carried out in a way that works the best for you, you are more likely to learn and remember what you’re being taught. Some students prefer to be busy throughout the year, others prefer to take a relaxed approach to learning; but whichever study approach suits you, aim to choose a program that matches it. Do the necessary research, find out how studies and exams are carried out and if it sounds like something you can handle- then you’re on the right track.

By focusing on the little things, you have to know your specific area of true interest. Explore each and every part of the course you want and never refrain from asking questions about aspects you are unsure of. The more you know, the more you will feel comfortable about your program choice and it may even open your eyes to some of the programs which are actually unsuitable for what you are looking for.

Finally, remember that you can always change your mind. More often than not, you can research and check for hours on end and when you think you’ve definitely made the right choice, you may begin your course and find it’s not right for you. Yes, this is an important decision, but often you will know whether it’s right for you within your first week or so. So, if you feel like you’ve made a mistake, it’s not too late and you could still make it onto another program that is better suited to you.

The trick to succeeding in the choosing of an MBA course is simply to be confident, have the confidence to say no to programs that won’t suit you, and have the faith in yourself to go for what interests you as opposed to what you’re good at. You might just surprise yourself when you see how much you can achieve simply by making the best decision for you.

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