All Features
(NCQA: Washington, D.C.) -- The Quality Crossroads Group, a group of stakeholders drawn together to identify strategies to address the complex challenges confronting the United States health care system, recently proposed a five-point agenda that examines quality in patient safety, the…
Medtral
(Medtral: Auckland, New Zealand) -- With a growing number of international medical travelers concerned about hospital accreditation, Medtral New Zealand, a health care organization based in New Zealand that coordinates medical travel packages from North America, addresses some of the pressing…
Americaaposs Health Insurance Plans
(AHIP: Washington, D.C.)-- The U.S. could reduce total health care spending and improve the quality of patient care if the plan recently proposed by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is implemented. PricewaterhouseCoopers reviewed AHIP’s proposals and estimates, and concluded that if…
Abe Eshkenazi
With increasing productivity and focus on efficiency, good manufacturing jobs can still be found in the United States, but they are becoming more complex, and the people who succeed in the field need advanced training, education, and support.According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative…
A thorny question lies at the heart of meaningful health care reform. How much is human life worth? New research from Wharton and Stanford based on Medicare kidney-dialysis data shows that the average figure—$129,090 per additional year of quality life—is higher than prior studies have shown.…
National Quality Forum
(NQF: Washington, D.C.) -- Recognizing that patient safety remains a major hurdle in the United States, the National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsed 48 voluntary consensus standards focused on measuring the performance of acute-care hospitals, including measures addressing pediatric safety, hospital…
Over the years, scorecards have progressed through many changes, good and bad. Although scorecards often evolve into a meet-the-numbers game, regardless of the consequences to an enterprise as a whole, restructuring can produce dramatic improvements for any organization. This results in counter-…
Jacqueline M. Hames
Lt. Gen David Melcher, military deputy for budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller). Photo by Jacqueline M. Hames (Army News Service: Washington D.C.) -- The Army’s top uniformed budget officer…
Ball State University
(Ball State University: Muncie, Indiana) -- Ball State University is incorporating a nationally recognized business management strategy and an immersive learning experience into the core of a new minor as a result of a gift-in-kind valued at $1.4 million from a prominent alumnus.Mikel Harry,…
(ASQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- A rigorous finalist competition for the 23rd International Team Excellence Award Process at the ASQ World Conference recently in Houston, Texas, included 26 teams from around the world. The Boeing Co. won the Gold Award.“Boeing is elated to be awarded this top honor…
(ANSI: New York) -- The Healthcare Information Standards Technology Panel (HITSP) announced today the launch of a new education and outreach campaign that will build awareness of the importance of health care information sharing, the role of the HITSP in enabling health care information technology…
the International Organization for Quality
(ISO: Geneva) -- ISO recently published on its web site a new electronic edition of its advice for managers, “Selection and use of the ISO 9000 family of standards.”The ISO 9000 family consists of 17 international quality management standards and guidelines (plus a corrigendum), and has earned a…
Bill Kalmar
I think most of us would agree that there are a handful of attributes that separate average companies from those that should be held up as role models. Some of those traits would be: a strong and achievable strategic plan, management interaction with staff and customers, well-trained employees, a…
David Ade
For companies doing business in regulated environments, the benefits of implementing software systems are abundant. Improved product safety, higher quality, enhanced efficiency, and increased probability of maintaining regulatory compliance are just a sample of the numerous benefits…
NSF International
(NSF International: Ann Arbor, Michigan) – The 2008 version of NSF’s American National Standard for Dietary Supplements now includes new good manufacturing practices (GMP) requirements to ensure consistency with the U. S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulations. The new version of NSF/ANSI…
Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS: Washington, D.C.) -- The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services stated that efforts are underway between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to improve patient safety and the quality of medical care.“This initiative will…
Mike Micklewright
Question: When the first-grade boy asked to use the washroom, the teacher said that he must first say his ABCs aloud. The little boy obediently did so, but he skipped the “P” and the “Y.” The teacher asked, “Why did you skip the ‘P’ and the ‘Y’?”
Answer: “My Daddy told me to never say ‘Y’ again…
(FDA: Rockville, Maryland) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is seeking a $2.2 million penalty against a California hearing device manufacturer, Advanced Bionics LLC and its president and co-CEO, Jeffrey H. Greiner, for violations of federal law, including manufacturing standards…
Center for Business Intelligence
(CBI: Woburn, Massachusetts) -- As the Food and Drug Administration continues to increase their monitoring of adverse events and product complaints, it’s even more critical for quality assurance departments to stay current on best practices and benchmark with peers. CBI’s sixth annual Product…
Time is running out to submit an entry on behalf of your company, individual, or project for WCBF’s 2008 Global Six Sigma and Business Improvement Awards. The awards will be presented at WCBF’s Global Lean, Six Sigma, and Business Improvement Summit in Orlando, Florida, October 14–17. Awards to…
Michael Casey
Allegra Print and Imaging of Portage, Michigan, was founded in 1988 and has been growing by at least 6 percent annually over the past five years, despite a weak local economy. Allegra Portage is a member of the Allegra Network, a large graphic communications franchise, with more than 600…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- Electronics engineer Dennis Camell (foreground) aligns antennas in an old California silica mine for a NIST study identifying optimal frequencies for radio signal transmissions in tunnels. Credit: G. Koepke/NIST As part of a project to improve wireless…
(ASQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- The American Society for Quality and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have joined forces to promote business excellence and quality to Indian CEOs and other senior-level executives at a conference in New Delhi on November 21.ASQ…
Mike Micklewright
Question: When the first-grade boy asked to use the washroom, the teacher said that he must first say his ABCs aloud. The little boy obediently did so, but he skipped the “P” and the “Y.” The teacher asked, “Why did you skip the ‘P’ and the ‘Y’?”
Answer:“My Daddy told me to never say ‘Y’ again and…
CMSC
(Metrologic Group: Grenoble, France) -- Metrologic Group has acquired a majority stake in ATT Metrology Services Inc., a large-scale 3-D metrology inspection company. The acquisition is part of Metrologic Group’s growth strategy aimed at adding 3-D industrial inspection services to its…
