News

11/28/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Staffing

Concentra and Valor partner with the ImpowerQ to Employ More Veterans

Concentra and Valor Healthcare are joining a initiative to address underemployed veterans who leave the service and have experience in healthcare. Nearly 11,000 veterans transition out of the military with healthcare experience each year The U.S. Department of Labor’s program, Heroes to Healthcare, provides training, healthcare credentialing, and professional and personal skill development to veterans. The apprenticeship models focuses developing careers in healthcare administration, as a medical assistant, pharmacy technician, and cybersecurity. ImpowerQ Associates, a healthcare organizational advisory services company, created started Heroes to Healthcare on veterans day last year to take on the challenge of underemployed veterans who have experience… Full Story

11/28/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Awards

Medical City Frisco Named Top Hospital for Nursing Excellence

Medical City Frisco has been named one of the nation’s top community hospitals for nursing excellence. They were one of just six hospitals nationwide that earned the 2018 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators Award for Outstanding Nursing Quality by Press Ganey, a healthcare consulting firm. The award is based on 17 quality measures, and is given to  top-performing organizations in several categories, including academic medical center, teaching hospital, community hospital, pediatric hospital, rehabilitation hospital, psychiatric hospital, and international. Medical City Frisco is a campus of Medical City Plano and has 54 beds for acute care with a range of services, including… Full Story

11/28/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Innovation

A New Formula For Reducing Drug Prices

Much of the increases in healthcare costs can be attributed to the rise in price of pharmaceuticals, and one reason pharmaceutical expenses are so high is because clinical trials are long, costly, and difficult to run. SMU and UTSW researcher Vishal Ahuja and his colleague from the University of Chicago John R. Birge hope to use statistics to change the way trials are performed, saving time, money, and improving outcomes for patients. Pharmaceutical companies have to run clinical trials to test new medicines, but they can take years with hundreds of patients, who are difficult to recruit and retain. According… Full Story

11/27/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Innovation

North Texas Healthcare Innovation: Fighting Fungus, Sharing Data, Virtual Reality, and Radio Therapy

The North Texas healthcare market is constantly changing and innovating, bringing original ideas, techniques, and technology to patients in the region. We decided to check in with a startup, a nonprofit, a provider and an academic institution who are on the leading edge of healthcare innovation, and they told us about the latest procedures, techniques, software, and technology making a difference for patients. Fighting Fungal Infections At Healthcare accelerator Health Wildcatters, startup MycoDART is hoping to save lives with a test that can better diagnose fungal infections. When patients are in the hospitals and their immune system is suppressed, they… Full Story

11/26/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Research

Researchers Identify Enzyme that Helps Lung Cancer Grow

Researchers at UT Southwestern have found an enzyme that removes lactate from lung cancer cells, promoting the cancer’s growth. Led by Dr. Kathryn O’Donnell, the research was published in the journal Cell Reports. The enzyme is called transmembrane serine protease 11B (TMPRSS11B), and scientists were able to suppress the enzyme through gene editing and RNA interference to reduce tumor growth in mice. “In this study, we found that the enzyme strongly promoted the growth of certain types of lung cancer cells. We uncovered a new mechanism that expands our understanding of how cancer cells reprogram their metabolism to provide energy for rapid… Full Story

11/26/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Design

How Design Can Impact Health Outcomes and Serve the Whole Patient

Many have begun asking why we only consider health and wellbeing when someone is sick—rather than preventing symptoms before they turn into chronic problems. Wellness can be approached from a number of angles, from strategic facility planning,  and architectural medical planning to interior design and nursing operations. Further, exploring the joint influence of holistic health design and design centered on our love for nature can help those who design healthcare facilities better serve the whole person. Recognizing and reducing stressors through savvy design In a healthcare setting, a patient is exposed to environmental and social stressors. These stressors can affect… Full Story

11/26/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Hospitals

Cook Children’s Expands Reach West of Fort Worth

Cook Children’s is enlarging its presence in Fort Worth with a new facility location in the quickly-growing area near the intersection of I-20 and I-30 west of Fort Worth. The new location will include urgent care, primary and specialty care and orthopedic services. The first phase of building includes a two-story, 40,000 square foot building housing primary care and urgent care on the first floor and specialty and orthopedic services on the second. The facility has plans to connect patients with their doctors via a private video conferencing system, preserve the surrounding landscape, and build adaptive play areas. It is… Full Story

11/21/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Innovation

Mavs and Lympo Partner with Blockchain Fitness App Where You Earn While You Burn

A new partnership between the Dallas Mavericks and Lympo hopes to change the fitness app world the way frequent flyer miles changed the way people travel. Mavs owner Mark Cuban and Atunas Guoga, Lympo’s co-founder and head of Lympo’s Blockchain for Sports Foundation announced the partnership last week. Lympo app rewards users for staying healthy with a cryptocurrency called LYM tokens which can be spent on sports and fitness merchandise in the Lympo shop, like a frequent flyer earning miles toward free flights by flying. At the press conference Friday, Cuban says he hopes that Mavs gear and even tickets… Full Story

11/21/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Research

A New Vaccine Could Bring Us One Step Closer to Treating Alzheimers

Scientists at UT Southwestern have created a vaccine that reduces the number of toxic proteins that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The treatment avoids side effects caused by similar treatments, and the research may lead to a clinical trial. Nearly 6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, with that number expected to double by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no effective treatment for the disease, though treatments such as this are moving research closer. The new technique employs a DNA vaccine, where DNA is genetically engineered to produce a response to disease, which is applied… Full Story

11/21/2018 Bookmark and Share Share Post
Staffing

Promotions at USPI Lead to New COO and CDO

United Surgical Partners International, a division of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, are promoting Mark Garvin to Chief Operating Officer and Andy Johnston to Chief Development Officer. The announcement follows the promotion of Brett Brodnax, who had been the President and Chief Development Officer of USPI, and is now its Chief Executive Officer. Garvin, who used to be the Chief Operating Officer of the West Division, will lead the company’s surgical operations portfolio in all markets. He joined the USPI in 2001, and has been a senior vice president of operations in the past. He founded the management team at OrthoLink Physicians… Full Story