Richard Pizzi

The strength of the national healthcare labor market showed improvement across a number of major metropolitan areas in the first quarter of 2011, as measured by the HWS Labor Market Pulse Index, a quarterly barometer of local market healthcare workforce fluctuations.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced two large construction contracts at VA Medical Centers in Colorado and Pennsylvania in the past week.

The results of a recent study indicate that a one-hour reduction in the average emergency department boarding time could result in millions of additional dollars per year in revenue for hospitals.

The VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System has been awarded $50 million to expand solar panels on rooftop buildings and carports in support of energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives.

The number of veterans receiving VA healthcare and benefits now stands at a record 8.4 million and is projected to hit 8.6 million by 2012, according to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.

With the federal government’s Recovery Audit Contractor program in full swing, and the changes wrought by healthcare reform promising more audits on the horizon, hospital executives are all but certain that compliance budgets will need to rise in coming years.

The U.S. healthcare sector was among the leaders in new job creation nationwide in March, with employment increasing by approximately 36,600 positions.

Five healthcare systems in the Central Atlantic region have united to form the Central Atlantic Health Network, a supply purchasing collaborative.

Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital, in Louisville, Ky., has signed a deal to outsource management of its 16-year-old hospitalist program.

Overall U.S. healthcare prices increased minimally from January 2011 to February 2011, rising 0.1 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.