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be diagnosed and treated ,” said Amir Sharafkhaneh , M . D ., Ph . D ., medical director of the MEDVAMC Sleep Disorder Center .

“ Telesleep allows the Veterans the ability to be evaluated in the comfort of their own home in a more timely and efficient manner . Being able to provide this service in the community clinics is just another example of taking the care to where the Veteran lives ,” said Sharafkhaneh .”

Huntsville Memorial Hospital adopts new strategy for Revenue cycle management

In an effort to meet the financial demands of an ever-changing healthcare environment , Huntsville Memorial Hospital has announced that they have entered into a five year agreement with Parallon Business Solutions ; a leading provider of healthcare business and operational services . Through the agreement , Parallon is providing Huntsville Memorial Hospital with patient access oversight and complete back-office functions , including : billing , collections and cash posting , support services and payment compliance and denials management . Parallon operates the largest and most advanced revenue cycle shared services model in the industry , offering full-service

solutions from patient registration through account resolution for facilities in 24 states . “ One of the key drivers in working with Parallon is its expertise in creating a sustainable operational model that will help us advance our mission to care for our community ,” said Shannon Brown , chief executive officer at Huntsville Memorial Hospital . “ We are confident that Parallon ’ s scale , full suite of services and proven best practices will help us identify significant improvement opportunities to net revenue and reductions in cost to collect .”

One key component of a hospital ’ s robust finance team is the Director of Patient Financial Services . This position is crucial to providing one-on-one consultations with any patient regarding questions or concerns with billing . Today , Brown announced that they are “ promoting from within to fill this position ” and proudly stated that Chyrel Evans , the current hospital registration manager is “ HMH ’ s top candidate and the person for the job ”.

St . Luke ’ s Sugar Land Hospital Goes “ 3-D ” In Fight Against Breast Cancer

St . Luke ’ s Sugar Land Hospital ( SLSL ) recently announced that its advancing early diagnosis and detection of breast cancer with a new 3-D digital mammography unit , which provides an extremely precise , clear picture of small , often undetected tumors . “ By offering the latest technology in mammography , St . Luke ’ s Sugar Land is

committed to increasing the number of women in our area who will receive routine breast cancer screenings ,” said Rob Heifner , Chief Executive Officer , SLSL . “ With statistics showing that one in eight women will develop breast cancer sometime in her lifetime , early detection plays a crucial role in improving a woman ’ s chance of survival .”

This particular 3-D digital mammography system is available in only 100 sites in the United States , including two St . Luke ’ s hospitals in Sugar Land and The Woodlands . It applies breast tomosynthesis , an advanced technology for radiologists to identify and characterize individual breast structures . During a tomosynthesis exam , multiple images of the breast are acquired at different angles . These images are then used to produce a series of one-millimeter thick slices that can be viewed as a 3-D reconstruction of the breast .

Texas physician breaks ground in robotic cervical surgery

Performing surgery on a pregnant patient is a delicate matter . Risks to both mother and baby must be carefully weighed in every decision a surgeon makes . Recently , at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston , a surgeon performed a groundbreaking robotic laparoscopic procedure on a 35-year-old pregnant patient whose cervix was too short to sustain a pregnancy .

Dr . Sami Kilic , chief of minimally invasive

gynecology and research at UTMB , is the first surgeon in the world reported to have used robotically assisted , ultrasound-guided laparoscopic surgery to successfully tighten a pregnant patient ’ s incompetent cervix . The procedure is explained in a new paper now online in the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology . When performed traditionally , abdominal cerclage surgery requires a large incision and a long period of recovery . Kilic ’ s new procedure left the patient with only three tiny abdominal scars .

Stitches to the cervix during surgery must be precise ; a suture placed a hair ’ s breadth the wrong way can puncture either the amniotic sac or a major blood vessel in the mother . With the dual visualization screen of the da Vinci Si robotic surgical system , Kilic was able to view a real-time ultrasound image on one screen and the operative field via scope camera on another screen , side by side ; at the same time he performed the surgery . This two-screen system offers unsurpassed visualization in a laparoscopic surgical situation .

The surgery lasted two hours , and the patient was discharged after a one-night stay in the hospital . An ultrasound performed two weeks later confirmed the cerclage had been placed properly . The patient proceeded to have an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy , going into labor at 36 weeks . Other authors of the paper include UTMB Drs . Teresa M . Walsh , Mostafa A . Borahay and Karin A . Fox . t