"Coming to grips" with chemotherapy-induced premature menopause

Chemotherapy for early stage breast cancer has significantly improved survival outcomes but is associated with ovarian toxicity, resulting in early menopause for many premenopausal women. A qualitative study was conducted that generated a grounded theory explaining how women carried on with life in response to breast cancer and menopause. My purpose in this article is to describe three distinct types of responses from women in that study: making the best of it, struggling and barely noticing. The degree of menopausal symptom distress and perceived level of preparation for the menopause experience had the greatest influence on the type of response.     

A delicate balancing act

This week, Modern Healthcare begins a two-part series examining the growing number of sales of not-for-profit hospitals to for-profit chains and the consequences of those sales for the communities involved. The stories in this installment explore whether a community benefits more from having an investor-owned hospital that pays taxes or a tax-exempt hospital that provides more charity care. They also review how this issue played out in Oklahoma City 10 years after a sale. Next week: a look at whether charitable foundations created with the proceeds of sales of not-for-profits deliver on their promises. Also, an analysis of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.'s strategy of acquiring not-for-profits through partnership arrangements.     

Healthcare systems' newest balancing act: 'Doing more with less.'

Many hospital systems are caught in a bind. They know it's important to spend money to achieve the integration of their organizations, and those bills can be especially high in a system's start-up years. But they're also feeling the heat to reduce expenditures for overhead and system wide staff to help individual hospitals in the current difficult economic environment.     

Getting to grips with growing up

An account of a group for girls coming to terms with issues including bodily changes, relationships with peers and a sense of self worth.     

Cooperation, competition, regulation: health care system's balancing act

Three strategies--cooperation, competition, and regulation--affect health care delivery in the United States. Incentive systems must be developed and implemented if the three strategies are to achieve synergistic balance.