There are many people out there who are losing time at work because they are ill. Paula Graling, chairwoman of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses' smoke task force, on the effects of smoke in the operating room and the corresponding need for regulations. Cutting costs must be a team effort. Steve Schmidt, director of material management at Liberty Regional Medical Center, Hinesville, GA, on why material managers should get to know how products are used in a comprehensive way. There's one irreducible medium in this debate.
Consumers hate health plans, they hate drug companies and they hate the government.
Jonah Shacknai, CEO of Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., on Americans' popular view that pharmaceutical prices are too high. Therefore, expense reduction is more important than revenue enhancement. Afshin Fatholahi, President of the Health Resource Management Society. Many material managers I work with say they don't receive respect from senior administrators, who often view them as tacticians and not strategists. Supply strategists in other industries focus on the big picture, developing ways to streamline processes.