2010 was a good year to be a member of the Cleveland Clinic Millionaires’ Club – although what year isn’t?The 13 Clinic employees who received more than $1 million in compensation the prior year did it again in 2010. But the club added two new members: John Petre, the Clinic’s director of clinical space and [...]

Comparative effectiveness research, one of the key tenets of federal health reform, “seems good on first blush” but will have a chilling effect on medical innovation, Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove said.Comparative effectivess research (CER) refers to studying which types of treatment alternatives work best for a certain medical condition. Under health reform, Medicare [...]

Dr. Delos “Toby” CosgroveCleveland Clinic‘s chief executive blasted proposed federal rules for accountable care organizations, saying they create “significant barriers” that would discourage hospitals from adopting the new model of care.Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove made the comments in an eight-page letter addressed to Donald Berwick, top administrator for the the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid [...]

It’s no wonder that Cleveland Clinic has placed an increased emphasis on commercializing medical innovations by its doctors.Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove revealed in a recent interview that the $78 million sale of Clinic neurotechnology spinoff Intelect Medical to Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) in January returned an impressive $28 million to the health system.“We’ve spun [...]

In his annual “State of the Clinic” address, Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Delos “Toby” Cosgrove said the federal health reform law would cost the hospital $174 million in revenue in 2015. Reform advocates would likely say that’s exactly what health reform was designed to do — cut health spending and keep more money in the pockets of the American people.

Thirteen Cleveland Clinic employees were paid more than $1 million in 2009. CEO Dr. Delos “Toby” Cosgrove’s compensation far outpaced that of any other Clinic employee. Cosgrove was paid a little more than $2.1 million by the Clinic in 2009, about $500,000 more than any other Clinic employee listed in the document.

As Cleveland’s $465 million medical mart project inches closer to a groundbreaking, critics still question whether the pricey investment is worth the risk. “It’s a shot in the dark in some ways, in their ability to create a new economic diversity for their economy,” said former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, now a senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute.

It’s too early to tell whether the controversial federal health overhaul package will help or hurt the Cleveland Clinic, but CEO Toby Cosgrove says the new law will increase health costs throughout the United States.

Toby Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, worries that comparative effectiveness research will stifle medical innovation. I don’t think that’s likely.

Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:45 percent of hospital employees “discontent” with work: In a survey of 235,000 hospital employees, 45 percent described themselves as “distanced from or discontent with their current work.” The numbers come from consultants Press Gainey Associates. So what’s with all that discontent? It’s those [...]