Each year, nonprofits must review their rate strategies in the context of maintaining financial viability. To achieve sustainability goals, some must raise rates to cover costs of patient care, for example.

While legislators and healthcare stakeholders across the country wrangle over the problem of the nation's 46.5 million uninsured, a grassroots movement called Project Access is having an impact on the health of thousands of uninsured Americans.

The intensive care unit (ICU) is, in many ways, the most significant section of a hospital, because it is where life-threatening issues occur almost daily. The ICU is the one area where most hospitals don't employ specialists—board-certified intensivists with expertise and training in critical care medicine.

A few hospital systems already are improving work process by implementing Lean and Six-Sigma management principles. Implementing Lean Sigma (a complementary combination of Lean and Six-Sigma) in a hospital setting is not about fixing problem employees who fail to improve their work. It's about fixing the broken systems and processes that hinder medical professionals from doing what they do best.

Technology has been a part of the hospital landscape for decades, and hospitals have now begun to implement digital technology to improve communications between physician and nurses, lessen the likelihood of medication errors, and improve the quality of care, leading to better patient outcomes. Some are investing as much as 25% of their budgets to become digital.

More than 650 hospitals have pledged to adopt the Leapfrog Group's policy on "never events"—rare medical errors that should never happen to a patient.

Technologies and wireless systems has vastly improved hospital communication, putting critical information in the hands of those caring for patients immediately.

Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASC) represent an unparalleled snapshot of the evolution of healthcare delivery, experts say. The surge in growth of ASCs nationwide affords patients the opportunity for non-emergent surgical and procedural services outside the hospital structure while also yielding cost-effective benefits for managed care organizations.

As patients take more ownership of their disease management regimens, hospitals are beginning to re-evaluate their processes—clinically, administratively and culturally.