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Patient safety professionals are moving toward more prominence and stature in the health care community with the recent launch of the first professional organization devoted to their work.
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More employers are restricting the use of social media and disciplining workers for violations, according to the results of a recent survey.
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The fatal overdose of an infant last year at Seattle Children's hospital has resulted in another death: The nurse at fault committed suicide.
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A woman gave birth to a baby at 24 weeks gestation. Physicians at the hospital ordered that the baby receive parenteral nutrition (PN). The amount to be administered to the child was documented in the child's birth as being calculated according to "standard protocol." For 11 days, the hospital administered the PN solution intravenously without incident.
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The much anticipated proposed rule on accountable care organizations (ACOs) has healthcare providers studying their markets and trying to determine whether this brave new world of managed care will benefit them or just pose more risks than they are willing to take. For risk managers in particular, there are serious concerns about how ACO participation might set up the provider for charges of fraud and abuse.
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Balancing your case-mix to avoid hospice cap deficits doesn't mean discharging patients or admitting patients who don't meet hospice criteria, warns Kyle Terry, MBA, consultant and principal at Hospice CAP Consultants in Owasso, OK. "Although a balance of short- and long-term patients is the best strategy to minimize your risk of receiving a repayment demand letter from CMS based upon the hospice cap, it is important to follow admission criteria guidelines issued by CMS," he says.
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Dogs are a natural addition to a kid's camp, especially a grief camp offered by a hospice.
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Hospital ethics committees sometimes find they are drawn into local cases that reflect national debates over health care costs and policies. These debates might surface when there are conflicts between family and hospital providers over continuing life-sustaining treatment, including nutritional support and ventilator care. But adding health care costs to the mix can make the situation more complicated.
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Some of the core principles of medical ethics are patient determination, doing good for patients, and doing justice. These also are some of the chief attributes of palliative care, experts say.
