-
Health care organizations used to mention "re-engineering" expertise as they sought individuals to fill upper-level management positions, but now the operative word is "innovation," says Dee Hartung, vice president in the executive search division of St. Louis-based Cejka Search.
-
The sixth in a planned series of seven HIPAA security rule educational papers deals with risk analysis and risk management. The rule's security management process standard has four required implementation specifications, including risk analysis and risk management.
-
A Computerworld survey of information technology managers and analysts found that five months after HIPAA's data security rules took effect, many health care companies still are not fully compliant with them. Those interviewed said technology, process, and budgetary issues delayed compliance efforts, along with what was seen as a weak enforcement component that has led many health care organizations to believe they could take a wait-and-see attitude toward the rules.
-
A computerized "patient tracker" developed in-house at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock is being put to particularly effective use at the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy (MIRT), where patients move back and forth among different treatment areas during extended stays.
-
A step-by-step guide for small, rural, and suburban communities to prepare for and successfully respond to major local and regional emergencies has been issued by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
-
Experience gained when hurricanes hit the coast of Florida in August and September 2004 served the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) well when it came time to respond to the threat of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts in September 2005.
-
A web-based system for monitoring bed availability and transferring patients to other facilities helped mitigate the effects of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, says Jim Craig, director of health protection for the Mississippi Department of Health.
-
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the federal Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights issued a special bulletin regarding "HIPAA Privacy and Disclosures in Emergency Situations."
-
Many of the normal operating procedures for Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) were relaxed to accommodate the emergency health care needs of beneficiaries and medical providers in states devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
-
An access initiative at Sutter Health in Sacramento, CA, is helping streamline throughput while placing "the right patient in the right hospital at the right level of care," says Barbara Leach, RN, director of case management for Sacramento Yolo Sutter Health.
