ED Management – June 1, 2013
June 1, 2013
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Physician-initiated follow-up contact improves patient satisfaction, provides opportunities to improve care
It is entirely understandable for emergency providers to question any new task or responsibility handed down by regulators or administrators. Busy providers are already stressed with burgeoning patient volumes and all the pressures associated with handling acute care crises. -
Clinical team leaders provide added heft in driving improvements, moving the ED culture toward a patient-centered approach
As the country moves toward full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, one issue that many safety-net hospitals are grappling with for the first time is market competition. While it is still not clear how many states are going to go along with the reform laws expansion of Medicaid, the thinking is that in areas where newly insured patients have options for where to receive care, safety-net facilities are going to have to compete with other facilities to be the hospitals of choice. -
Text-message-driven intervention, real-time feedback slashes time-to-treatment for stroke patients
Sometimes just making people aware of their performance is all that is necessary to significantly improve care. Investigators at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) found this to be precisely the case when they attempted to use this approach to improve door-to-needle times for stroke patients who presented to the ED for care at UCSF Medical Center. -
ED Coding Update - Payer audits: Time for a system overhaul, but stay vigilant and be prepared to mount a robust defense
The face of health care compliance is rapidly changing. Having spent the past week attending the largest health care compliance gathering in the country, I am convinced that no one is immune to payer audits. -
ED Accreditation Update: Citing reports of alarm-related deaths, The Joint Commission issues a sentinel event alert for hospitals to improve medical device alar
With the proliferation of medical devices in recent years, hospital providers are now bombarded with a cacophony of sounds, signals, and other information emanating from these ubiquitous machines.