Hospital Peer Review 2003-01-01

ORYX data to play key role in new JCAHO survey process

With the advent of Shared Visions New Pathways, a great many things about the Joint Commissions survey process will change in 2004, but the collection of ORYX data isnt necessarily one of them, says Jarod M. Loeb, PhD, vice president of research and performance measurement with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

No more surveyors as consultants after 2003

Surveyors from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations no longer will be allowed to work as survey readiness consultants on the side after Jan. 1, 2004, according to a new rule.

Groups join to offer lab accreditation services

Clinical laboratories will have a new method for measuring proficiency and demonstrating that they have met quality standards, under a new accreditation plan announced recently by the American Proficiency Institute (API) in Traverse City, MI; the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) in Chicago; and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL.

Tabletop drills not enough for testing disaster plan

Question: Our facility is not an acute-care hospital and does not provide emergency services, so we dont expect to provide care in any community disaster.

VA’s surgical QI program could be available to all

The innovative quality improvement program that greatly improved patient care in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system could be available to all hospitals within a year, according to program leaders who say the system could revolutionize health care quality.

The Quality-Cost Connection: Improve performance by taking outsiders’ view

What is the purpose of your health care organization? To survive and prosper, of course. But the question is, by what method? What you need is everybody working to improve performance, and to do that, you need the means to determine how well processes are working for patients.

HHS launches national nursing home QI

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has launched the national Nursing Home Quality Initiative in an effort to improve the quality of care given to the millions of long-term care residents.

JCAHO accreditation open to critical access hospitals

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced recently the granting of deeming authority for critical access hospitals to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, meaning these hospitals will be considered to have met Medicare certification requirements once the Joint Commission accredits them.

Guidelines can reduce in-hospital deaths

Results from an ongoing national quality improvement initiative examining adherence to American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) treatment guidelines for chest pain disorders, suggest that using a class of drugs known as glycoprotein (GP) IIb-IIIa inhibitors reduced in-hospital deaths by 46%.

Discharge Planning Advisor: ‘Everybody wins’ as CM, home health join forces

A couple of years ago, Lisa Zerull, RN, MS, the force behind the dramatically successful community nurse case management (CNCM) program at Valley Health System in Winchester, VA, faced a new challenge: She was informed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) that it would begin surveying the program based on the agencys home care standards, in conjunction with the health systems home health program.

Discharge Planning Advisor: Solutions needed for prescription drug problem

Making sure patients without an insurance plan for prescription drugs get the medications they need is an increasing challenge, case managers and discharge planners tell Discharge Planning Advisor.

Discharge Planning Advisor: Final outpatient PPS rule increases spending

The 1,000-page final outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) rule, which takes effect this month, provides the congressionally mandated inflationary update and increases overall spending, but still pays hospitals only 83 cents for every dollar spent on outpatient care, the Chicago-based American Hospital Association (AHA) points out.

Discharge Planning Advisor: Patient records linked as part of warning system

Twenty million ambulatory care patient records will be connected as part of an early warning system for terrorism-related illness outbreaks.

Patient Safety Alert Supplement

Hospital Peer Review – January 1, 2003

January 1, 2003