Hospital Peer Review – December 1, 2008
December 1, 2008
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On the march toward value-based purchasing: How far does OPPS go?
On Oct. 30, 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final 2009 rule for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS). -
What to expect from a DNV Healthcare survey
In preparation for its unannounced survey with DNV Healthcare, Citizens Medical Center personnel readied their survey preparation box. Last minute documents were pulled when surveyors arrived for the unannounced survey a patient census, the surgery schedule, a list of patients in restraints. -
What P4P could mean for safety net hospitals
For the sake of her study, Rachel Werner, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania school of medicine and researcher with the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, defined safety-net hospitals predominately by the rate of Medicaid patients seen by the facility. But she acknowledges that the term encompasses much more in general, those hospitals that treat primarily uninsured, vulnerable patient populations. -
Interim guidance leads to first list of approved PSOs
As final guidance is hammered out on the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, interim guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the criteria for becoming a patient safety organization (PSO) has allowed the The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to officially designate PSOs. -
Patient Satisfaction Planner: Public reporting boosts patient satisfaction
Press Ganey Associates Inc., the South Bend, IN-based patient satisfaction and quality firm, reports that "patient satisfaction leaped" after the launch of public reporting. -
Patient Satisfaction Planner: Study: Patient satisfaction not what it could be
There's good news and bad news in a new study just released by the Health Research & Educational Trust, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association, and the Boston University Health Policy Institute: Of 470 hospital chief quality officers surveyed, 97% reported that QI activities had a positive effect on patient care outcomes. -
Patient Satisfaction Planner: 'Most wired' hospitals have higher patient satisfaction
Patient satisfaction is higher at hospitals that embrace technology, according to the 10th Annual Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, which is published by the American Hospital Association. -
IHI shares results of 5 Million Lives Campaign
If you're getting tired of bad news these days, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement has some positive news. As it nears the end of its 5 Million Lives Campaign this month, it celebrates this year's successes, and according to IHI Vice President Joe McCannon, those have been plentiful. -
New IP guidelines on track to become standards
The Joint Commission has strongly endorsed recently issued compendium infection prevention guidelines, announcing that the condensed, actionable recommendations may become required as accreditation standards by 2010. -
CMS shifts claim reviews from QIOs to FIs, MACs
Citing improved efficiency and consistency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun transitioning the handling of hospital claim reviews from quality improvement organizations (QIOs) to fiscal intermediaries (FIs) and Medicare administrative contractors (MACs).