Healthcare Risk Management – December 1, 2014
December 1, 2014
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Ebola prompts changes, creates new risk management challenges
The recent cases of Ebola in the United States have revealed significant risk management concerns for the treatment of this disease or any other infectious disease. Because the potential liability is so high, risk managers should consider their hospitals readiness for such an emergency. -
Delayed diagnosis, then workplace infections
This summary of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas experience with the first Ebola patient in the United States is compiled from statements and data provided by the hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): -
Workers’ comp, quarantines will be difficult
Relying on the authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for infection control procedures should be safe, even if the CDC later proves to be wrong, suggests Jane J. McCaffrey, MHSA, CIC, DASHRM, a risk management consultant in Easley, SC, and a past president of American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. However, that statement does not diminish the hospitals obligation to properly train staff on protocols and provide the necessary equipment, she says. -
EMTALA more difficult with suspected Ebola
If a patient shows up at your emergency department (ED) with risk factors for Ebola, are you ready to fulfill your obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)? Complying might not be a simple task. -
Employment law will protect exposed staff
Clinicians deal with plenty of dangerous substances and infectious diseases, but the idea of caring for an Ebola patient can make even the most dedicated nurse waver. When employees are reluctant to take on that task, risk managers must ensure that the hospital is not violating employment laws that might apply. -
MERS at hospital revealed Ebola lessons
One hospitals experience with another deadly infectious disease revealed lessons for how hospitals can respond to Ebola, say two healthcare attorneys who helped that facility through the incident. The key is preparation. -
Insurers respond: New Ebola coverage, exclusions
Insurers are quick to see the needs and the danger in a problem such as Ebola care, and some already are responding with coverage options for potential losses. Some also are looking for ways to avoid paying for those losses. -
EHR failures can be dangerous without having a contingency plan
Electronic health records (EHRs) can be a boon to clinical care, until the system goes down or the power goes off. Then the clinicians might be flummoxed by how to do things the old-fashioned way with paper and pen, or they might not have the resources necessary. -
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services releasing hospital mistake data, after all
Your hospitals mistakes will be public again, as federal regulators reverse course to resume publicly releasing data on errors. -
Study assesses cost of the overuse of medical tests and procedures
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a proposed rule that would amend the safe harbors to the anti-kickback statute and the civil monetary penalty (CMP) rules to protect certain payment practices and business arrangements from criminal prosecution or civil sanction. -
Revisions to safe harbors proposed by the HHS Office of Inspector General
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a proposed rule that would amend the safe harbors to the anti-kickback statute and the civil monetary penalty (CMP) rules to protect certain payment practices and business arrangements from criminal prosecution or civil sanction -
Appellate court affirms verdict of $20.6 million in birth injury case
The patient, an adult woman, was admitted to a hospital in early September 2002, approximately two months before her due date. She was diagnosed with preeclampsia by an obstetrician, and the obstetrician decided to induce labor rather than perform a caesarean section. -
Botched cataract surgery yields $1.5M verdict
The patient, an adult man, was scheduled for a standard cataract surgery in 2008 on his left eye. During the procedure, the ophthalmologist ordered a dye named VisionBlue that is used to stain the cataract in the eye so that it can be more easily visualized and removed during the surgery. However, although the ophthalmologist ordered the correct dye, the nurse who fulfilled the request instead brought methylene blue rather than the correct VisionBlue.