Healthcare Risk Management – June 1, 2016
June 1, 2016
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False Information from Patients With Dementia Threatens Safety
Growing concern about the patient safety risks posed by dementia is prompting some U.S. healthcare systems to address the issue with policies and procedures designed to avoid misinformation and other threats.
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Risk Manager Dismisses Complaint after Patient Secretly Records Surgery
A patient’s secret recording of her surgery revealed what one risk manager calls “inexcusable and reprehensible” behavior, including disparaging remarks about her body, comments that could be considered racially offensive, and suggestions that the woman be touched inappropriately by members of the OR team. The recording also documents what could be malpractice: a surgeon administering penicillin after he verbally acknowledged her allergy.
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Round 2 of Audits for HIPAA Are Focusing on Business Associates
The Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights announced recently that it is launching a second round of audits during 2016 to assess compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and this time, it is including business associates.
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American College of Surgeons Says No to Most Concurrent Surgeries
Responding to concerns about surgeons operating on more than one patient at a time, the American College of Surgeons recently updated its Statements on Principles with a section that makes clear that surgeons should not conduct two procedures simultaneously.
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Hospital to Pay $2.2 Million for Allowing Reality Show to Breach Privacy
In a scathing indictment of hospital collusion with reality television, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has reached a $2.2 million settlement with New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City for what OCR says was the “egregious” disclosure of two patients’ protected health information to film crews and staff during the filming of “NY Med,” an ABC reality show featuring real-life trauma cases at the hospital.
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DOJ Sues Two Hospital Systems For Allocating Marketing Territories
The Department of Justice announced recently that it is suing Charleston (WV) Area Medical Center and St. Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington, WV, for unlawfully agreeing to allocate territories for the marketing of healthcare services, a move that DOJ says deprived consumers of the benefits of access to important information about competing healthcare providers.
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$20 Million Agreement Is Largest CA Settlement
A Southern California hospital has agreed to a record $20 million settlement in a case involving a newborn left brain damaged by an error, which is the largest malpractice settlement ever in California.
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Special report on EMTALA next month
Hospitals have been under scrutiny recently for violations of EMTALA, with one hospital agreeing to pay $100,000 for an improper transfer.
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Treating Physician Did Not Violate Standard of Care for Failure to Treat Brain Swelling, Jury Finds
A 12-year-old girl was taken by ambulance to a hospital. She exhibited symptoms of hyperglycemia, abnormal respiration, and an accelerated heart rate. The physician in the emergency department treated her with insulin. Ten minutes later, the physician noted that the patient had acidemia (significant amounts of acid in the blood).
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No Liability for Spine Stabilization Surgery Without Intraop Neurophysiological Monitoring
In 2012, a 52-year-old woman was in an automobile collision and was taken to a hospital. A CT scan indicated that the patient suffered serious injuries, which included three spinal fractures, three fractured ribs, bruises to her brain, air in her cervical spine, and fluid around her lungs.