Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – January 1, 2009
January 1, 2009
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Experts say PSOs will improve patient safety in U.S. hospitals
Experts in quality improvement say that the recent listing of the first 15 patient safety organizations (PSOs) under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 will help hospitals across the United States improve patient safety by enabling the establishment of a huge database on errors and what causes them. -
Hospital cuts 30 minutes off ambulatory surgery LOS
The ambulatory surgery department in Glen Cove Hospital, part of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, has achieved its goal of reducing recovery length of stay from 190 minutes to 160 minutes with the implementation of a Six Sigma initiative and its attendant recommendations. -
Study: C. Difficile is very common in U.S. hospitals
A study initiated by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), has shown that 13 of every 1,000 inpatients surveyed were either infected or colonized with Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), an infection associated with severe diarrhea, colitis, toxic megacolon, sepsis, and death. -
Endoscopy center improves reporting of test results
The Endoscopy Center of Colorado Springs (CO) has won a national award for its improved system of reporting and explaining pathology results to patients. -
Constant analysis helps improvement team succeed
At DCH Health System, the clinical documentation improvement team takes a proactive approach to changes in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) documentation requirements. -
Home visits work for behavioral health patients
When behavioral health patients who have been hospitalized receive interventions in their home, their compliance with treatment recommendations increases and hospital readmission drops, a study by PsycHealth Ltd.'s Home Intervention Program has found. -
Pre-admission prediction tool improves process
Sometimes the best response to regulatory and payer changes in health care is to improve the discharge planning process. -
New discharge form keeps satisfaction high
For the past two years, the ED at Avera Weskota Medical Center, a small, rural critical-access hospital in Wessington Springs, SD, has been using a new "Emergency Services Aftercare" instruction form to help patients remember vital information about the care they received and instructions to follow once they get home. -
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). -
Cleveland Clinic docs name innovation Top Ten'
Medical researchers are coming up with new discoveries at such a rapid pace it's difficult to keep up with them all, but physicians and consultants at The Cleveland Clinic try to sharpen our focus by shining a light on those that hold the most promise.