Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – December 1, 2011
December 1, 2011
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Final ACO rule includes several changes favorable to hospitals
More often than not, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issues a proposed new rule, the comment period is opened and several months later a final rule emerges that bears fairly close resemblance to the original. -
Program improves hand hygiene compliance
An infection prevention program in a large pediatric intensive care unit successfully reduced hospital-acquired infections and improved mortality rates among children admitted to the unit in 200709, according to a recent paper in Health Affairs. -
Program aims to improve communications
With The Joint Commission and other organizations noting that poor communications are often at the heart of bad outcomes and that care must become more patient-centered, it's not surprising that facilities are seeking to improve the ways that providers deliver information to and share care plans with their patients. -
Intervention lowers hospital readmissions
Medicare spends about $17 billion a year on hospital readmissions that could have been prevented, experts say. -
QI process pin-points delays at point of entry
Faster throughput can clear waiting rooms and boost patient satisfaction, but there are also instances where time-to-treatment can make a critical difference in outcomes. -
'Huddles,' timeouts improve ED safety
Communication among caregivers is always important, but never more so than in the emergency department. A collaboration among hospitals across the country and a leading malpractice insurer has produced several simple but effective ways to improve communication. -
Palm scan technology improves patient safety
A New York City hospital is taking patient identification into the 21st century by using palm scans to avoid identity confusion and improve patient safety.