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This column addresses specific questions related to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) implementation.
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Routine compliance activities in home health agencies now include verification of data, pre-billing reviews, reviews to identify inconsistencies, etc. Providers must recognize that there are limits on appropriate activities in this regard. It may be fair to say that there is sometimes a very fine line between a legitimate compliance activity and what constitutes gaming the system which is clearly unacceptable.
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Work stress and dissatisfaction with the work environment may hasten the retirement of aging nurses, according to a study by the Center for American Nurses, an Austin, TX-based affiliate of the American Nurses Association.
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Patient safety is on everyones minds these days, but how do you know how well your organization already is doing on this topic?
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Public reporting of quality measures is likely to increase in the near future, and hospitals should get ready, asserts the director of collaborative services and CEO work groups for clinical excellence with VHA Inc., an Irving, TX-based health care cooperative.
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At the very least, pharmaceutical companies and other sponsors who rely on the clinical trial industry need to evaluate how they conduct post-marketing studies and make improvements that will increase public safety, a health law expert says.
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Research institution administrators could more easily protect their clinical trials against legal risks and other problems if they began the risk management process at the bargaining table when the research organization staff and for-profit pharmaceutical company staff hammer out the clinical trial agreement.
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Standard pharmaceutical company contracts for clinical trials typically include some less than desirable details, which research and institutional administrators may overlook if they are unfamiliar with contract language, a national clinical trial contract expert says.
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The clinical trial industry watched with concern late last year as the national media drew attention to the problems with some painkillers COX-2 inhibitors, including rofecoxib (Vioxx) and celecoxib (Celebrex) which were linked to increased risk for heart disease. Two days before Christmas, the FDA issued a public health advisory recommending limited use of COX-2 inhibitors.
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Clinical research experts say the industry is beginning to recognize the need to hold clinical investigators to similar standards for practice and accreditation as physician specialists by requiring them to become certified in the practice of clinical research.
