-
In a move that has generated great concern in the ED community, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to more than double the list of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) for which it will no longer pay hospitals at a higher rate for the resulting increased costs of care.
-
A leading official from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in Boston says that the impetus behind its list of hospital-acquired conditions for which it will no longer pay the "bump-up" in the complexity rate is a desire to improve quality of care. Some of the fears expressed by ED experts may be unfounded, he says.
-
In the wake of a series of media warnings about the deadly health care-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) comes a new study in Annals of Emergency Medicine that outlines the emergence of its "cousin," community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA).
-
Although EDstat, a new eight-bed area that was added to the ED at Reston (VA) Hospital Center about a year ago, is only open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., it has helped to improve the performance of the entire ED.
-
A New York City jury has decided that a hospital did nothing wrong when it tried to examine the rectum of a construction worker who had been hit on the head by a falling wooden beam.
-
ED managers are well aware of the need for triage protocols during a disaster and have incorporated them into their disaster response plans. However, plans vary among facilities and within regions.
-
The "child-friendly" environment of the pediatric ED at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Children's Hospital in Charleston is a dead giveaway as to the kind of patients the department sees.
-
On April 10, 2008, 360 nurses in EDs nationwide began using the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) program, an alcohol screening and intervention tool kit provided free by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA).
-
Understanding the anatomic and physiologic changes that occur with pregnancy enhance the management of the pregnant trauma patient, potentially improving outcomes for both the mother and fetus. The best approach to fetal preservation is careful attention to resuscitation of the mother.
-
Emergency physicians are very comfortable and well trained to evaluate patients of all ages with fever or other signs of infection. However, this familiar comfort quickly evaporates when evaluating the same symptoms in a patient with history of international travel.
