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As Healthcare Risk Management enters 2009, we celebrate 30 years of serving health care risk managers across the country. It has been an eventful three decades, with many changes in technology, philosophy, and strategies.
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The health care industry is awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Wyeth v. Levine, a case that could determine the future of drug labeling and potential liability for providers who don't follow those instructions to the letter.
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A ruling in favor of the plaintiff could threaten the authority of the FDA by giving more power to state courts, says Maureen Martin, JD, senior fellow for legal affairs with The Heartland Institute in Chicago. She says the case could lead to a wholesale expansion of state regulation in other areas of law for any industry subject to intensive federal regulation. If that happens, the FDA will become ineffective, she predicts.
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With The Joint Commission's recent announcement that rude language and hostile behavior pose serious threats to patient safety and quality of care, risk managers are on high alert for disruptive behavior and searching for ways to combat it.
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A first-of-its-kind survey of physicians by the Massachusetts Medical Society on the practice of "defensive medicine" - tests, procedures, referrals, hospitalizations, or prescriptions ordered by physicians out of fear of being sued - has shown that the practice is widespread and adds billions of dollars to the cost of health care in that state alone.
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The implementation of an online order entry system at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor has produced a 29% reduction in medication errors while at the same time cutting by 40% the time between ordering and administering urgent medications.
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It is human nature to take shortcuts or ignore the burdensome steps sometimes involved in doing a task the right way, and when there is no negative consequence, the deviation can be reinforced.
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The American Hospital Association (AHA) in Washington, DC, is urging the health care community to adopt a standardized color scheme for patient wristbands in order to avoid dangerous confusion about what the wristbands mean from one facility to another.
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Responding to concerns that some health care providers would not have enough time to comply, the Federal Trade Commission is moving the deadline for its so-called Red Flags Rule to May 1, 2009, six months later than originally planned.
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News: A middle-aged man was suffering from a fever, facial swelling and redness, and nasal congestion. After consulting with his regular family doctor and two other doctors, the man was diagnosed with viral influenza and a mild drug reaction. When the man's symptoms persisted and his eyes began bleeding, however, the family doctor finally realized that his patient was suffering from an eye infection.
