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More hospitals are adopting the use of color-coded wristbands for patients in an effort to improve safety by alerting anyone nearby that the person is a fall risk, for instance, or to provide quick recognition that the patient has a penicillin allergy or even a do-not-resuscitate order. But now there are growing concerns that the wristbands can violate the patient's confidentiality by displaying private information to anyone who sees the wristband.
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The newly launched Health Care Notification Network (HCNN) has delivered the first online drug alerts to U.S. physicians.
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News: A man was admitted to the hospital complaining of anxiety and being under tremendous pressure at work. The man was seen by an internist and a neurologist, and antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications were administered. After a few days, the man's condition improved, and the results of a brain MRI came back normal. The next morning, the man asked his nurse for a razor so that he could shave. Three hours later, he was found dead, locked in the bathroom, having committed suicide with the razor.
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A False Claims Act (FCA) settlement totaling $89 million is ringing alarm bells in health care institutions across the country, reminding risk managers that improper billing and coding or even carelessness that gives the impression of fraud can result in a huge monetary loss when all is revealed to the feds.
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The $89 million settlement by Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) was prompted when two people one the widow of a cancer patient and the other a doctor who saw improper billing sounded the alarm through lawsuits filed under the False Claims Act (FCA).
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Dealing with disruptive physicians is no easy task, even if you recognize the importance of preventing their bullying, abusive behavior. Creating a culture in which such interaction is not tolerated is a good step, but you also must be willing to get physicians help when they need it.
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The first key to better time management is to realize that the term actually is misleading, says Barry Izsak, a productivity expert in Austin, TX. You can't manage time, but you can manage yourself.
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A health care organization might have in place the best information technology (IT) protections available, but complacency can be a dangerous thing considering the gold mine of personal information stored by a hospital.
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Despite increasing demand for privacy surrounding health information, North American hospitals lag behind European counterparts when it comes to one of the most visible impediments to privacy multibed hospital rooms.
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may have given rise to and oversees HIPAA privacy regulations, but according to a report by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the agency's approach to ensuring the privacy of health information still needs some work.
