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In many cases, inappropriate phone calls are more obvious to people other than the patient or the risk manager.
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The major improvements in patient safety in the obstetrics unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston were prompted by a series of tragic errors that led to a stillbirth in 2000.
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Risk managers are doing something right in the emergency department and obstetrical units, according to new data showing the frequency and severity of hospital claims are at new lows.
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Statutes of limitations can be key in determining whether some malpractice cases move forward or are dead in the water, so a federal appeals panel has asked the Mississippi Supreme Court in Jackson to clarify when the clock starts ticking for medical malpractice claims.
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An elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease suffered severe bruising on her arms while staying at a residential care facility. Although the facility's director initially told the woman's daughter that the bruises were caused when the director had to restrain the woman from attacking her, the daughter subsequently learned that the bruises resulted when the director became angry at the resident and grabbed and twisted her arms while dragging her across the floor.
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Accurate documentation always has been important but it can have an even bigger impact on reimbursement with the new MS-DRG system, according to Deborah Hale, CSS, president of Administrative Consultant Services Inc., a health care consulting firm based in Shawnee, OK.
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Adapting to the sweeping changes in reimbursement mandated by the new MS-DRG system may be like suddenly having to drive on the left-hand side of the road, says Bert Amison, managing director for health care advisory services at KPMG.
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Faced with patients waiting for a bed for hours in the emergency department and an increase in time on ED diversion, Southern Ocean County Hospital in Manahawkin, NJ, began a hospital-wide initiative to improve throughput.
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Despite fears that issuing the new Important Message from Medicare regulations would result in a spate of patients appealing their discharge, hospital case managers report that appeals have not increased and that the requirement for issuing the notice within 48 hours of discharge actually helps staff focus on the discharge plan.
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The adoption of the new MS-DRG system, coupled with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) move to cost-based relative weights is likely to have a significant financial impact on hospitals, says Deborah Hale, CSS, president of Administrative Consultant Services Inc., a health care consulting firm based in Shawnee, OK.
