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Drawing on 20 years of quality improvement experience, MPRO, Michigan's Health Care Quality Improvement Organization, is bringing together hospitals, home health agencies, and physician practices to come up with solutions to communications barriers between providers, with the ultimate goal of improving the outcomes for the state's cardiovascular disease patients.
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Take two aspirin and e-mail in the morning creates serious risk
First of two parts on risk and e-mail
E-mail is becoming increasingly common in health care, but chances are your policies and procedures have not kept up with the serious risks that can be created when people send e-mail without stringent safeguards.
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The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) in Chicago offers extensive guidelines for reducing the various risks associated with e-mail use in health care.
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has announced the 2006 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for each of its accreditation programs, with new requirements for safely handing off patients from one caregiver to another.
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The use of alcohol-based surgical preparations in the operating room is gaining new attention as a potential fire risk, and one expert says risk managers should ensure that OR staff take specific steps to prevent serious injury.
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Hospital-acquired infections are worsening in the United States, according to a recent report from Colorado-based Health Grades Inc. And a hospitals infection rate may be correlated with its likelihood for medical errors, the group suggests.
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News: A patient tripped and fell over a vacuum cord after he had been discharged from the hospital, dressed, and was walking toward the nursing station to retrieve his valuables. He was readmitted for surgery to repair his torn medial meniscus. He sued the hospital and its cleaning service and was awarded $150,000 in damages.
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Litigation regarding e-mail in health care already has reached the trial level, says Edward C. Mintzer Jr., a partner with the law firm of Rawle & Henderson in Philadelphia.
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With more and more health information being transferred electronically, risk managers must be more cautious than ever about complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), says Cheryl Camin, JD, an attorney on the HIPAA practice team at the Dallas law firm of Gardere Wynne.
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More than 90% of surveyed physicians in Pennsylvania reported defensive medicine practices such as overordering of diagnostic tests, unnecessary referrals, and avoidance of high-risk patients, according to a recent study.
