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Control Factors That Influence Insurance Premiums

Insurance premiums are influenced by many factors. Some factors are out of the insured healthcare organization’s control, but hospitals can earn lower premiums by showing a concerted effort to improve patient safety and lower risk.

Handoffs Shown to Improve Patient Safety

Handoffs are a crucial moment in a patient’s care, when poor communication can lead to errors and harm. Communication errors are a top cause of sentinel events in hospitals.

Improving Patient Handoffs Helps Reduce Malpractice Claims

Patient handoffs affect safety, although it is possible malpractice risk is a downstream effect. A large study of malpractice claims revealed a direct relationship between the quality of patient handoffs and claims.

Take the Right Steps to Speed Resolution of Malpractice Litigation

Steps taken in the early phase of malpractice litigation can significantly affect the length of the case, with the right moves resulting in a faster, cheaper resolution. On the other hand, missteps and oversights can draw out the case, costing more in legal fees and more on the eventual settlement.

Urgent Need for ‘Universal’ Vaccines for SARS-CoV-2

There is an emerging consensus in the scientific community that is two-fold: COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon, and continuous vaccine boosters eventually could yield diminishing returns. What is needed are new, second-generation vaccines that confer broader immunity against both circulating variants and mutations yet to arise.

APIC Sets New Strategic Priorities Amid COVID-19

Like other healthcare workers, infection preventionists have been overwhelmed in the churning waves of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. An unpublished survey conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and The Ohio State University School of Nursing revealed a “startling” level of stress and burnout.

Omicron ‘Milder’ Infection View Skewed by Prior Immunity

The COVID-19 omicron variant has been widely observed to cause “milder” disease, but this appears largely to be an illusion caused by the level of immunity via prior infection or vaccination that now exists in the human population.

Infectious Disease Experts Sound Alarm on True Toll of RSV

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is something of a contradiction: The leading cause of hospitalization of infants in the United States (58,000 annually) is largely unappreciated beyond the pediatric population. In what essentially is a hidden seasonal epidemic, RSV causes 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths annually in the United States in those age 65 years and older.

Quality Improvement Initiative Leads to Significant Opioid Prescribing Reductions

Providers helped pediatric patients manage pain well after appendectomy.

Survey: OB/GYN Residents Feel Unprepared to Care for LGBTQ+ Patients

Lack of experienced faculty and curricular crowding were the two most commonly identified barriers.