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A California nursing home is being sued for elder abuse and investigated for Medicare fraud after a resident died in terrible pain, with his family charging that clinicians ignored his pleas for medication despite charting his severe pain.
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A California not-for-profit hospital is spending $50 million on new, advanced technology that promises fundamental changes in hospital ICU care and bedside medication delivery, all intended to improve patient safety.
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The road has been paved for using bar codes on all medications to reduce errors, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcing recently that is proposing a rule requiring bar codes on all medication packages, a mandate that some say would significantly improve patient safety in the nations hospitals.
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For Baystate Health System, a $1 billion integrated health system operating in western Massachusetts, HIPAA compliance has been seen as more than a technology issue. It also is a major cultural and operational issue that has an impact on systemwide operations and the way the system and its staff interact with patients.
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URAC has released a draft set of HIPAA Security Accreditation standards for public comment. Once the program is completed, it will enable health care organizations to display a commitment to information security and demonstrate that they have adopted the necessary policies and procedures to ensure health information security.
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Time needed to document security compliance; OCR pushes for voluntary compliance; Help available for employers;
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A Mexican laborer injured himself on the job when a piece of metal entered his eye. He did not seek medical attention until the next day. The day after that, he was referred to an emergency department (ED), where the eye was finally appropriately treated. The surgery was performed too long after the injury occurred to save the laborers sight.
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The list of approved procedures for the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) is free at last! Leaders in the field have been calling for the updated list of ASC-approved procedures, which was last changed in 1995. Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finally responded.
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Stephen Earnhart answers some common questions about physician-to-physician joint ventures, hospital and physician mergers, and similar arrangements.
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Because of liposuctions popularity and questions about the safety of the procedure,2 the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Cares Institute for Quality Improvement in Wilmette, IL, conducted a study of tumescent liposuction to compare practices and results of the surgery.