Hospital
RSSArticles
-
Routine Ethics Consults Helpful if ECMO Is Considered
When a patient is placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), usually emergently, families have begun to face the gravity of the situation. Suddenly, ECMO offers new hope. Even though the primary team explains ECMO will be a time-limited trial and a bridge to recovery, transplant, or device, many families remain focused only on the possibility of hope.
-
Ethics Services Want to Know How Consult Data Compare to Other Hospitals
Ethics services often struggle to obtain data to improve the quality of consults even at their own hospitals, let alone outside institutions. Yet some ethicists are forging ahead with this challenging proposition, trying to move from the qualitative to the quantitative.
-
Court Ruling on Life Support Withdrawal Affects Ethics Committees
Hospitals may need to afford more procedural due process when deciding on whether to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment without consent.
-
Patients, Families Viewing Ethics Consult Notes in Real Time
In reading ethics notes, clinicians often glean insights on how the ethics service contributes to patient care. Patients, along with their surrogates and proxies, will be able to learn from such consultations. For some ethicists, this may be a good time to reassess the goals of ethics notes.
-
Elderly Patients with Esophageal Cancers Might Tolerate Multimodal Therapy Well
Some clinicians shy away from complete therapy courses for these patients over concerns about frailty, quality of life.
-
OCR Audit Findings Show Where to Focus HIPAA Compliance
Implementing a good security program with risk analysis, security practices, and risk mitigation can be a safe harbor from penalties.
-
Lessons Learned from Overturned $4.3 Million HIPAA Penalty
A covered entity’s victory over proposed penalties from the Department of Health and Human Services was good news for those responsible for HIPAA compliance, showing that good faith efforts and a willingness to fight the allegations can pay off.
-
Revenue Cycle Staff Needs Education on Cures Act
Starting April 5, patients must be able to access all the health information in their electronic medical records without delay, as required by the ONC Cures Act Final Rule. Most organizations will be able to leverage their existing technology to make records available to patients. Revenue cycle departments will need to review scripting to ensure it aligns with the new rules.
-
The Mystery of COVID-19’s Financial Impact
The revenue cycle impact is going to vary, depending on many factors. Short- and long-term evaluations of the COVID-19 pandemic impact are necessary to make sound conclusions and determine any future actions/directions.
-
COVID-19-Specific Codes Can Maximize Reimbursement
As many hospitals continue managing COVID-19 patients, six new ICD-10 codes will help facilities obtain reimbursement.