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Bundled Approach to Handoff Communication Delivers Significant Safety Dividends
With an estimated 80% of the most serious medical errors linked to communication failures, handoff processes are a rich target for improvement. There are numerous tools designed to help providers remember to convey the most important information when transitioning a patient to another provider, but one approach in particular has demonstrated in multiple studies that it can reduce medical errors and preventable adverse events substantially.
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Organization Expands Case Management for North Carolina Sickle Cell Population
North Carolina patients with sickle cell disease are a small population that experiences repeated and costly ED visits and hospitalizations. Community Care of North Carolina has 600 care managers statewide, who work primarily with Medicaid patients, matching them with 14 networks and care managers across the state.
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Orthopedic Nurse Navigator Helps Surgery Patients Stay Healthy
The Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program helped the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Passavant reduce the percentage of total joint replacement patients who are discharged to a skilled nursing facility instead of home.
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Medicare Payment Codes Related to Care Management
Starting in 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provided new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System codes for care management payment.
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Designers of Collaborative Behavioral Health and Primary Care Models See Growth in Future
Recent Medicare funding for care management services, related to integrated behavioral health and primary care, has provided more incentives for healthcare organizations to use this approach.
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Emerging Fungus Can Colonize Skin for Months
Employee health professionals should be aware of an emerging new multidrug-resistant fungal “superbug,” Candida auris. This pathogen spreads more like bacteria than fungi and can colonize the skin for prolonged periods, the CDC reports.
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If You Have a Needle Safety Device, Activate It
In 56% of needlesticks involving safety devices, the protective mechanism was not activated, the International Safety Center's Exposure Prevention Information Network reports.
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Flu Immunization Rates Level Off in Healthcare Workers
While hospital rates remain high, flu immunization rates of healthcare workers overall have leveled off and remain particularly low in long-term care, the CDC reports.
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Patient Mobility Forum Founded
A new safe patient handling forum is now online for employee professionals to ask questions or share ideas and policies with colleagues and industry.
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Severe Flu Season in Australia Could Herald U.S. Woes
The annual attempt to match the seasonal influenza vaccine with mutating flu viruses always is a bit of a gamble, and this year is no different. In particular, the U.S. vaccine may not provide complete immunity to an H3N2 strain that has caused serious infections during the summer season in Australia.