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How would you like an extra $500,000 to spend on quality projects at your organization? Its no secret which hospitals are on the receiving end of significant reimbursement, now that the long-awaited quality data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS)/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration Project have been released.
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Are you able to clearly explain the meaning of performance measurement data to support organizational evaluation, decision making, and operational improvement?
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During a recent JCAHO survey at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, surveyors looked for standardization of processes across the systems 11 departments and 27 clinic sites, reports Becky Jones, RN, BSN, CPHQ, director of performance improvement.
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When you gather data about surgical wound infections, are many of these infections going unrecognized because theyre not apparent until after the patient is discharged? Here are successful strategies for this data collection challenge.
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Imagine that youre the performance improvement director at a large and successful hospital. Youve just learned about a new initiative that will revolutionize patient flow. This initiative represents a significant advancement over your organizations current efforts and has a proven track record for improving communication of patient information during hand-offs between units.
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Failure to substantially eliminate the utilization of do not use abbreviations in medication orders remains at 27% one of the most frequent non-compliance findings during JCAHO surveys.
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Michael O. Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has announced that HHS will propose including all outpatient surgical procedures on the list of approved procedures for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), except for those that department officials think would pose a significant safety risk in a center and those that would require an overnight stay.
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In an article highlighting risks of several surgical procedures, Consumer Reports discussed the risks of angioplasty, including death in 2% to 6% of patients, and it questioned the long-term safety of drug-coated stents.
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Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, ambulatory surgery center (ASC) payments that are higher than hospital outpatient department (HOPD) payments for the same procedures will be reduced to the hospital rate, based on the budget reconciliation bill awaiting final Congressional approval at press time.
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Deadweight. Deadwood. Nonproductive. None of these adjectives are very flattering, and surgery center managers avoid using these terms to describe members of their medical staff; however, the reality for physician-owned surgery centers is that none can afford to have surgeons on staff who dont bring cases to the center.
