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A new infection control standard that will require hospitals to offer influenza vaccinations to staff members, volunteers, and independent licensed practitioners who have close patient contact will take effect Jan.1, 2007, for organizations accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The new requirement does not apply to ambulatory facilities.
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In a first-of-its-kind court case, a jury held that a Louisiana hospital and two physicians intentionally misrepresented a former anesthesiologist's qualifications to a hospital in Washington state where he later was said to have botched a tubal ligation that left a 31-year-old woman with severe brain damage.
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The California Hospital Association has sued Blue Cross of California to stop a new payment policy that decreases reimbursement for endoscopic procedures that are performed in hospital outpatient departments and boosts payment when the procedures are performed in physician offices and freestanding surgery centers.
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The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) are combining the recommended practice on flash sterilization with other standards into a single document on steam sterilization.
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Outpatient surgery managers, take note: A Florida ambulatory surgery center (ASC) was banned from admitting new patients for 18 days following a determination by the state that the administrator/risk manager failed to prevent a male staff member from sexually abusing a patient after complaints from other staff members.
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In an ambulatory surgery center that was busy recently handling several patients, two patients received two doses of fentanyl instead of one dose each of fentanyl and midazolam, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in Huntingdon Valley, PA.
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Question: Our surgery center was bought by a chain surgery center at the end of last year. We received a bonus every quarter for the past 12 years by the surgeons who owned it before they sold it. Ever since XXX Company bought us, we have not received any type of bonus. They tell us we probably will not receive a bonus that it is not in their budget!
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As the debate continues over whether journalists in academic settings are subject to IRB oversight, a newspaper journalist has taken the unusual step of voluntarily seeking out IRB review of his work.
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An anonymous survey of principal investigators (PIs) suggests that IRBs that are heavy-handed with research protocols might unwittingly encourage deceit among researchers.
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IRBs often err too much on the side of caution, creating a situation in which investigators do not trust their judgment and doubt their fairness, an expert says.
