-
With our economy in shambles, and July unemployment at 9.2% nationally just short of the all-time high of 10.81% and way off the mark of the all-time low of 3.31% fewer and fewer ED patients are insured, and it's a significant challenge to manage the resulting uptick in ED visits.
-
Hospitals that want to distinguish themselves as centers of excellence in the care of heart failure (HF) have a new avenue to pursue.
-
With demand for ED beds surging as the nation's demographics, health care needs, and finances continue to change, a number of health systems across the country are opening stand-alone EDs freestanding centers that are staffed by emergency physicians and deliver emergency care, but are not attached to a main campus or hospital facility.
-
It's no secret that emergency medicine providers are frustrated by patients who inappropriately come to the ED for primary care, pharmaceuticals, and help with a wide range of social issues.
-
Most accredited hospitals have been reporting ORYX performance data to the Joint Commission (JC) on a monthly basis since 2002.
-
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made it clear that cell phone applications that aid in clinical decision-making or act as medical devices will soon be subject to the strictest Class II and Class III regulations.
-
The "second-look EKG" is a good risk-management strategy, according to Robert Broida, MD, FACEP, chief operating officer of Physicians Specialty Limited Risk Retention Group in Canton, OH. If you are the treating physician for any patient with chest pain being considered for discharge, it is a good practice to have another physician review and initial the EKG before discharge, he advises.
-
After the actress Natasha Richardson died in 2009 from an epidural hematoma that media reports emphasized could have been diagnosed with a head CT scan, EPs were flooded with requests for the test, even for patients with very minor head injuries, recalls John Burton, MD, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, VA.
-
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Florida's cap does not violate the federal Constitution, but punted whether the cap violates the Florida Constitution to the Florida Supreme Court.
-
This is the second of a two-part series on liability risks involving ordering of diagnostic tests in the ED. This month, we report on possible lawsuits for future cancers, strategies if patients threaten to sue because a test wasn't ordered, and liability risks specific to pediatric patients.
