Every time patients are misidentified, they are put at risk. Sometimes the harm is minor: an unnecessary test or being placed in the wrong room. And sometimes the consequences are dire: getting the wrong medicine or having the wrong operation performed. There are numerous points where a mix-up...
A study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology found that hospitals may have dodged financial penalties by billing hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) as present at the time of the patient’s admission. The findings showed that a CMS policy to penalize hospitals for...
This July we’re going to be running two Accreditation and Quality focus groups. The first 10 people to sign up will recieve a free on-demand webinar from HCPro. You only have to do one of the focus groups, on either of these two dates:
Lutheran is among the healthcare organizations nationwide that in recent years decided to try hand hygiene monitoring technology in the hopes it could improve hand hygiene compliance—and in the process reduce the number of infections and avoid citations from accrediting organizations like The...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 29, Issue 7
Appropriate sharing of records for patients with substance abuse disorders should be easier under a second final rule issued January 3 by HHS and its Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). But in some cases, the new rule adds considerations that might mitigate the...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 29, Issue 7
Spurred by coordination problems identified after several recent mass shootings, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 3000, a Standard for an Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response (ASHER), is designed to help communities prepare for multiple casualties. It was released May 1.
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 29, Issue 7
In just two years, Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago faced down HAIs, cutting its HAI rate by 90% and saving itself $498,000. The hospital even won the Illinois Health and Hospital Association’s (IHA) “Innovation Challenge: Partners in Progress Award.”
The Joint Commission is the latest healthcare heavy-hitter to call for better protection of healthcare workers, announcing the creation of Sentinel Event Alert 59, which addresses violence—physical and verbal—against healthcare workers. About 75% of workplace assaults occur in the healthcare and...
