-
Unfractionated heparin (UFH) is the standard bridging therapy for patients with mechanical heart valves who need to temporarily stop oral anticoagulants. Small case series have suggested that low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) may be useful for this purpose.
-
Forty-four acute care hospitals participated in a prospective study over four years to determine the effect of quality improvement (QI) interventions on appropriate prescribing of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis. Hospitals were randomly assigned to either feedback on the results of the ongoing audit vs feedback plus an intensive collaborative intervention group. Both groups showed improvement in most quality indicators, but there appeared to be no benefit of the intensive QI collaborative intervention over performance feedback.
-
Valproic acid and phenytoin were equally effective in the treatment of acute repetitive seizures and status epilepticus.
-
A prospective study comparing angiographic clot burden score and ECG score in 105 patients with PE found no correlation between the two, and neither predictor correlated with 12-month mortality. In a second retrospective study of 33 consecutive patients with massive PE by conventional clinical criteria, there was also no correlation between findings on CT angiography and mortality.
-
The shift from handling verification, eligibility, and collection issues on the front end - before or during registration - is continuing, and this is good news for patient access.
-
Because of rising copays and deductibles and underinsurance, patients are getting hit with bigger balances that they don't expect. More and more, patients want to know up front what they will owe.
-
Too often, patient access is an area employees come into only to get their foot in the door with a long-term goal of obtaining other medical positions in the hospital, says Vicki Lyons, patient access manager at Baptist Hospital East in Louisville, KY.
-
Benefits exhausted, coverage not in effect at the time of service, patient ineligible at the time of service, no authorization prior to service, and patient unidentified. Each of these reasons for a denied claim is different, but the result is the same - the hospital doesn't collect. And in today's economy, this spells trouble for patient access departments.
-
Cutting delays in the registration process can free up patient access staff and make patients more satisfied, but this can be challenging.
-
Technology tools that facilitate the capture and communication of data are essential for patient access, but there is a downside. "The scary part is that systems today have the capacity and structure to get bad data out faster, and can do a lot of damage if not managed or used correctly," says Kathryn Stevens, PhD, MBA, CHAM, northwest regional delegate for the National Association of Healthcare Access Management.