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A new study highlighting California's experiences with HIV testing since the state removed legal barriers demonstrates that routine testing in medical settings will prove to be a good testing, prevention, and care strategy for states to adopt.
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This column features selected short items about state health care policy.
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Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood, SC, decided it needed to do something about its billing statements. In response to consumer feedback and a year of planning, the hospital went live on July 21 with its "more friendly" billing system.
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Michael S. Friedberg, FACHE, CHAM, director of patient access services at Apollo Health Street and author of Staff Competency in Patient Access, offers this nugget of truth about management: "If employees feel you'll do anything for them, they'll do anything for you, regardless of pay scale."
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According to the recently report on the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) 3-year demonstration program, RACs recouped $992.7 million in overpayments to providers, while $37.8 million in underpayments were repaid to providers as of March 27.
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The 22 laptops were working fine. Data were being entered, nurses were visiting patients, and everyone was thrilled with the newly installed electronic health record system. At least that's what everyone believed until nurses started to report that data they transmitted the night before weren't showing up in the records.
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Hospice managers and staff members have become accustomed to looking for ways to streamline services and lower costs, but the proposed three-year reductions in the wage index planned by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will add an extra challenge for managers.
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For the first time since the Medicare Conditions of Participation (COPs) were created for hospice in 1983, significant revisions that affect the way hospice care is delivered have been developed. The revisions focus on patient rights, improvement in outcomes, and strengthened quality improvement programs.
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The newest requirement for compliance with Goal 7 of the 2009 Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals is "Implement best practices or evidence-based guidelines to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections."