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The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations announced recently they jointly will offer a Privacy Certification Program for Business Associates.
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One way an organization can ensure repeat business is by developing a strong customer service program that includes a concern management system. An effective concern management system involves five steps. The first step document the concerns was described in last months Quality-Co$t Connection column. The last four steps are described in this months column.
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A quality improvement project in Dayton, OH, achieved a 36% drop in mortality from acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among a group of hospitals cooperating on the effort, and participants say it could not have been done without high-quality data collection by peer review and quality improvement professionals.
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Quality improvement and peer review professionals must continue to focus on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance long after the deadlines pass, say experts, who caution that protecting sensitive data will be a constant worry even after you have the appropriate mechanisms in place.
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recent announcement that it will switch to unannounced surveys beginning January 2006 means quality improvement professionals will have to dramatically change the way they think about compliance with standards and ensure that the rest of the organization follows suit.
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Increase in Blood Glucose Concentration During Antihypertensive
Treatment as a Predictor of Myocardial Infarction; Adverse Drug Events
in Ambulatory Care; Prevention of Hip Fracture by External Hip
Protectors; Rapid MRI vs Radiographs for Patients with Low Back Pain;
Effectiveness of Anticholinergic Drugs Compared with Placebo in the
Treatment of Overactive Bladder; A Randomized Trial of a Low
Carbohydrate Diet for Obesity
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Nasally Administered Flu Vaccine Comes to United States; Paxil: Not Recommended for Children; Prilosec Granted OTC Status; Finasteride and Prostate Cancer; Xolair: First Biologic Agent for Asthma; West Nile Virus Update; Study Shows COX-2 Inhibitors Appear Safe with Aspirin in Asthma Patients; Lamictal Approved for Bipolar Disorder
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This report is a detailed analysis of the approximate 6000 diabetics in the Heart Protection Study, which investigated the efficacy of simvastatin (simva) and antioxidant vitamins.
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Sweeney and colleagues from the Mode Selection Trial report on the effects of ventricular pacing in patients with sinus node dysfunction.
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Sutton and colleagues from New Zealand explored the concept that natriuretic peptide levels (ANP, BNP) may aide in the determination of the severity of mitral regurgitation.