Articles Tagged With:
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EEOC Sues Hospital for Mandatory Exams for Employees at Age 70 Years
A lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges one facility's late career practitioner policy is illegal because it singles out individuals for testing based only on their age, not any suspicion about a decline in cognitive or physical abilities.
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Aging Physicians May Require Additional Assessments for Credentialing
There is no mandatory retirement age for physicians, but there is good reason to consider how aging may affect their abilities to safely and effectively practice medicine, especially for surgeons. Some healthcare organizations are addressing those concerns with programs that provide additional monitoring and testing for physicians as they age.
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Doctor Wins Defamation Suit Alleging Improper Peer Review Process
Responding to allegations of physician misbehavior is a challenge. A recent court case holds lessons for what can go wrong when a hospital does not follow best practices or even its own internal policies.
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Emergency Medicine Leaders Push for Pediatric Readiness Improvements in Prehospital Setting
Multiple professional organizations have released a policy statement that heralds the initial step in an ambitious effort aimed at promoting pediatric readiness in the prehospital environment. The move follows in the footsteps of the successful National Pediatric Readiness Project, which continues to push for improvements in the preparedness level of EDs across the country to care for children.
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Be Vigilant Distinguishing Between EVALI and Flu-Associated Pneumonia
If dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak and peak flu season are not enough, frontline providers in the ED also need to remain on the lookout for cases of e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI). One big problem is that the symptoms of these illnesses can overlap, making it difficult to distinguish between flu-associated pneumonia and EVALI.
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Flu Season Charts an Unusual Course, Beginning With a Predominant B Victoria Strain
Frontline providers confronted an unusual influenza season, with flu activity spiking as early as December. B virus strains, which usually lead to worse outcomes in children, was predominant in the early part of the season. By mid-February, flu activity remained widespread throughout the United States.
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Work With Public Health Partners on Treatment, Care of Patients Diagnosed With COVID-19
The recommended care of a patient with COVID-19 is similar to what is required for other viral pneumonias, such as those associated with influenza or respiratory syncytial virus. Further, mild disease does not necessarily require hospitalization.
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Frontline Providers Use Lessons Learned During 2014 Ebola Crisis to Manage COVID-19
Experts from the National Ebola Training and Education Center urge healthcare systems to adopt processes in line with “Identify, Isolate, and Inform,” a process for quickly identifying and managing cases of infectious disease in a way that minimizes the risk for subsequent transmissions.
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Automating Auths: Not as Simple as It Sounds
If electronic prior authorization was implemented fully across the industry, the extra hours of work and high costs could be reduced significantly.
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When It Is Life and Death, No Time to Wait for Authorization
Denied claims for urgent, medically necessary procedures are no laughing matter. Patient access staff have to appeal each denial, a time-consuming and expensive process. A New York law states that if a patient presents with unexpected complications or requires additional services in the course of treatment, a health insurer will no longer be able to deny payment due to lack of prior authorization.