If your patients are having difficulty remembering which prescriptions to take and when to take them, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) now has an easy solution: a free online "pill card."
A recent change to signature requirements by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) clarifies what is acceptable for physicians' orders.
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization has received a grant of $250,000 from a court-approved fund benefiting nonprofit organizations in health care, the arts, education, and underserved populations, from Fujitsu Computer Products of America in Sunnyvale, CA.
Every hospice is different with varying populations to serve, but an analysis of the reasons that 40% of the 99 hospices in Oklahoma served by Palmetto Government Benefit Administrators (GBA), a Medicare fiscal intermediary, hit the hospice cap shows four predominant reasons, says Greg Wood, LBSW, executive director of the Hospice of North Central Oklahoma in Ponca City and president of the Oklahoma Hospice Association:
"I just have a few questions." "I'm calling to get some information." "I don't need an appointment now. I'm just making a call for a family member."
With more than $370 million in overpayments identified in fiscal year 2007 by auditors in the Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) demonstration project, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has determined the project a success and is making plans to expand the program beyond the three states in the demonstration project.
Some of the language of ethics doesn't come naturally to nurses, according to a nurse-ethicist. But an initiative by Indianapolis-based Clarian Health aims to make ethics training and discussion second nature to the 5,000 nurses working there.
The Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) demonstration program began in March 2005 and ran until March 2008. The RAC program will be a permanent program and expand nationwide no later than Jan. 1, 2010.
The ability to see that a patient was experiencing atrial flutter during a therapist's visit and arrange for an immediate visit to his doctor's office made it possible for the staff at BeyondFaith Homecare and Rehab in Lubbock, TX, to help a patient avoid a trip to the emergency department.
