Healthcare Risk Management – February 1, 2025
February 1, 2025
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Hospital Improves Responses to Adverse Events and Near Misses
An Illinois hospital has improved patient safety by implementing a program that encourages reporting of adverse events and near misses. The hospital also encourages staff to report positive experiences that affect the culture of safety and promotes those stories.
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Compliance Outlook Finds Challenges in 2025
Healthcare compliance risk managers should brace for substantial compliance challenges in 2025.
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Avoid Spoiling Documentation with Most Common Errors
Documentation is such a crucial part of risk management that there can never be enough emphasis on how to properly document and how to avoid ruining the value of clinical records if they are ever used in legal matters. Constant education for clinicians is the only way to keep documentation clear and effective.
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Documentation About Patient Safety, Not Just Litigation
Clinicians should be reminded that proper documentation is not only about providing a legal defense.
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Documentation Huddles Improve Quality and Safety
CARE Homecare, an in-home care agency serving seniors in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, CA, use documentation huddles to improve quality of care and the usefulness of records in any legal dispute.
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Older Physicians May Need Attention to Ensure Patient Safety
Research indicates that some older physicians may pose a threat to patient safety, but only a small number of healthcare organizations are developing strategies to require screening and additional actions to address these concerns. Policies are inconsistent among those organizations.
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Pennsylvania Court Affirms $8 Million Verdict for Failure To Repair Uterine Artery
On Dec. 6, 2024, the Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld an $8 million jury verdict against a hospital in a medical malpractice case stemming from a cesarean delivery procedure. The appellate court found sufficient evidence to hold the hospital vicariously liable for its employees’ conduct, affirming claims that failures during surgery and post-operative care led to permanent harm to the plaintiff.
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Philadelphia Jury Awards $6.8M After Hospital Fails to Find Stomach Perforation
On Nov. 22, 2024, a Philadelphia County jury awarded $6.8 million in a medical malpractice case to the estate of a patient who died after experiencing complications from a procedure to treat liver cancer. The lawsuit alleged negligence on the part of the hospital and its medical staff for failing to identify a stomach perforation that occurred during the procedure.