Peer review is vital for ensuring quality care and compliance with standards, but it also brings a wide range of legal liability risks. Adopting the right peer review policies and procedures is only a start; one also must ensure that all parties are following them to the letter.
Hospitals can avoid legal liability in the peer review process by following four fundamental “do’s and don’ts,” says Karen Owens, JD, an attorney with Coppersmith Brockelman in Phoenix.
Exactly when an “investigation” begins under hospital bylaws can be crucial in the peer review process, says John C. Ivins Jr., JD, partner with the Hirschler Fleischer law firm in Richmond, VA.
People can let their guard down in the doctors’ lounge and chat about what they’ve seen in records or what the peer review committee is considering. That’s a very bad move, says Christopher Metzler, PhD, chief growth officer and CEO of FHWFit, a global healthcare conglomerate in Washington, DC.
Daily safety briefings are not a new concept, of course, but Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis (TN), a flagship hospital for Baptist Memorial Healthcare System, found a way to make them particularly effective.
Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) generally are thought to cost hospitals about $1,000 each, but new research suggests the actual cost may be much higher.
The nation’s third-largest nonprofit healthcare system realized double-digit improvement in several key quality and safety measures in just 12 months by starting with its data.
