Healthcare Risk Management – July 1, 2014
July 1, 2014
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Who is liable when drugs are diverted? Hospital may pay for theft by contractor
Courts are addressing who ultimately is liable for damage to patients when drugs are diverted. One court case suggests that hospitals might be responsible even if the drugs were stolen by a contract employee supplied by a staffing company. -
Tech stole Fentanyl, gave patients hepatitis C
The case that has sparked debate over liability when drugs are diverted involved a contracted technician who stole pain medication from patients and gave some of them hepatitis C. -
Drug diversion a chronic problem for hospitals
Drug diversion is a longstanding problem for hospitals and can take many forms, says Leilani Kicklighter, RN, ARM, MBA, CPHRM, LHRM, a patient safety and risk management consultant with The Kicklighter Group in Tamarac, FL, and a past president of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) in Chicago. -
Contract language might help avoid diversion liability
Carefully constructed contract language might help shift some liability to the staffing agency when contracted employees divert drugs or otherwise harm patients, says R. Stephen Trosty, JD, MHA, CPHRM, president of Risk Management Consulting in Haslett, MI, and a past president of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management in Chicago. -
Case could offer new defense strategy in med mal
A ruling in medical malpractice case could offer a new defense strategy. A Texas court established that nurses are not required to make medical conclusions. -
Methodist Hospital case involve nurse conclusions
Methodist Hospital v. German is a Texas malpractice case that questioned whether nurses should be expected to draw medical conclusions from their observations, in addition to passing them on to physicians. -
HIEs can threaten privacy and security
Participating in a health information exchange (HIE) brings the potential for violations of HIPAA. Risk managers should assess security issues when considering HIE participation. -
HEN programs report better safety, fewer adverse events
Hospitals participating in Hospital Engagement Networks (HENs) are reporting improvements in patient safety and decreases in falls and adverse events. -
Tactics needed more than best practices
One lesson that came out of UnitedHealthcares (UHC) Health Engagement Network (HEN) is that hospital administrators and also front-line personnel might have heard enough about that old quality chestnut called best practices. -
Readmitted patients more likely to die
Patients released from one hospital and readmitted to another within 30 days are more likely to die within the next month than those readmitted to the same hospital, according to a study from Canada. -
Free app helps physicians reduce risk
Physicians Practice, the practice management resource for physicians and medical office staff, has released the latest issue of its free tablet application, available from the App Store. -
Comments during procedure recorded on cell phone — Patient says staff members were mocking him
A patient underwent a colonoscopy last year during which he says he was mocked by staff members who said he had syphilis and discussed firing a gun up his rectum, according to Courthouse News Service. -
Guidelines adopted for telemedicine
The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), representing 70 states and territories, approved updated guidelines that constitute a model policy for the safe practice of medicine with telemedicine technology. -
State supreme court affirms $3.2 million verdict in negligence case against hospital
In this matter, the patient was an elderly 73-year-old woman who had suffered a fall at her home in September 2005. -
Inadequate treatment results in verdict of $1.6 million for widow and her children
The patient, a 48-year-old man, was admitted to a medical center seeking treatment in September 2009. The patient was diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), a condition in which the body begins to destroy its own red blood cells quickly.