Healthcare Risk Management – May 1, 2013
May 1, 2013
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CPR refusal highlights risk of overly strict policies
Recent media coverage showed a dramatic 911 call between an emergency dispatcher and a nurse at a retirement home who refused to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on an elderly woman who was unresponsive.Be aware of false claims exposure with root cause analysis
Protecting the contents of a root cause analysis (RCA) requires much more than slapping a peer review label on the file and assuming that label means it is off limits to prying eyes. Peer review privilege might not protect your RCA at all, but there are other ways to limit the potential downside from someone reading about all your shortcomings.Hospital achieves 50% reduction in falls with huddles, better rounding
A hospital in Fargo, ND, focused on preventable falls in its cardiac telemetry unit and is seeing admirable results. After a year of effort, falls were reduced by 25% at the end of 2012, and then the hospital hit a 50% reduction barely a month later.Nurses with higher education decrease patient deaths
When hospitals hire more nurses with four-year degrees, patient deaths following common surgeries decrease, according to new research by the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia.Cesarean section rates vary widely among hospitals, changes are suggested
The rate of cesarean (c-section) deliveries varies significantly among hospitals across the country, according to a recent study, ranging from 7% of all births at the hospital with the lowest share of cesarean deliveries to 70% at the hospital with the highest rate.22 strategies called most effective for patient safety
After analyzing 41 patient safety practices, an international panel of patient safety experts has identified 22 strategies that should be adopted right away. Enough evidence exists that health systems and institutions can move forward in implementing these strategies to improve the safety and quality of health care, the panel says.Obese patients more likely to suffer adverse event
Extremely obese patients are more likely than a patient in the general adverse event population to experience a harmful adverse event, according to information released recently by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority (PPSA) in Harrisburg.HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Are you in the cloud? Time to scrutinize agreements
Although healthcare organizations have been slower to adopt cloud-computing services than other industries,1 a recent study shows that 62% are using cloud services for some activities.2 However, 47% of respondents relying on the cloud are not confident that information is secure, and 23% are only somewhat confident.HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Free resources help with risk assessments
New provisions and clarifications in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) omnibus rule might have some hospitals scrambling to determine their compliance level, but it might not be a situation that requires outside help.HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Breaches affect more than 21 million
The importance of encryption is emphasized with most of the recent major breaches added to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) list of breaches. Seven of the breaches involved laptops, while the other two involved paper records.Legal Review & Commentary: $25 million malpractice verdict against hospital, cardiologist to be reduced to $2 million pursuant to state caps
A jury awarded $25 million to a 41-year-old man who experienced a severe heart attack only a few months after being given ibuprofen to treat his heart condition.Legal Review & Commentary: Hospital system pays $9.3 million to settle False Claims Act and Stark Law violations
In November 2012, a multi-hospital healthcare system settled allegations of improperly compensating physicians from its many clinics for referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients. It was alleged by the United States Department of Justice Civil Division that these actions were in direct violation of the False Claims Act and Stark Law. The hospital system agreed to pay $9.3 million to settle those allegations.