Healthcare Risk Management – April 1, 2013
April 1, 2013
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Joint Commission to assess rates of C-sections, punishment possible
The Joint Commission (TJC) will hold hospitals accountable for their cesarean section rates beginning Jan. 1, 2014, and many providers will have to effect an entire culture change within the obstetrical unit by then. Documentation of any cesareans will become especially important. -
Malpractice risk drives cesarean sections
The risk of malpractice allegations is a major barrier to reducing caesarean rates, says Charles W. Fisher, JD, principal with the law firm of Kitch in Detroit. -
Avoid ‘cookbook medicine’ when reducing c-sections
Firm policies and procedures might be necessary to reduce cesarean rates, but resist the temptation to dictate every decision in the birthing process, says Samuel O. Southern, JD, an attorney with the law firm of Smith Moore Leatherwood in Raleigh, NC. -
Additional measures sets to be chosen by hospitals
The Joint Commissions (TJCs) sixth measure set (or fifth and sixth measure sets, for hospitals with fewer than 1,100 births per year) will be chosen by all general medical/surgical hospitals from the approved complement of core measure sets, according to TJC. -
TJC perinatal measure aims to reduce c-sections
This is the perinatal care measure set from The Joint Commission: Set Measure ID: PC-02 Rationale: The removal of any pressure to not perform a cesarean birth has led to a skyrocketing of hospital, state, and national cesarean section rates. -
Engage medical leadership to change culture of c-sections
There has to be engagement by the medical staff and leadership to achieve the cultural changes and initiatives necessary to reduce cesarean sections, says Robin Kish, MBA, BSN, RN, CPHQ, vice president of Marsh Clinical Healthcare Consulting in Nashville, TN. -
Co-management with doctors is difficult arrangement
With healthcare reform efforts encouraging hospitals to align with physicians more closely, questions are arising about how to do that without running afoul of rules prohibiting kickbacks and collusion. -
Rural hospital operated catheterization labs
Janice Anderson, JD, shareholder with the law firm of Polsinelli Shughar in Chicago, provides this explanation of the situation prompting a recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) opinion regarding co-management: -
Kickback safe harbor doesn’t apply with co-management
In the recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) opinion regarding co-management, the OIG noted that the arrangement was not protected by any Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbor because the aggregate payment to the group was not set in advance, explains Janice Anderson, JD, shareholder with the law firm of Polsinelli Shughar in Chicago. -
Hospital pays $12.5M to resolve kickback allegations
The Cooper Health System in Newark, NJ, has agreed with the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey to pay $12.6 million to settle allegations that it violated the federal False Claims Act and New Jersey False Claims Act by making improper payments to physicians under so-called consulting and compensation agreements as it sought to build its cardiology program. -
Misstatement in operative report not a crime, doctors’ group tells court
In a motion for leave to file an amicus brief, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has told a court that the criminalization of language used in medical reports will have a profoundly chilling effect on the practice of medicine. -
Pittsburgh VA hospital facing lawsuit for Legionnaires’ death
A family from Hampton Township, a Pittsburgh suburb, announced recently that they intend to file a claim against the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as a result of a death from Legionnaires disease. -
Washington surgeons set new guidelines for patient safety
Washington State surgeons recently announced standardized guidelines for preoperative care in the form of pre-surgical checklists and tools available to all surgeons to use in their offices or by patients at home to ensure that the health of patients is optimized before surgery. -
Standard written checklists can improve patient safety during a surgical crisis, study says
When doctors, nurses, and other hospital operating room staff follow a written safety checklist to respond when a patient experiences cardiac arrest, severe allergic reaction, bleeding followed by an irregular heartbeat, or other crisis during surgery, they are nearly 75% less likely to miss a critical clinical step, according to a new study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). -
Checklists, hand hygiene cited as top safety strategies
Of the hundreds, if not thousands, of patient safety strategies employed at hospitals across the country, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released a report identifying the top 10 patient safety strategies that can be implemented immediately by healthcare providers. -
Helping you understand CoP anesthesia standards
Do you have time to sort through the interpretive guidelines from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the Conditions of Participation (CoPs) regarding anesthesia and sedation? The manual is hundreds of pages. -
Legal Review & Commentary: $5.9 million for failure to diagnose complications after bariatric surgery
News: A 52-year-old patient underwent bariatric surgery at the defendant hospital. Prior to surgery, the patients weight exceeded 500 pounds. -
Legal Review & Commentary: $20 million award to parents for removal of the wrong side of child’s brain
News: In 2004, a 15-year-old boy underwent brain surgery to eliminate epileptic seizures initiating from the right side of his brain.