Healthcare Risk Management – July 1, 2013
July 1, 2013
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Positive results coming from apology followed by quick settlements
The idea of full disclosure of adverse events was proposed to the risk management community years ago. Remember how controversial that idea was? Then the next suggestion was that providers should apologize for their errors. More debate ensued. -
Surgeon operates on wrong side of brain — time-out compliance is questioned
A wrong-site surgery resulted in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed recently against SSM Health Care - St. Louis in Missouri and a neurosurgeon, and the plaintiffs attorney suggests that the cause might be a failure of the entire operative team to participate in the time-out. -
Patient left with serious disabilities after wrong-site surgery
Wrong-site brain surgery left a Missouri woman unable to speak intelligibly and in need of around-the-clock care, according to a complaint filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County in Clayton, MO. -
6 ways to improve your root cause analysis
Risk managers routinely use a root cause analysis (RCA) to determine the true source of an adverse outcome or other event, but are your RCAs as good as they could be? -
Include families in patient safety efforts, education
When risk managers try in so many ways to improve patient safety, patients family members are an often overlooked partner, says Karen Curtiss, president of PartnerHealth system based in Boston and founder of Campaign Zero Families for Patient Safety. -
Tight access to unit is key to preventing infant abductions
At press time, no infants had been abducted from healthcare providers in the United States in 2013, but there are steps you can take to ensure that disaster does not strike your facility, notes prevention expert John Rabun, ASCW, director of infant abduction response for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Alexandria, VA -
Hospitals reduce serious falls 64% by sharing data, strategies
An 18-month patient safety effort by 21 hospitals in the Cincinnati, OH, region has reduced incidents of patient falls that result in injury in these hospitals by 64%, and one of the key reasons is that the hospitals did something that might have made risk managers gasp in recent years: They shared their own proprietary data about falls. -
Tuomey Healthcare guilty in $39 million false claims case
A federal jury in South Carolina has found that Tuomey Healthcare System, based in Sumter, violated the Stark Law and the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting false claims for reimbursement to the United States to the tune of $39 million in damages. -
System said to reduce falls, transfers in elderly
A fall reduction system that encourages caregivers to respond early to warning signs has been proven to significantly reduce falls, according to the manufacturer. -
‘Catastrophic’ malpractice payouts add little to healthcare’s rising costs
Efforts to lower healthcare costs in the United States have focused at times on demands to reform the medical malpractice system, with some researchers asserting that large, headline-grabbing, and frivolous payouts are among the heaviest drains on healthcare resources. But a new review of malpractice claims by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests such assertions are wrong. -
Noise in OR can compromise patient safety, study says
Ambient background noise whether it is the sound of loud surgical equipment, talkative team members, or music is a patient and surgical safety factor that can affect auditory processing among surgeons and the members of their team in the operating room (OR), according to a new study. -
Four essentials are offered on the safety of opioids
Four essential steps can help providers improve safety for patients using opioids, according to advice offered by the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS), a Chicago-based advocacy group of physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, healthcare organizations, and patient safety advocacy groups. -
Legal Review &: Hospital ordered to pay $7.4 million for severe brain injury after nurses’ mistakes
In March 2013, a jury awarded a multi-million dollar verdict to a young woman who suffered severe brain injuries after nurses failed to follow doctors orders and mistreated her for an asthma-related condition.