Healthcare Risk Management – February 1, 2009
February 1, 2009
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Recent crashes highlight risks that come with medical helicopters
This is the first in a two-part series about the hidden risks and liabilities of medical helicopters. -
Special Report: Air Ambulances: Recent crashes show risk of emergency flights
These are details of some of the most recent medical helicopter crashes: -
Special Report: Air Ambulances: Pressure to fly often leads to helicopter crash
When a medical helicopter goes down, there often is more than one cause. Bad risk assessment, insufficient technology, and pilot error can combine to create a tragedy. -
Special Report: Air Ambulances: Carry extensive insurance in case of helicopter crash
If you are going to use medical helicopters, Don Maciejewski, JD, an aviation attorney with the Jacksonville, FL, law firm of Zisser Robison, recommends that risk managers be prepared for the worst. Make sure you are adequately insured to cover the payouts from a crash that kills five people on a nonurgent mission, he says. -
Not reporting gun wound draws fire for hospital
A hospital in New York is at the center of a storm of criticism, bad publicity, and possible criminal charges after an employee failed to report the gunshot wound of NFL star Plaxico Burress, as required by law. -
Steps for ensuring compliance with reporting
An incident such as the Plaxico Burress gunshot injury should prompt risk managers to review all relevant contracts, bylaws, and related policies related to the legal obligation to report gunshot wounds, says Martin Kalish, MD, JD, a partner with the law firm of Arnstein & Lehr in Miami. -
ED workers fear radiological terrorism
Emergency department physicians and nurses are deeply concerned about the ability of the nation's hospitals to deal with the medical implications of a radioactive dirty bomb or other terrorist attacks involving radioactive materials, according to a new study. Experts say the findings should be a warning to risk managers that action is needed. -
Hospital uses RRTs to aid acutely ill in ED
A California hospital's efforts to improve the care of acutely ill patients who are in the emergency department or on medical-surgical floors rather than the intensive care unit has made it a 2008 recipient of the 12th annual Ernest Amory Codman Award, awarded by The Joint Commission. -
Legal Review & Commentary: Patient's halo slips off head, causing paralysis and incontinence: $1.195 million settlement in Michigan
News: A man injured his neck and back after diving into the bottom of a shallow lake. He was transported to the hospital, where physicians became concerned that the man's central spinal canal had been compromised. -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: URAC unveils revisions to its health information standards
Washington, DC-based URAC, an independent, nonprofit accreditation organization, has unveiled significant revisions to its health information technology standards. The changes affect health web site accreditation and URAC's HIPAA Privacy and Security standards. -
Guidance assists providers' understanding of HIPAA
Oftentimes HIPAA standards are not as straightforward as a hospital leader might hope or expect — but that's by design, says Beth Hjort, RHIA, CHPS, professional practice resource manager for the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). -
What if HIPAA conflicts with your state's law?
According to Jill M. Steinberg, a health care attorney with Baker Donelson in Memphis, TN, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) would prevent an ED physician from discussing a patient's HIV status with any other person, even if that person could be potentially exposed to an infectious disease.