Healthcare Risk Management – September 1, 2009
September 1, 2009
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RAC audits pose major risk, require extensive response plan
Are you ready for a "RAC attack?" It's coming for you eventually, and you need to prepare now to minimize the damage. -
Inpatient admissions among top RAC targets
To minimize damage from RAC audits, risk managers should make sure their facilities have highly competent case managers available seven days per week, advises Bill Hammock, RN, BSN, CMC, ACM, vice president and senior consultant in the Global Clinical Health Care Consulting Practice of Marsh in Nashville, TN. -
RAC attack program seeks hidden problems
The philosophy behind the RAC program at Palomar Pomerado Health (PPH), based in Escondido, CA, is that it is better to find problems yourself before an auditor finds them for you. -
Use caution when reviewing data before RAC audit
Good intentions can backfire when it comes to preparing for RAC audits, cautions Rebekah Plowman, JD, an attorney specializing in health care litigation with the law firm of Epstein Becker in Atlanta. -
Tube-feeding errors targeted for reduction
Tube-feeding misconnections fall into the category of medical errors that are so obviously wrong that clinicians think they could never make such a mistake. But feeding tube errors do happen, and they sometimes bring grave consequences. -
Hospital reduces falls in hospital and at home
South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, NY, is reporting success with an aggressive approach to falls prevention. -
Patient handoffs can always be improved
What happens when a hospital patient's physician goes off duty and another physician assumes responsibility for the patient? Or when care is transferred to the next nursing shift? How about when a patient is transferred from intensive care to another unit? -
Legal Review & Commentary: Unnecessary mastectomy: $6.5 million verdict in New York
A woman underwent an excisional biopsy on her left breast. The physician who performed the surgery diagnosed cancer and began chemotherapy. Later, other physicians evaluated the woman and recommended a mastectomy and removal of lymph nodes in the woman's breast. After the mastectomy, no evidence of cancer was found. -
Legal Review & Commentary: Failure to diagnose staph infection: $5.45M verdict
A 30-year-old man presented to an ED with complaints of fever, joint pain, a severe headache, and shaking chills. The ED physician further determined that the man was suffering from a rapid heart rate and some paresthesia. The man did not undergo any further testing and was sent home with instructions to take acetaminophen and drink fluids.