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When hospitals determine that the care patients are receiving or are about to receive will not be covered by Medicare because it is not medically necessary, not delivered in an appropriate setting, or is custodial in nature, the hospital should provide the patient with a Hospital-Issued Notice of Noncoverage (HINN) to inform them that they will be responsible for the bill if they choose to stay in the hospital.
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Medicare requirements for issuing the Important Message from Medicare (IM) and the Hospital-Issued Notices of Noncoverage (HINNs) have been around so long that they sometimes get short shrift.
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Entering an overly complete history and examination on a patient presenting with a minor or simple complaint is one danger with electronic medical records (EMRs), especially when time-stamping makes such a lengthy examination unlikely, warns John Davenport, MD, JD, physician risk manager of a California-based health maintenance organization.
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While generally citing continued reductions in key health care associated infections (HAIs), a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveillance report also revealed some outliers with high infection rates.
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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, as reported in the March issue of Health Affairs. Less than half the nations nurses (45%) have baccalaureate degrees, according to the most recent data available (2008).
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Compliance with the bloodborne pathogen standard from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an ongoing issue, and now apparent lack of compliance has resulted in a proposed $68,000 fine for a surgery center regarding claims that it failed to protect workers exposed to bloodborne pathogen hazards.
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Few ideas I come up with or speak about are original. Sometimes I think they are, but I might have heard them from a doc, nurse, Seinfeld show, or a conference.
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Technological advancements in medicine have allowed patients suffering from musculoskeletal conditions such as hip and knee pain to regain mobility and live relatively pain-free. But some high-risk surgical devices that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are not required to go through clinical trials, where a product is tested to determine its safety and effectiveness.
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In recent discussions, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), for the first time, proposed equalization between hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) for certain procedures, according to the ASC Association.
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While many women are hearing about the claimed advantages of robotic surgery for hysterectomy, thanks to widespread marketing and advertising, robotic surgery is not the best minimally invasive approach for hysterectomy, according to James T. Breeden, MD, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
