Compliance
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Gene-Altered Twins Face Uncertain Future
Chinese twins born in 2018 face a future fraught with potential health complications after a rogue gene-editing experiment that “basically broke every single principle of ethical medical research,” an expert says. The experiment shocked many in the scientific community, who cited widespread agreement that there were too many unknowns to proceed with CRISPR in human research subjects.
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Violence Prevention Begins With Culture of Respect
When a surgeon was shot and killed by a patient at a nearby hospital in 2015, clinicians at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care in Worcester overhauled its comprehensive violence prevention program. The incident that shook the Boston area medical community was the murder of a popular and highly skilled surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital by a relative of a deceased patient.
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Enforcement Action Follows Predictable Path, Starts With a Letter
A healthcare organization’s involvement with OCR may begin with a simple letter acknowledging a complaint and providing guidance documentation related to it. For a more serious concern, OCR will assign a case number and ask for substantial information, such as policies and staff education records.
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Avoid Most Common HIPAA Violations With Best Practices, Education
HIPAA breaches can happen even to the best prepared healthcare organizations, but knowing the most common failings can improve your chances of staying in the good graces of the Office for Civil Rights.
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Court of Appeals Holds That Failure to Diagnose Defects in Fetus Did Not Cause Mother’s Death
In this case, the alleged wrongdoing focused on the initial ultrasound, with the patient’s husband claiming that the defendant physician failed to timely diagnose the patient.
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Incorrect Diagnosis Leads to Patient Refusing Cesarean Section, Infant’s Permanent Injuries
This case reveals how a patient’s circumstances can dramatically affect the size of a verdict, regardless of the underlying type of malpractice. Failures to diagnose or incorrect diagnoses are common types of malpractice when a reasonable physician in the same or similar circumstance would have accurately diagnosed the patient.
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California Law Could Cost Hospitals Millions
Healthcare organizations across the country should be keeping an eye on the California Consumer Privacy Act, which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2020. Failure to comply with this new rule can result in significant penalties, and it is a mistake to think HIPAA compliance will protect organizations.
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Government Moving to More Risk Arrangements Based on Quality
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation wants 100% of providers in upside/downside by 2025 and is using the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced model, primary care models, and (increasingly) more mandatory models to get there.
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Larger Claims Increasing, Leading to Higher Premiums
The medical malpractice insurance market is hardening in response to an increase in claims with large payouts. Hospitals and health systems may feel the effects even if their own claims are stable.
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Uptick in Investigations Expected for 2020; Data Volume Growing
Healthcare risk managers can expect a greater focus on internal investigations and audits in 2020, with much of it aimed at heading off government inquiries with potentially large consequences.