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Poorly designed, hard-to-use electronic medical records (EMRs) are a threat to patient safety, according to a new federal study that also calls for an independent agency to investigate injuries and deaths linked to health information technology.
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Violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are a growing focus for whistleblowers, says Tammy Marzigliano, JD, partner with the law firm of Outten & Golden in New York City.
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A 45-year-old woman underwent surgery at a local university hospital to remove a cyst on her ovary. During the operation, surgeons found dense adhesions, and the patient experienced increased pain and pressure in her abdomen following surgery. By the time the medical staff diagnosed her with a perforated bowel, the patient was in critical medical condition due to sepsis.
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The continuing adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) might result in increased malpractice liability risk and higher insurance premiums, according to a new report from a health IT research firm.
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A physician complained to the chief of staff and hospital management that surgical equipment is not being sterilized properly and a patient died as a result. In another case, two doctors reported overcrowding in the emergency department that compromised patient care. In another, the physician reported an unlicensed therapy program.
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An 85-year-old woman underwent surgery for an aortofemoral bypass at a local medical center in 2004. In the four years following the surgery, the patient suffered from periodic severe abdominal and back pain, a foul odor coming from her body, weakness, lightheadedness, dizziness, loss of appetite, and nausea.
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Memorial Health System in Springfield, IL, provides this statement regarding the physician who claims he was placed on leave for failing to adequately adapt to the system's new electronic medical record (EMR):
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Administrators from all hospitals with reported events indicated that they rely on incident reporting systems to capture a large portion of the information about events that they use to conduct patient safety improvement activities, but they are not capturing most errors, according to a new report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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These are some key findings from the Second Annual Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy & Data Security released recently by The Ponemon Institute in Traverse City, MI.:
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The risk manager at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles declined to be interviewed about the incident in which a temporary employee posted patient information on Facebook, but the parent company, Providence Health & Services, provided this statement: