A new simplified scoring process that The Joint Commission will use for all accreditation and certification programs as of Jan. 1, 2009, was created in conjunction with The Joint Commission's Standards Improvement Initiative (SII).
The anticoagulants cited most frequently in medication error reports are unfractionated heparin, warfarin, and enoxaparin, classified as low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), says The Joint Commission.
This was the stuff of an ED manager's nightmare: A 36-year-old woman with measles, thought to be the source of an eventual outbreak of measles in February 2008, was kept in the ED of Northwest Medical Center in Tucson, AZ, for more than 12 hours after a physician had ordered that she be placed in isolation.
(Editor's note: This is the third in a three-part series on innovative approaches to documentation that can significantly enhance your department's revenues without making any changes in patient flow and throughput processes. This article discusses the use of experienced coders and improved documentation. In the previous two articles, we discussed effective documentation tools, proper staffing to optimize their use, and incentive programs for improved documentation.)
[Editor's note: With this issue, we begin a quarterly column on coding in the ED by Caral Edelberg, president of Edelberg Compliance Associates. If there are coding issues you would like to see addressed in this column, contact: Caral Edelberg, CPC, CCS-P, CHC, Edelberg Compliance Associates, Baton Rouge, LA. Phone: (225) 454-0154. EFAX Number: (225) 612-6904.]
What should be done if the ED patient disagrees with what is documented or perceives that the record is incomplete?
If you want to give patients gift cards as a way to say "sorry" for that long wait in the ED or anything else that left them unhappy feel free. The government says you're not violating any prohibitions on improper remuneration.
One way to get your staff flu vaccination rates higher is to make it as easy as possible for them to obtain a vaccination, says David Ross, DO, an emergency physician at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, CO. Ross says his hospital's staff vaccination rate has risen from 63% to 73% in the past year.
The Joint Commission has released a statement that effective Jan. 1, 2009, there will be new simplified scoring and decision processes for all accreditation and certification programs that "better reflect an organization's performance regarding compliance with Joint Commission standards and elements of performance [EPs]."
The Joint Commission and the Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA) have formed a partnership to provide quality oversight for urgent care clinics.