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ED Coding Update: This quarterly column is written by Caral Edelberg, CPC, CPMA, CAC, CCS-P, CHC,President of Edelberg Compliance Associates,Baton Rouge, LA.
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To address declining volumes and suboptimal patient satisfaction in the ED, administrators at North Adams Regional Hospital used lean techniques to eliminate waste and streamline the triage process.
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This paper reviews the most common injuries related to winter sports. Over the past decades, there has been an increase in the variety of winter sports, as well as increased participation by individuals at all levels of fitness. There have also been some improvements made that reduce injuries. For example, breakaway ski boots have reduced the number of tibia and ankle fractures. With some sports becoming more dangerous with jumps and aerial moves, helmets are beginning to be more common, but sadly not fast enough.
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Pulmonary embolism (PE) is not an uncommon disease, and is easily misdiagnosed, resulting in litigation against emergency department (ED) physicians. This article will use legal cases to illustrate medical caveats regarding PE.
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After a 50-year-old man told an emergency physician (EP) that he thought his upper back pain was a result of using a pull crank to start his mower, the EP did a brief musculo-skeletal history and physical exam focused on the patients back pain, and discharged him with anti-inflammatory medication.
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In the course of medical malpractice litigation, the plaintiff attorney claimed the emergency physician (EP) didnt see a patient with respiratory failure until 15 minutes after arrival. This was what the electronic medical records (EMR) time stamp showed, but it wasnt the case.
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When a 37-year-old pregnant woman presented to an ED with right upper quadrant pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, communication between the emergency physician (EP) and the patients obstetrician became a key issue in the ensuing malpractice litigation.
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Infectious diseases account for a significant percentage of emergency department (ED) visits each year and are frequent sources of litigation. A plaintiff verdict or settlement is usually based on a delay in diagnosis and subsequent substandard treatment. It is important to recognize specific infectious entities early to avoid medical-legal exposure. We present five cases of infectious disease malpractice that highlight pearls and pitfalls.
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Psychiatric patients boarded in EDs awaiting available beds present significant liability risks for emergency physicians (EPs) for several reasons, according to Leslie Zun, MD, MBA, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, IL
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An emergency physician (EP) caring for a 62-year-old man after a motor vehicle accident interpreted the chest X-ray as negative. The radiologist overreading the chest films the next day noted a left lung nodule, but the patient was never notified.