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Responding to the dilemmas faced by hospitals hit by Hurricane Katrina, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has issued a step-by-step guide called Standing Together: An Emergency Planning Guide for America's Communities."
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In assessing liability for any injury or loss of life during an evacuation, a key question will be whether the organization followed instructions from the local authorities, says Kevin Lyles, JD, an attorney with the law firm Jones Day in Columbus, OH. Lyles co-chairs Jones Day's health care practice and oversees the firm's privacy practice.
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Hurricane Katrina exposed questions of professional liability for facilities and individual providers, either for failing to have a disaster plan in effect or failure to properly implement the plan, says Donna Klein, JD, of the law firm McGlinchey Stafford in New Orleans.
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The Department of Health and Human Services published Sept. 14 an extension to the interim final rule establishing procedures for imposition of civil money penalties on entities that violate HIPAA administrative simplification standards.
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A Computerworld survey of information technology managers and analysts found that five months after HIPAA's data security rules took effect, many health care companies still are not fully compliant with them. Those interviewed said technology, process, and budgetary issues delayed compliance efforts, along with what was seen as a weak enforcement component that has led many health care organizations to believe they could take a wait-and-see attitude toward the rules.
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The sixth in a planned series of seven HIPAA security rule educational papers deals with risk analysis and risk management. The rule's security management process standard has four required implementation specifications, including risk analysis and risk management.
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Within days of Hurricane Katrina lashing the Gulf Coast states, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) reminded providers through mailed notices and news media announcements that the privacy rule allows patient information to be shared to assist in disaster relief efforts and in providing patients the care they need.
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News: A change in how trichloroacetic acid (TCA) was packaged translated to a patient being seriously burned and disfigured while undergoing a chemical peel to "touch up" her face-lift. The physician and pharmacist in what was identified as a second incident for each of them failed to appreciate the fact that the TCA had been repackaged and required a new formula for achieving the correct dosage. The patient was awarded $500,000, which was apportioned between the supplier (30%), pharmacist (40%), and physician (30%).
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A national worker safety group says that mandatory flu shots are not justified for health care workers.
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Question: What is the best way to define a fall" for the purposes of data collection and educating our staff about fall prevention strategies? Is it a fall if the patient slips but a staff member catches him before he actually falls? This seems important to keeping accurate records, and we're not sure what to tell staff about how to record and report those incidents.
