Healthcare Risk Management
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Kickback case holds lessons for risk managers
The recent high-profile conviction of a hospital CEO involved in kickbacks and providing unnecessary care to homeless patients shows that risk managers always must be on alert for illegal activities that may be hidden behind the doors of an executive suite.Legal Review & Commentary: Failure to administer calcium after thyroidectomy: $4.7 million settlement
News: Following an elective thyroidectomy, a woman was diagnosed with hypocalcemia. Although calcium was ordered, it was never administered to the woman, despite persistent symptoms of the calcium deficiency. The woman eventually went into cardiac arrest and sustained anoxic encephalopathy, becoming comatose.Legal Review & Commentary: Torn tendon results in $1.2 million settlement
News: A man sustained lacerations to his right index finger and middle finger and was immediately taken to the emergency department (ED) of a local hospital, where a physician's assistant sutured the wound. The man returned to the hospital on three occasions, where hospital officials noted decreased extension in the man's long finger of his right hand.How to customize HIPAA training
Whether you use an outside consultant or do it yourself, training staff in Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance should be customized to your own needs and situation. Consider this advice on how to provide the training that is right for your organization.
ONC: Electronic health records improve patient safety
Electronic health records (EHRs) can improve patient safety, raise care quality, and reduce potentially serious medical errors, according to a statement from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for healthcare technology.Get ready for a bigger role in risk financing, prepare for more scrutiny
The continuing malpractice insurance crisis is putting more pressure on risk managers to present the best possible image to underwriters, according to representatives from the insurance and risk management fields who recently gathered to discuss how to best respond to new demands.Hard market causing more restrictions and demands
The hard insurance market is leading to major changes in the insurance policies offered to health care providers, says William McDonough, MPAH, ARM, FASHRM, segment leader-manager for health care and senior vice president and national practice leader for Marsh, a major insurance broker in New York City.RMs tackle rough edges of smallpox vaccination issue
Risk managers face a host of unanswered questions and potential liabilities as hospitals gear up for the smallpox vaccinations recently urged by advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.Safety hotline, new staff improve care, reduce errors
The addition of a patient safety specialist and a safety hotline for reporting potentially dangerous situations improved the quality of care dramatically at a Missouri hospital, so much so that it is the first hospital honored by the American Hospital Association with its Quest for Quality prize.Legal Review & Commentary: Failure to diagnose, treat jaundice: $10.66M verdict
News: Several days after its birth and discharge from the hospital, a couples child developed jaundice. The condition was reported, and the child seen by several nurses at a hospital, but all failed to inform the familys physician or direct the parents to the emergency department (ED).