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An editorial in the February Annals of Epidemiology expresses concern that HIPAAs efforts to enhance patient confidentiality by restricting access to medical records is slowing the progress of critical biomedical research.
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Risk managers know better than most people that, while living wills can be useful in some circumstances, they do not guarantee that end-of-life decisions will be simple or uncontested. The Schiavo case proves that point well, says the Chauncey Stillman Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and professor of internal medicine at UM in Ann Arbor.
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Many agencies and nonprofit organizations that tout living wills are reporting a sharp increase in people seeking the documents because of the Schiavo case, so you can expect more patients to show up with questions about them or clutching a living will that they downloaded off the Internet.
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Living wills just arent worth the paper theyre printed on, say two experts who have looked at how the documents are really used.
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Disclosure is a complex process, not simply an opportunity to sit at the patients bed side and say youre sorry, says the chief operating officer and vice president of care delivery at Childrens Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
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While computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is expected to significantly reduce medication errors, systems must be implemented thoughtfully to avoid facilitating certain types of errors, according to a recent study.
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A survey of hospital leaders indicates that many have serious reservations about a mandatory error reporting system, including that it would discourage event reporting and increase the risk of lawsuits, according to a recent study.
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Conventional wisdom is wrong: Primary care doctors who coordinate the care of their patients by specialists may actually have lower liability risk than primary care doctors who do not attempt care coordination.
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A woman underwent surgery to remove her gallbladder. During the procedure, the surgeon noticed a hole in the patients intestine, which he immediately repaired. However, he completed the surgery without examining the rest of the intestine. After the procedure, the woman exhibited symptoms of an abdominal infection. Doctors reopened the womans abdomen and discovered a second perforation that had caused intestinal contents to leak into her abdominal cavity. Although they attempted to repair the hole, the delay had irreversibly exacerbated the womans condition and she died.
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To effectively manage patients care, providers need the most information possible. The question becomes, under HIPAA, whether managed care organizations can disclose patient information to all providers for any reason
