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Falling Leaf is a program that identifies the patients at highest risk for falls and then aggressively works to monitor them and find the root cause of their falls. The program can dramatically reduce the number and severity of falls in any health care setting.
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A San Francisco insurer is offering health care providers what it says may be a first in underwriting a professional liability insurance policy specifically geared toward electronic-based and web-enabled transactions for health care operations.
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Using a universal consent form for multiple procedures anticipated for a patient can nearly double the consent rate for most of the invasive procedures performed in an intensive care unit, according to researchers in Chicago. But observers say the tactic may violate the spirit of the informed consent process.
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A Mexican laborer injured himself on the job when a piece of metal entered his eye. He did not seek medical attention until the next day. The day after that, he was referred to an emergency department (ED), where the eye was finally appropriately treated. The surgery was performed too long after the injury occurred to save the laborers sight.
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Time needed to document security compliance; OCR pushes for voluntary compliance; Help available for employers;
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URAC has released a draft set of HIPAA Security Accreditation standards for public comment. Once the program is completed, it will enable health care organizations to display a commitment to information security and demonstrate that they have adopted the necessary policies and procedures to ensure health information security.
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For Baystate Health System, a $1 billion integrated health system operating in western Massachusetts, HIPAA compliance has been seen as more than a technology issue. It also is a major cultural and operational issue that has an impact on systemwide operations and the way the system and its staff interact with patients.
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The road has been paved for using bar codes on all medications to reduce errors, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcing recently that is proposing a rule requiring bar codes on all medication packages, a mandate that some say would significantly improve patient safety in the nations hospitals.
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A California not-for-profit hospital is spending $50 million on new, advanced technology that promises fundamental changes in hospital ICU care and bedside medication delivery, all intended to improve patient safety.
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A California nursing home is being sued for elder abuse and investigated for Medicare fraud after a resident died in terrible pain, with his family charging that clinicians ignored his pleas for medication despite charting his severe pain.