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Risk managers expect accreditation records to be confidential, and The Joint Commission (TJC) urges providers to fully disclose information about adverse events and deficiencies as part of the quality improvement process. But some risk managers are learning that those records are not as private as often thought.
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If providers worry that The Joint Commission (TJC) will release their accreditation records to prosecutors, they may become reluctant to share sensitive information with the accrediting body, cautions Vickie Patterson, an associate director in the Atlanta office of Protiviti, a risk consulting firm.
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The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Washington, DC, announced recently that it will strengthen its oversight of three of the most potent forms of medical radiation, including computed tomography (CT) scans.
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Reprocessing of single-use devices is becoming increasingly popular among U.S. health care organizations, which are drawn to the potential cost savings and, more recently, the effort to go green by reducing waste. But do those benefits bring liability risks?
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News: A 76-year-old retired butcher and truck driver with dementia was admitted to a nursing home. During the man's stay, he suffered from dehydration and also developed several bedsores requiring hospitalization.
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News: At birth, a baby boy was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect preventing blood flow to his lungs. Two days later, a B-T shunt was placed, and the child was discharged a few days later.
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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPAC), recently signed into law by President Obama, will affect many areas of concern for risk managers.
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The Joint Commission (TJC) states that this information received or developed during the accreditation process will be kept confidential:
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In radiology, the real malpractice risk begins after the technicians have performed the imaging study and the doctor has interpreted the results. It's what happens to that information from that point on that usually determines whether a lawsuit will result.
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Robert Russo, MD, FACR, a radiologist in Bridgeport, CT, advises risk managers to watch for these common ways in which radiology findings can fall through the cracks and never be reported.
