Healthcare Risk Management
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Eliminating Alarms Can Help Reduce Falls
So much of the effort to reduce patient falls has focused on the use of alarms and physical aids that the suggestion of eliminating those tools can sound heretical. But some healthcare facilities are forgoing alarms and other methods on the theory that they can give both patients and staff a false sense of security.
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Addicts Pose Legal Risks to Hospitals
The growing presence of opioid addicts in healthcare facilities can create a legal obligation to anticipate the patient safety risks they can introduce, says Erin L. Muellenberg, JD, partner with the law firm of Arent Fox in Los Angeles.
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Opioid Epidemic Brings Patient Safety Risks
The opioid addiction epidemic is introducing a new patient safety risk to healthcare facilities: the possibility of desperate and clever opioid addicts diverting medications from patients, which could leave the provider liable for any consequences.
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Feeding Tube in Lung Results in Death And $5 Million Verdict From Jury
In 2008, a hospitalized 88-year-old man was given a feeding tube by a first-year resident at a hospital. An X-ray was ordered to confirm the placement of the feeding tube, but the radiologist incorrectly read the X-ray.
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Unnecessary Heart Surgery With Pacemaker Results In $21.3 Million Verdict Against Hospital and Doctor
In 2010, a 39-year-old patient was told by a doctor that a catheterization showed a 60% blockage in an artery. He then was told that if he did not have a pacemaker implanted, he would die.
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Office of Civil Rights Gives Warning: Small Breaches Are Going To Be Investigated
The Office for Civil Rights announced recently that it will step up its investigations of HIPAA breaches affecting fewer than 500 people.
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Nurse Input Undervalued in Patient Safety
Nurses are an “underused resource” for improving patient safety, according to a recently published study.
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Court Says Reading Test Results Are Not ‘Treatment’
Reading test results does not constitute “treatment” as defined in medical malpractice law, and neither does transmitting the report, according to a Pennsylvania Superior Court common pleas judge.
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Workplace Bullying Brings $1.08 Million Verdict
A nurse in Dallas has been awarded $1.08 million for what a jury found was workplace bullying by her boss, a urologist. However, the plaintiff settled for $440,000 just before the verdict was announced.
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MACRA Would Grant Auditors HIPAA Access
A little-known feature of a proposed law adjusting physician reimbursement could create problems with HIPAA compliance, particularly if staff members are not informed.