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A pediatric asthma program that includes home visits by an asthma management team and an intensive educational program for families has resulted in a dramatic drop in emergency department (ED) visits for pediatric asthma patients at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, MI.
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Hospital discharge planners often have to use their ingenuity in finding placements for patients with no insurance who need post-acute services or are homeless and need a place to stay. The problem is that patients must be discharged safely, whether or not they have money to pay for the services they need.
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A team approach and intensive case management of patients has helped San Francisco General Hospital cut the number of hospitalizations and costs for patients who were frequently hospitalized.
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One of the great challenges in the whole world of quality and patient safety is learning to take advantage of the richness of clinical cases, says Robert M. Wachter, MD, professor and associate chairman in the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and chief of the medical service at UCSF Medical Center.
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The sign over your emergency departments (ED) door may say emergency, but the people who walk in may not necessarily be having one.
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The uninsured; The underinsured; Indigent patients; Undocumented workers.
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As health insurance costs escalate and employers provide a lower level of coverage for employees or cut out insurance benefits altogether, the number of workers with no health insurance is on the rise. Meanwhile, states are struggling with dwindling funds for Medicaid and are slashing benefits, and an unprecedented number of undocumented workers are seeking care in hospital emergency departments.
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The outcome of a medical malpractice case often depends on an experts opinion and how well that expert conveys that opinion to a jury. Despite the important role that experts play within the medical malpractice system, until recently, there has been little oversight of expert witness actions. With the increasing number of professional and legal actions against expert witnesses, it appears that the same experts hired to review the actions of their peers are starting to be scrutinized themselves. This months issue of the ED Legal Letter will address some of these issues that relate to the role of the expert witness.
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