Hospital Management
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‘Decision-makers of Last Resort’ Pose Unique Ethical Challenges
Surrogates sometimes vehemently disagree, despite all attempts to resolve the conflict. In other cases, there’s simply no one to speak on the patient’s behalf. Either way, the clinical team is forced to turn to the courts or government if an important medical decision must be made.
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‘Feel-Good Approach’ Is Not Enough: Assess Quality of Ethics Consults
Quality of clinical care routinely is assessed using myriad established approaches, with patient safety issues addressed with such proven methods as root cause analyses. On the other hand, quality of ethics consultations often is not addressed at all.
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Disclosure of Errors Not Documented — Even if Patient Seriously Harmed
Very few disclosures of medical errors or apologies to the patient or relatives were documented in medical records, found a recent analysis of malpractice claims.
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Lawsuits Allege Patients’ End-of-Life Wishes Ignored
Several recent lawsuits alleged that patients were harmed by unwanted care because their end-of-life wishes were disregarded by the clinical team, with one case resulting in a $1 million settlement against the hospital.
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IT Workers Can Fall for Online Scams
Healthcare IT staff often assume they know what they’re doing when it comes to data security, and all the other employees are likely to create a data breach by falling for an online phishing scam or other hacking attempt. But a recent report suggests IT staff can make big mistakes, too.
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Most Clinicians Admit to Sharing EMR Passwords
A majority of medical staff surveyed recently said they have accessed an electronic medical record system using a password improperly supplied by a fellow medical staffer, and explained that strict confidentiality rules can make it difficult to get the data needed to do their jobs properly.
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HHS Clarifies HIPAA as It Applies to Opioid Crisis
The HHS Office for Civil Rights has clarified how it expects healthcare providers to comply with HIPAA when they need to share patient information on opioid overdoses: Providers can share protected health information in limited ways during overdoses.
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HIPAA Hampering Patient Engagement, But Solutions Exist
Risk managers and compliance officers have heard the same complaint from so many clinicians: Complying with HIPAA gets in the way of interacting well with patients. And they’re right.
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HHS May Be Taking Different Tack With HIPAA Enforcement
HHS and the Office for Civil Rights may be adopting a different approach to HIPAA compliance under the Trump administration, as evidenced by a notable reduction in enforcement actions in the past year. But don’t let down your guard just yet. HIPAA still has teeth.
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Exclusion of Expert Witness Results in Successful Defense of Infection Case
In a failure-to-diagnose lawsuit, the court ultimately ruled in favor of the physician and hospital, granting their summary judgment motion. The exclusion of the plaintiffs’ expert witness under the critical Daubert case governing expert witnesses was the primary basis on which the summary judgment motion was granted.