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When a patient care problem or improvement opportunity has been identified, it must be resolved. If the problem is significant, it is important to take action as quickly as possible. Good ideas for resolving the problem are solicited from physicians and staff and the best solutions identified.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released the final Hospital CAHPS (HCAHPS) survey instrument. The HCAHPS survey is the first national attempt to standardize patients satisfaction with care in order to make apples to apples comparisons.
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Drawing on 20 years of quality improvement experience, MPRO, Michigans Health Care Quality Improvement Organization, is bringing together hospitals, home health agencies, and physician practices to come up with solutions to communications barriers between providers, with the ultimate goal of improving the outcomes for the states cardiovascular disease patients.
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Four years after the Joint Commission introduced standardized core performance measures with its 2002 ORYX initiative, quality professionals still are struggling to improve compliance with core measure data collection.
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When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its original Patients Rights Conditions of Participation (COPs) for hospitals in 1999, the definition of a grievance was unclear, says Patrice Spath, a Forest Grove, OR-based health care quality specialist.
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This month, St. Joseph's Medical Center in Towson, MD, will begin discharging patients by appointment, in the latest phase of a three-year effort toward capacity maximization, says Jackie Connor, RN, MS, CCS, director of case management.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)'s final rule on the inpatient prospective payment system requires hospitals to report on the full set of 21 Hospital Quality Alliance measures to get full payment updates, effective for discharges on or after October 1, 2006.
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Quality professionals at many organizations soon will be collecting additional data, as a result of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) final rule on the inpatient prospective payment system.
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During a January 2006 survey at Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, MA, Joint Commission surveyors looked closely at patient safety, medication reconciliation, fall prevention, handoff communication, and changes made as a result of performance improvement activities.