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Healthcare Risk Management has learned that terrorists may be behind a recent spate of incidents in which people posed as JCAHO surveyors, doctors, or government officials to gain access to hospitals. Experts in hospital security and terrorism say the most likely explanation for these impostors’ attempts to gain access is they are collecting information for future attacks on health care facilities.
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Prices in the commercial insurance industry, which declined steadily in 2004 in the first yearlong soft market since 1998, may be showing signs of a rebound, according to a new survey.
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Sooner or later, some type of crisis will hit you and your organization. It's an inevitable part of your job, so risk managers should plan for that day by preparing contingency plans and putting together a "bible" of crucial information ahead
of time, suggest two risk managers who have weathered storms.
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The impostors visiting hospitals must be taken very seriously, says the vice president for accreditation field operations with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
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While your facility, no doubt, has a Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliance policy, which, among other things, covers electronic communications, it might be a good idea to craft one that is specific to your ED, experts say.
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No one is claiming its a cure-all for emergency department (ED) overcrowding, but a number of facilities have turned to postponing elective surgeries that require admissions as an important part of a multifaceted plan to ease the burden on their harried ED staff. And when they do, many give the ED manager a key role in the decision-making process.
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When Ocala (FL) Regional Medical Center announced a new screening initiative that would involve counseling nonurgent patients to seek alternative care, a funny thing happened: Local competitors Monroe Regional and Timber Ridge became involved when they heard about our initiative, because they felt they would be inundated by patients who were not having their treatment here, says Susan Atkin, RN, emergency department (ED) director.
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Hospital case management departments should take the lead in making sure patients are placed in the right status by establishing a front-end process to make sure that problems in observation status vs. admission status dont occur.
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In-room registration reduces patients total length of stay significantly, says this study from the Childrens Hospital and Health System in Milwaukee.
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Two of your surgeons want you to purchase an expensive piece of technology, but youre wary because youre unsure how much they will use it. What should you do?