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When reading a New England Journal of Medicine article1 describing intensive monitoring of blood glucose levels for surgical intensive care unit (ICU) patients on ventilators, which resulted in decreased mortality rates, James Krinsley, MD, director of critical care at Stamford (CT) Hospital, had a revelation.
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Emergency department (ED) managers may not possess a crystal ball, but the ability to predict future events is nonetheless critical to their success, notes Bonnie Coalt, RN, MS, director of nursing at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, OH.
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An administrative huddle at Latter Day Saints (LDS) Hospital in Salt Lake City has been tremendously helpful in determining when to postpone elective surgeries, but it has had a much broader impact on patient flow in the emergency department (ED) and the hospital as a whole.
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When Sonja Boone, MD, director of diversity for Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, talks to case managers about how they can provide patient-centered care to people from other cultures, she encourages them to talk directly to the patients about their beliefs and practices and about how the hospital can meet their needs.
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If its not currently doing so, your case management department should make use of your Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) to identify areas where you may be overcoding or undercoding, medical necessity of admissions is questionable, or readmissions are too frequent.
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Hospitals tread a fine line when it comes to placing patients in observation status. If patients dont meet criteria for observation, your claim probably will be denied.
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Terrorists may be behind a recent spate of incidents in which people pose as accreditation 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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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published a notice of proposed rulemaking that changes rules related to investigations of breaches of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
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A preliminary analysis of data collected on 246,552 breast implant procedures performed in facilities accredited by the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) in Gurnee, IL, shows a high level of safety for patients undergoing the procedure in outpatient settings.
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In the fifth annual Knee Arthroscopy with Meniscectomy study performed by the Wilmette, IL-based Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Cares (AAAHC) Institute for Quality Improvement (IQI), all organizations indicated they had standing procedures to prevent wrong-site surgery, and in 60% of the cases, the physician and patient initialed the surgery site.
