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The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations announced recently they jointly will offer a Privacy Certification Program for Business Associates.
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One way an organization can ensure repeat business is by developing a strong customer service program that includes a concern management system. An effective concern management system involves five steps. The first step document the concerns was described in last months Quality-Co$t Connection column. The last four steps are described in this months column.
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A quality improvement project in Dayton, OH, achieved a 36% drop in mortality from acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among a group of hospitals cooperating on the effort, and participants say it could not have been done without high-quality data collection by peer review and quality improvement professionals.
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Quality improvement and peer review professionals must continue to focus on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance long after the deadlines pass, say experts, who caution that protecting sensitive data will be a constant worry even after you have the appropriate mechanisms in place.
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recent announcement that it will switch to unannounced surveys beginning January 2006 means quality improvement professionals will have to dramatically change the way they think about compliance with standards and ensure that the rest of the organization follows suit.
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As hospitals continue their efforts to comply with the National Patient Safety Goals issued by the Oakbrook Terrace, IL-based Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, some risk management and quality assurance experts are issuing a strong warning: Dont go overboard with your efforts to write new policies and procedures because they can create unnecessary liability risks.
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Philadelphias Presbyterian Medical Center, part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, is dramatically reducing the number of accounts on hold in its DNFB and OPEX queues and freeing up the revenue they represent with multidisciplinary teamwork and the development of review and monitoring reports on Excel spreadsheets.
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After an initial round of laser surgery on her face, the patient consented to a second procedure, which was limited to an eyelid tuck and minor laser surgery to her chin. Despite the limitation, the ophthalmologist performed a full-face laser procedure, inadvertently resulting in second- and third-degree burns.
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Increasingly, hospitals and other health care facilities are finding that they cant seriously reduce back injuries without using machines to do the lifting.
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Representatives of leading health care and consumer groups have endorsed 30 patient safety practices they say should be universally used in health care settings to reduce the risk of harm resulting from processes, systems, or environments of care.