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The SCPIE Companies, an insurer in Los Angeles, recently offered its own advice on reducing the risk of e-mail communication in health care. In addition to endorsing the eRisk guidelines, SCPIE says health care providers must be careful about when they choose to use e-mail.
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Whether or not your hospital staff decide to participate in a voluntary smallpox vaccination program, there are Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) issues involved by virtue of the fact that anyone is giving them, says Stephen Frew, JD, a longtime specialist in EMTALA compliance.
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Final security standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for protecting patient health information when it is maintained or transmitted electronically have been adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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Its been more than a decade since Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network in Allentown, PA, took its discharge planning and utilization management functions and created a resource utilization department with a single director, says Susan Lawrence, MS, CPHQ, administrator of quality and case management.
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Providence Health System in Portland, OR, has improved customer service and gained staff efficiency by creating a call center that allows patients to handle physician and hospital billing questions with one telephone call.
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For people with asthma, the viral infections that cause the common cold are a major cause of health emergencies, including hospitalizations, a study at the University of Iowa Health Care has concluded.
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As a case manager, you are well accustomed to working in a number of roles. However, those roles can become complex when your patient advocate role does not mesh with the obligations you have to your employer.
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Disease management is a fluid process that often involves transitioning patients from the disease management team to case management for more intensive interventions, says Pam Mays, MPH, BSRN, RN, assistant vice president for care management of CIGNA Health Care.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that these adverse events after smallpox vaccination be reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting Systems and to state health departments.
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Screening adds safety to smallpox vaccination. Despite widespread fears about the smallpox vaccine, there were few serious adverse reactions and no known spread to contacts in the first month of the vaccination program.