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Like many improvements in patient access processes, increasing up-front collections is not as easy as it sounds. One way to facilitate this is by giving staff incentives.
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Improving patient satisfaction is "a high priority" for the patient access department at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, according to Michael F. Sciarabba, MPH, CHAM, the hospital's director of patient access services.
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The Food and Drug Administration is alerting healthcare professionals not to use certain intravenous (IV) bags of metronidazole, ondansetron, and ciprofloxacin because of potential contamination.
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Hospitals have expanded their environmental cleaning programs to respond to the epidemic of Clostridium difficile, but many are unaware whether patient rooms and environmental surfaces are actually being decontaminated, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology reports.
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The unprotected exposure of a respiratory therapist who later developed bacterial meningitis has triggered the first citations under California's new Aerosol Transmissible Disease Standard. Fines of $101,485 including two "willful" violations, the strongest possible penalty were levied against Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, CA.
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In a report that may prove to be the cornerstone of a long-anticipated national surveillance system for healthcare associated infections (HAIs), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported an 18% decline in the national incidence of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs).
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In a May 20 letter to Congress, the chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities called on Congress to remedy what he characterized asthe abortion and conscience flaws in the Patient Protection and Affordable Act (PPACA), according to a news release from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, DC.
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"I think most of us who take care of patients didn't get a very good education in excellent symptom management, so [many] people don't know how to take care of pain and dyspnea and anxiety and delirium and all these symptoms that truly, truly cause physical suffering," Mahon tells Medical Ethics Advisor.
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Sue Dill Calloway, RN, Esq., BSN, MSN, JD, a nurse attorney and medical legal consultant in Columbus, OH,has had considerable experience in dealing with informed consent. Calloway recently presented an audio conference on "Informed Consent 2010: The Latest in CMS and Joint Commission Consent Requirements" for AHC Media, publisher of Medical Ethics Advisor.
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The chair of the task force responsible for the fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, David J. Kupfer, MD, and Darrel A. Regier, co-authors of a recent commentary in JAMA, suggested their perspective in the commentary title: "Why All of Medicine Should Care About DMS-5."
