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A former University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) Healthcare System employee who says he had no idea it was a crime to look at patient records will have four months in prison to think about it.
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Health information exchanges (HIEs), which support secure electronic sharing of patient health information among caregivers, patients, public health authorities, and health care and payment services providers across different setting and geographical areas, are among the most promising initiatives in health care, but there are privacy and security issues that should concern risk managers.
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Pernille Ostberg, president of Matrix Home Care in West Palm Beach, FL, offers these tips for improving background checks on health care workers:
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Background checks for criminal records or other questionable behavior should be a standard risk management strategy for all health care providers, and meeting minimum requirements is not the best way to go, say providers and experts in background screens.
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Wandering and elopement exist in all health care facilities, but long-term care facilities are at most risk because of the nature of the residents' conditions. Patients with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, autism, and others who cannot help themselves pose a high risk, no matter the setting.
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The theft ring at Parkland Hospital in Dallas was discovered and self-reported to all appropriate agencies by Parkland's director of pharmacy services, Vivian Johnson, according to a letter the hospital sent to the State Board of Pharmacy.
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Drug theft is a vexing problem for any health care provider, but a health system in Texas is finding that the thefts can be on such a scale that federal investigators become interested and the community starts asking how the provider could have let the thieves continue for so long.
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Patient access leaders at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, NY, knew there was a perception by some people that scheduling medical imaging procedures was difficult. What they didn't know was why.
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Registrars are given two assessment tests each month, covering updates to policies or payer requirements, at St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver. If someone fails a test, the department's patient access coordinator does a one-on-one educational session, and the test is retaken.
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Patient access staff at Tallahassee (FL) Memorial Hospital are about midway through implementing new software, which Joan S. Braveman, director of patient access and financial services, says "will really take us to the new level."
