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A House subcommittee approved and sent on to the full Energy and Commerce Committee H.R. 6357, the "Protecting Records, Optimizing Treatment, and Easing Communication through Healthcare Technology Act of 2008," known as the PRO(TECH)T Act, which is intended to strengthen the quality of health care, reduce medical errors and costs by encouraging adoption of health information technology, and further protect the privacy and security of health information in the electronic age.
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Research vice presidents for academic health centers agree HIPAA has serious and often detrimental effects on biomedical research.
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A security breach involving the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, and other military hospitals exposed sensitive information on about 1,000 patients, according to a statement released by the Army.
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Injectable medications pose one of the highest risks for medication errors, and the risk often is related to identifying the proper drug and dosage in the syringe before administering it.
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Terry Davis, MD, interim medical director at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, says the hospital had to clarify some initial misunderstandings about when to call its rapid response team (RRT). At first, the clinicians were confused as to when the RRT should be called, as opposed to calling for a pediatric intensive care consult.
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The Ohio Children's Hospital Association (OCHA) and its six member hospitals studied where pediatric codes occur and found that many occur outside the neonatal and intensive care units. To improve safety, the group focused on reducing preventable codes occurring outside those areas.
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A protocol built around the use of rapid response teams (RRTs) has reduced incidences of preventable codes among pediatric patients by 20% at a group of hospitals in Ohio, one of the best demonstrations yet of the success of that approach in improving patient safety. One hospital even saw a drop of 40%.
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In response to several high-profile incidents of homeless patients being discharged in a less-than-dignified manner, the city of Los Angeles has enacted a new law that requires obtaining written consent to transport a patient anywhere other than his or her legal residence. Violating the law could result in a misdemeanor conviction.
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Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood, SC, decided it needed to do something about its billing statements. In response to consumer feedback and a year of planning, the hospital went live on July 21 with its "more friendly" billing system.
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Michael S. Friedberg, FACHE, CHAM, director of patient access services at Apollo Health Street and author of Staff Competency in Patient Access, offers this nugget of truth about management: "If employees feel you'll do anything for them, they'll do anything for you, regardless of pay scale."
