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The 2004 fixed performance areas that will be addressed in random unannounced surveys conducted by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Organizations will be organized by critical focus areas instead of performance categories as in the past.
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Sometimes, despite your best efforts, an accident occurs with new technology and a patient is injured or dies. Surprisingly, one of the most common mistakes that providers make is insufficient investigation or lack of response to an error so that it is repeated, says Bruce C. Hansel, PhD, executive director of forensic services at ECRI.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced these rates for ambulatory surgery center groups, effective April 1, 2004.
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IRBs need to be aware that the tools and data collection techniques used in socio-behavioral research may appear riskier than they actually are, and the public benefits may be greater; therefore, its a good idea to refrain from categorically rejecting research that involves unknown factors, suggests John Laub, PhD, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland in College Park.
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The longtime research tradition of sharing data has been challenged in recent years with the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and its privacy requirements. However, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has confirmed its commitment to the tradition with its mandate requiring certain grant proposals to describe how data will be prepared for public use.
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According to Minneapolis training experts Ron and Susan Zemke, adults learn for a purpose. They wrote, Adults tend to have a problem-centered orientation to learning. So when designing an education program they suggest you keep in mind the following.
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By tracking length of stay and direct variable cost of care, the case management department at Covenant Health System, based in Knoxville, TN, was able to show a savings of $3.6 million in the first three quarters of last year and a denial rate of less than 1% at most of its facilities.
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A physician champion made all the difference when Methodist Medical Center (MMC) in Oak Ridge, TN, started its CareTrax clinical pathway system in 1993, says Coletta Manning, RN, MHA, CPHQ.
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Correct control chart selection is a critical part of creating a control chart, according to PQ Systems, an industry leader in the manufacturing of statistical process control (SPC) and quality control software based in Miamisburg, OH.
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It was about 2 a.m., Sept. 16, when Hurricane Ivan roared into Pensacola, FL, with 130-mile-per-hour winds, battering the boarded-up windows of Sacred Heart Hospital, knocking out the electricity and forcing the hospital to operate on emergency generators. Many staff had arrived at the hospital before the storm hit, anticipating problems with transportation afterward, and they all sprang into action to make sure the patients and more than 2,000 family members of patients and staff being sheltered at the hospital were safe.
