Hospital
RSSArticles
-
MRSA Screening Has Collateral Benefits
Lead author Martin E. Evans, MD, an infectious disease physician at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, reports that infection rates fell 80% percent in non-ICUs, and 81% percent in spinal cord injury units.
-
Wanted: The Next Generation of Infection Preventionists
A national survey of 4,078 infection preventionists shows that the field is approaching a demographic cliff, as 41.6% of respondents were age 56 years or older.
-
Will SHEA Drop Flu Shot Mandate of HCWs?
“Given the assault on science that we are likely to see over the next four years in the U.S., SHEA must lead by ensuring that all of its recommendations are solidly based in evidence and that expectations for compliance with interventions correlate with the strength of the evidence,” notes Michael Edmond, MD, clinical professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. “Just as we must defend vaccines from false claims of adverse effects, we must also truthfully acknowledge their limitations and shape our policy on science not opinion.”
-
Study: Flu Shot Mandates Unsupported by Science
The four trials were conducted in long-term care facilities, but have generally been extrapolated to support flu immunization requirements in acute care and other settings. Among other benefits, the studies generally link reductions in resident mortality to higher staff flu vaccination rates. With healthcare worker vaccination rates lagging in most hospitals, several facilities began mandating immunization several years ago in what has since become a national trend.
-
$1.3 Million from Big Data QI
A Maryland hospital has gone from losing $1.2 million in quality-based reimbursement in one year to gaining $1.3 million the next year, after implementing a number of quality improvement initiatives using big data.
-
AHRQ Offers Safety Toolkit on Ventilated Patients
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is offering a new toolkit to improve safety for mechanically ventilated patients in ICUs.
-
CMS Alternative Payment Models Gaining Ground
More than 359,000 clinicians are confirmed to participate in four of CMS’s Alternative Payment Models in 2017, CMS announced recently.
-
Compliance Alert: First Timely Notification Ding for HIPAA
Compliance leaders take note: The Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights is paying more attention to timely notification of HIPAA breaches. The Office for Civil Rights' first-ever settlement with a healthcare provider for failing to notify in a timely manner signals a change in expectations.
-
High Volume Leads to Better Hip and Knee Outcomes
Larger hospitals and those performing a high number of hip and knee surgeries have significantly lower complication rates and readmissions than other hospitals, per a recent study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.1
-
Hospitals Do Not Know Own Outcomes
Hospitals depend so much on outcomes data to determine quality, but one researcher says most hospital don’t even know their outcomes. That leads them to make critical decisions based on faulty information, says Donald Fry, MD, executive vice president for clinical outcomes management with MPA Healthcare Solutions in Chicago, and adjunct professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.