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Claims of corporate negligence can increase the stakes in a malpractice case, as plaintiffs seek the deeper pockets of the employer who hired and allowed a supposedly deficient healthcare provider to injure a patient.
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Complying with the Emergency Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) can be hard enough before court rulings give the rule a longer reach. Courts in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, and Tennessee have passed laws that make EMTALA applicable even after admission.
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Recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicate that violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) are on the rise. An EMTALA expert suggests there are several reasons:
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Patient sitters can be effective in reducing falls, and the savings can exceed the cost of the sitters. Hospitals should follow specific guidelines for a sitter program.
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A risk managers allegations of fraud regarding her former employer are raising questions about the ethics of a risk manager becoming a whistleblower. Experts say the risk manager must exhaust all other remedies before reporting malfeasance to regulators.
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Seeking to lower healthcare costs and improve patient care by reducing medical lawsuit abuse and using evidence-based guidelines developed by doctors, medical liability reform legislation is being sponsored by Reps. Ami Bera (D-CA) and Andy Barr (R-KY).
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The patient, a 55-year-old woman, underwent surgery to have polyps removed from her vocal cords. The procedure took place at a hospital and was supposed to take only about 10 minutes, with the patient able to return home the same day.
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Patient safety is a top priority for every healthcare organization, but knowing where to direct initiatives can be daunting. To help organizations decide where to focus their efforts, ECRI Institute has compiled its first annual list of the Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations.
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In what is believed to the first case of its kind, a former risk manager has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the health system that employed her and accused it of defrauding Medicare at 14 health centers.
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Even well-designed patient sitter programs cannot prevent every patient fall, but the research by Michelle Feil, MSN, RN, senior patient safety analyst with the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority in Harrisburg identified particular shortcomings that are most likely to allow falls.
