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New provisions and clarifications in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) omnibus rule might have some hospitals scrambling to determine their compliance level, but it might not be a situation that requires outside help.
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Recent media coverage showed a dramatic 911 call between an emergency dispatcher and a nurse at a retirement home who refused to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on an elderly woman who was unresponsive.
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A jury awarded $25 million to a 41-year-old man who experienced a severe heart attack only a few months after being given ibuprofen to treat his heart condition.
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When hospitals hire more nurses with four-year degrees, patient deaths following common surgeries decrease, according to new research by the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia.
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Although healthcare organizations have been slower to adopt cloud-computing services than other industries,1 a recent study shows that 62% are using cloud services for some activities.2 However, 47% of respondents relying on the cloud are not confident that information is secure, and 23% are only somewhat confident.
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A hospital in Fargo, ND, focused on preventable falls in its cardiac telemetry unit and is seeing admirable results. After a year of effort, falls were reduced by 25% at the end of 2012, and then the hospital hit a 50% reduction barely a month later.
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Extremely obese patients are more likely than a patient in the general adverse event population to experience a harmful adverse event, according to information released recently by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority (PPSA) in Harrisburg.
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In November 2012, a multi-hospital healthcare system settled allegations of improperly compensating physicians from its many clinics for referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients. It was alleged by the United States Department of Justice Civil Division that these actions were in direct violation of the False Claims Act and Stark Law. The hospital system agreed to pay $9.3 million to settle those allegations.
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Want a healthier, happier workforce? Try the team approach to wellness.
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The American Medical Association's Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement and The Joint Commission have come up with ways to reduce five commonly overused treatments use of antibiotics for viral infections like colds, over-transfusion of red blood cells, placing tubes in ears for middle ear infusion, early elective delivery, and elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).