-
The skin is a very effective barrier to hazards such as blood or body fluids. But because some chemicals can penetrate the skin, health care workers need to be aware of the risks and necessary protections, says Scott Dotson, PhD, CIH, an industrial hygienist with the Education and Information Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati.
-
Injuries from contaminated needles and other sharps that can cause infectious diseases are preventable, and shouldn't be tolerated as a cost of doing business by health care organizations charged with ensuring safety and preventing harm.
-
Smoothing" occupancy over the course of a week can protect patients from crowded conditions, according to a study involving 39 children's hospitals during 2007.1 Researchers compared weekday versus weekend occupancy to determine just how much "smoothing" can reduce inpatient crowding.
-
In a single month, registrars at Trinity Regional Health System in Rock Island, IL, were able to obtain disability coverage for five patients with a total of $450,000 in charges, and they were able to obtain Medicaid coverage for 104 patients who had received a total of $100,000 in services.
-
If a registrar complains to Kathleen Bowles, LSW, patient access supervisor at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, she begins by asking these questions: When did the incident take place? What occurred? Who was involved? What was the outcome of the situation?
-
You might be seeing a decrease in your "financial buckets" of insured patients, and an increase in underinsured or uninsured patients, without a corresponding increase in the number of services rendered.
-
Hospital stays for uninsured patients increased 21% between 2003 and 2008, according to a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
-
Frequent news stories and headlines about the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights' (OCR) crackdown on covered entities that have reported data breaches or other privacy rule violations increase the importance of continually assessing compliance with privacy and security rules.
-
Unlike the current privacy rule which identifies purposes that might be omitted from disclosure accounting reports, the proposed rule published on May 31, 2011, identifies those purposes for which disclosures must be tracked and reported.
-
Compliance and regulatory officers have until Aug. 1 to comment on a proposed rule that includes a new accounting of disclosures provision that gives individuals the right to receive a report on who has electronically accessed their protected health information (PHI).
