Medicare Penalizes Group of 751 Hospitals For Patient Injuries
The federal government Thursday lowered a year’s worth of Medicare payments to 751 hospitals to penalize them for having the highest rates of patient injuries.
Infection Lapses Rampant in Nursing Homes But Punishment is Rare
Basic steps to prevent infections — such as washing hands, isolating contagious patients and keeping ill nurses and aides from coming to work — are routinely ignored in the nation’s nursing homes, endangering residents and spreading hazardous germs.
Doing More Harm Than Good? Epidemic of Screening Burdens Nation’s Older Patients
“In patients well into their 80s, with other chronic conditions, it’s highly unlikely that they will receive any benefit from screening,” says Dr. Cary Gross.
Why Do Healthcare Workers Report to Work When Sick?
Recent study makes the assertion that illness transmission by healthcare employees represents a grave public health hazard. By John Palmer It’s no secret that that healthcare can be a dirty profession. So why is it that despite the warnings about the dangers of not wearing appropriate protection around hazardous drugs and infectious diseases, workers still … Continued
A System-Based Approach to Managing Patient Safety in Ambulatory Care (and Beyond)
For years, providers of all backgrounds have recognized the need for a systematic approach to supporting safe and effective care for patients in the home and community.
Don’t Downplay Physician Burnout
Burnout has the potential to threaten patient safety, lower quality of care, and ultimately increase healthcare costs.
Patient Handoffs: The Gap Where Mistakes Are Made
Communication failures contribute to somewhere between 50% to 80% of sentinel events. So it’s the number one cause of the most serious events in hospitals which in turn are a leading cause of death in the U.S.
CHIME Redirects Patient Identification Efforts
The National Patient ID Challenge did not achieve CHIME’s goals, and the association opted to move those resources to other patient identification strategies, according to the association’s announcement.
Study: Concurrent Surgeries Safe for Patients
A review of more than 2,000 neurosurgical cases found no greater risk of post-operations complications for patients operated on by surgeons conducting overlapping surgeries.
Vaccine Shortage Complicates Efforts To Quell Hepatitis A Outbreaks
The San Diego outbreak, and a number of others in California and across the United States, have generated a spike in demand for hepatitis A vaccine and put a squeeze on supplies, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.