Community Circles: Transforming Care in Downeast Maine
By Holly Gartmayer-DeYoung, BSN, MBA Each morning, Eastport, Maine, is the first city in the United States to see the sunrise. Among the contiguous United States, Eastport has the deepest natural harbor (Fallows, 2014), one that buzzed with industry and prosperity during the 19th century and well into the 20th. The city’s fortunes have largely … Continued
What Clinical Decision Support Can Offer
By Nancy Zimmerman, RN, BSN Advanced clinical decision support (CDS) systems are playing an increasingly important role in promoting quality and safety in patient care, especially in diagnostic assistance. While arriving at a correct diagnosis will always be a mixture of art and science, with physicians ultimately responsible for all clinical decisions, CDS systems support … Continued
Health IT & Quality: Why Things Matter
By Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH Compared to automobiles made just a few years ago, new ones provide an amazing driving experience. Expanding beyond the CD changer and iPod® dongle, automobiles now integrate our smartphones and use voice recognition technology, allowing drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel. In addition to this … Continued
Using Automated Surveillance to Improve Diagnosis
By Tom Scaletta, MD, CPPS Every day, healthcare becomes more complex, and with that complexity comes a growing need to focus on reducing diagnostic errors. A recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Improving Diagnosis in Healthcare (Balogh, Miller, & Ball, 2015), estimates that 5% of adults seeking outpatient care experience a diagnostic error, while one … Continued
CDC: 30% of Outpatient Antibiotics Are Prescribed Inappropriately
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that approximately 30% of antibiotic prescriptions written in the outpatient setting were inappropriate. Researchers found that several common conditions contributed to the majority of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Forty-four percent of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions were written to treat acute respiratory conditions, sinus infections, … Continued
80% of ER Providers Hesitant to Ask Patients About Gender Sexual Orientation
For emergency medicine clinicians who learned to defer to patients’ privacy on sexual orientation and gender identification, asking questions is a major culture change.
Surgeon Ratings Websites Aim to Make A Mark On Patient Care
Two new ratings websites use risk adjustment models that offer a more complete picture of quality care.
ACS Releases New Standards for Overlapping and Conurrent Surgeries
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) released a much anticipated update to its “Statements on Principles” addressing both concurrent and overlapping surgeries. More than six months after a Spotlight Report from the Boston Globe into the concurrent surgeries at Massachusetts General Hospital, the ACS updates stipulate “a primary attending surgeon’s involvement in concurrent or simultaneous surgeries on … Continued
3 Ways a CNS Can Influence Quality of Care
This article first appeared on HealthLeaders Media, June 21, 2016. Physicians may balk at full-practice authority for APRNs, but medical doctors have more in common with Clinical Nurse Specialists than they realize. By: Jennifer Thew, RN When it comes to advanced practice nurses, what’s old is news again. In May, the Department of Veterans Affairs … Continued
Get Ready to MOON Your Patients!
The requirements of the NOTICE Act take effect on August 6.
By Timothy Kelly, MS, MBA
“They’ve ordered observation for Mr. Smith. Would you please MOON him?”
While that exchange may strike us as a joke today, it will likely become part of our accepted vernacular in just a couple of months. A MOON – Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice – is both a written document to be executed and also a conversation to be had with a patient. This new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) form is designed to meet the requirements set forth in the Notice of Observation Treatment and Implication for Care Eligibility Act (the NOTICE Act).