Build a Care Team
With healthcare complexity increasing daily, traditional models of delivering care fail to offer a framework capable of delivering high-quality care at a reasonable cost. The rapid expansion and evolution of medical knowledge makes it impossible for any single healthcare professional to assimilate and retain the up-to-date information necessary to properly treat patients.
After Tort Reform, Keeping Hospital Care Safe for Patients
Communication-and-resolution programs can be tools for preserving patient safety, not just for avoiding litigation.
Let Hospital Staff Lead Quality Improvement Efforts
In the midst of an unprecedented “change management experience,” the AHA’s top quality executive wants leaders to take a page from other industries that must successfully manager high-risk processes.
Medical Device Employees Are Often In the O.R., Raising Concerns About Influence
Unlike rotating teams of nurses and surgical techs, reps are a consistent presence, experts say, often functioning as uber-assistants to surgeons with whom they cultivate close relationships and upon whom their six-figure salaries depend.
Payers and Providers Overcome Distrust to Create Quality Improvement Partnerships
Historically, insurers and healthcare providers haven’t had the most harmonious relationship. Competing business interests typically left representatives from each industry on opposite sides of the table.
How Automated Calls Can Significantly Improve Patient Follow-Up Initiatives
Four years ago, the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) began and officially started penalizing hospitals for excessive 30-day readmission rates. Since then hospitals have begun implementing programs aimed at reducing readmissions, especially for high-risk patient populations.
GAO Asks HHS for Universally Aligned Quality Measure
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) sent a report on October 13 to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urging for better alignment of healthcare quality measures.
Study: Examining Shorter Readmission Intervals a Better Indicator of Hospital Quality
When looking at the link between readmissions and hospital quality of care, it may be best to focus on patients who return to the hospital seven or fewer days after discharge.
What Do Rankings Mean for Patient Safety?
Just as it has every year for the last 26 years, U.S. News & World Report recently released its hospital rankings for 2016-2017. This year, the organization named Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the best hospital in the country.
Exploring Post-Discharge Spaces Designed to Eliminate Gaps in Care
At the end of a hospital stay, many patients find themselves overwhelmed by their experience as well as the often lengthy care directions they’ve been given. Others might find themselves pushed into another care place, one that may not have the resources or focus to holistically address their problems. Too often patients find themselves released from the hospital, only to wind up back in that hospital bed within the 30-day readmission window—a metric closely watched by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and hospitals everywhere.