Yes, You Must Open Doors to Unvaccinated Surveyors
CMS sent out a statement noting that federal and state surveyors must be permitted entry unless they show symptoms of the coronavirus as outlined in earlier infection control guidance regarding surveys. The statement apparently was in answer to a query from The Joint Commission (TJC), which was acting on the behalf of someone else, according to the Health Facilities Management Insider.
IT Contribution to Physician Burnout Remains a Problem
A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) points out the continuing role of information technology and electronic health record (EHR) usability issues in aggravating clinician burnout. Matt Lambert, MD, is a practicing emergency medicine physician, as well as chief medical officer of Curation Health, a supplier of clinical decision support software to healthcare providers.
Study Shows Racial Disparity in Hospital Patient Safety
The new report, which was conducted by researchers at the Urban Institute with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, examines 2017 hospital discharge data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Cost and Utilization Project. The researchers also used AHRQ software to focus on 11 patient safety indicators.
Full Speed Ahead: CMS Resumes Most Surveys
Effective now, CMS surveyors are resuming hospital surveys on the limited basis as set out in a Quality, Safety & Oversight Group memo last August. Up first are uninvestigated complaints, with a target survey within 45 days.
Review Patient Falls, Especially Those Involving Infants, As Surveys Resume
TJC reminded organizations that, according to its Quick Safety Report No. 40, issued in 2018, “Preventing newborn falls and drops,” that maternal risk factors for infant falls included problems related to Cesarean birth, use of pain medication within four hours, issues on the second or third postpartum night, specifically midnight to early morning hours, and drowsiness associated with breastfeeding.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 25 – COVID-19 and Antibiotic Resistance
On episode 25 of PSQH: The Podcast, Oliver Schacht, CEO of OpGen, talks about COVID-19 and antibiotic resistance.
Healthcare Cybersecurity Budgets are Still Falling Short
Research for the 2021 State of Cybersecurity Report: The COVID-19 Evolution was conducted in January by surveying 131 security or cybersecurity decision-makers employed at U.S. hospitals, health systems, and ambulatory care organizations.
Telehealth Use Up 50-fold For Privately Insured Patients in First Months of Pandemic
Telehealth accounted for one-in-four (24%) outpatient consultations among privately insured working-age adults during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, up from 0.3% for the same period in 2019, a new study shows.
Nurse Officers Stave Off COVID-19 Burnout With Help of Interim Execs
Much of the burnout discussion has focused on frontline and direct care nursing staff, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. But chief nursing executives and other nurse leaders operate within the same volatile environments while also managing organizational, disciplinary, and operational stress, according to the study, Nurse Leader Burnout: How to Find Your Joy.
Solving Fragmented Behavioral Healthcare With Data
While funding is no doubt a critical part of the solution, fragmented care remains a major stumbling block when connecting people with behavioral health services. Through her organization, Dr. Nishi Rawat is seeking to create greater transparency between behavioral health and medical care providers to address the fragmentation in data and care.