Do Physicians Have a Responsibility to Protect Patients from Financial Harm?
Healthcare organizations shifting to wellness and value-based care first have to overcome significant barriers in getting certain populations to engage in health improvements. But among the biggest barriers today is one that few physicians seem willing to discuss with their patients: cost.
An Opioid Remedy That Works: Treat Pain And Addiction At The Same Time
In 2016, a record 912 people died from an overdose in Colorado, according to data recently released by the state health department. Of those, 300 people died from an opioid overdose. Opioid use often leads to an addiction to heroin, which claimed another 228 lives last year in the state. Those two causes together now rival the number of deaths from car accidents in the state.
Reduce Nurse Stress and Reduce Medical Errors
Stress manifests among nurses in various forms and can affect patient outcomes. Fortunately, leaders can implement solutions to help reduce this pervasive problem.
Terrifying Brush with Death Drives Doctor to Fight for Patients
The searing abdominal pain came on suddenly while Dr. Rana Awdish was having dinner with a friend. Soon she was lying in the back seat of the car racing to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where Awdish was completing a fellowship in critical care.
Preventing Fires in the OR
An unplanned fire is the ultimate sign that things have gone sideways.
Despite being labeled a never event and countless regulations on how to prevent them, fires still break out in hospitals. Between 2012 and 2014 there were 5,700 medical facility fires reported to fire departments.
CMS: Providers Can Text, Just Not Medical Orders
CMS is clearing up recent confusion on what medical providers can text each other. The agency confirmed care team members are allowed to text patient information over a secure messaging app. However, texting medical orders is still verboten.
How Hospitals Are Failing Black Mothers
Researchers have found that women who deliver at these so-called “black-serving” hospitals are more likely to have serious complications — from infections to birth-related embolisms to emergency hysterectomies — than mothers who deliver at institutions that serve fewer black women.
Counting Patient Steps Predicts Readmissions Risk
In a recent study, commercial activity monitors showed a correlation between the number of inpatient steps and the likelihood of readmission.
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.