Repeal and Replace: It’s Complicated
This past February, the President announced that the delivery of healthcare to America’s 300 million residents embraced more complexity than he previously realized.
Nurses Drive Change in Patient Safety Improvements
Nurses have the greatest opportunity to keep patients safe. It’s here, through patient engagement, that nurses are leading change.
Sparking Healthy Competition Among Teams
What brings teamwork to life? A subtle but essential enabler is competition—the push to improve.
Using Information From External Errors to Signal a “Clear and Present Danger”
To best promote patient safety, it is crucial to seek out information about external errors, to hold on to your initial feelings of surprise and uncertainty when you read about these errors, and to resist the temptation to gloss over what happened or attribute the problem to an individual different than you.
CMS: Don’t Put off Newly Required Emergency Exercises
Medical facilities still have the better part of a year before the new emergency preparedness rule is implemented this fall, but they should not wait any longer to begin complying, CMS warned last week.
Standardized Palliative Care Consults Cut Readmissions 18% Among Some Cancer Patients
Oncology patients with advanced disease benefit from palliative care consultations triggered by standardized criteria, research shows.
AAMC: U.S. Physician Shortage Could Surpass 100,000 by 2030
The United States could face a shortage of 40,800–104,900 physicians by 2030, according to a study published earlier this month by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
NQF Recommends Reduction of Quality Metrics
The organization recommended eliminating around 51 out of 240 of all federal quality metrics used to determine payment in seven federal healthcare programs. This is meant to make the requirements for providers more efficient and streamlined.
Justice Department Joins Lawsuit Alleging Massive Medicare Fraud by UnitedHealth
Two whistleblower complaints allege that UnitedHealth has had a practice of asking the government to reimburse it for underpayments, but did not report claims for which it had received too much money.
Late Move to Dump ‘Essential’ Benefits Could Strand Chronically Ill
A last-minute attempt by conservative Republicans to dump standards for health benefits in plans sold to individuals would probably lower the average consumer’s upfront insurance costs, such as premiums and deductibles, said experts on both sides of the debate to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.