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.
Delay on Texting Ban Repeal
This spring, The Joint Commission reversed its ban on texting medical orders, citing critical improvements in the technology’s security. The accreditor has now announced it will delay the repeal until it can create additional guidance on appropriate texting policies, according to an article in the July issue of Joint Commission Perspectives. The Joint Commission and … Continued
MACRA Comment Period Ends With Burst of Feedback
Reaction to CMS’s proposed rule includes from MGMA that the proposal “provides almost no opportunities for medical groups to begin the shift away from fee-for-service reimbursement.”
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
CMS Proposes Making Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Mandatory
Last week, CMS published a list of proposed rule changes for hospitals and laboratories. One of the more notable proposals would make antibiotic stewardship programs (ASP) mandatory. ASPs are considered a way to prevent antibiotic misuse and the spread of drug-resistant disease.
“We propose to change the introductory paragraph (in Infection Control Condition of Participation §482.42) to require that a hospital’s infection prevention and control of antibiotic stewardship programs be active and hospital wide for the surveillance, prevention, and control of HAIs and other infectious diseases, and for the optimization of antibiotic use through stewardship,” according to the proposed rule.
Putting New Strategies in Place to Decrease Workplace Violence
By Megan Headley
Incidences of workplace violence remain too high for the healthcare industry, despite increased attention on this issue. Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates that from 2002 to 2013 incidents of serious workplace violence were, on average, four times more common in healthcare than in private industry. In fact, data indicates that healthcare accounts for nearly as many serious violent injuries as all other industries combined.
“Too many healthcare workers face threats and physical violence on the job while caring for our loved ones,” commented the current assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, Dr. David Michaels, in a December 2015 news release on this topic. “It is not right that these valuable workers continue to be injured and sometimes killed on the job. Most of these injuries are preventable and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is providing … resources to help combat these incidents and raise awareness that violence does not need to be part of the job.”
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).
VA Wants Full Practice Authority for Advanced Practice Nurses
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently filed a proposed rule to permit full practice authority of all VA advanced practice registered nurses (APRN). The proposed rule would establish additional professional qualifications an individual must possess to be appointed as an APRN within the VA. It would also subdivide APRNs into four separate categories that … Continued