Readmissions

Nursing Home Tackles Readmissions with In-house Primary Care

By Jennifer Wright, NHA, CPHQ

Across the country, healthcare providers are grappling with high rates of readmissions to hospitals within 30 days after discharge. Readmission to the hospital is stressful for patients and their families; costly; and, many times, avoidable.

Health IT & Quality

Evolving to Health 3.0

By Barry P. Chaiken, MD, FHIMSS

The dramatic shift to value-based reimbursement requires all providers to disrupt their care processes and workflows to ensure the delivery of high quality, safe care at a reasonable cost. For more than four decades these same providers thrived in an environment where providing more care easily generated higher prices and profits. In that former reimbursement model, a serious and dangerous moral hazard existed where the instinct to “do no harm” clashed with a similarly powerful driver to maximize income.

ISMP

FentaNYL Patch Fatalities Linked to ‘Bystander Apathy’

By The Institute for Safe Medication Practices

ISMP just learned about another child that died after gaining access to a transdermal fentaNYL patch. This time it was a 15-month-old boy who had been cuddling with his mother, sleeping on her chest as they both took a nap. The boy’s mother had been wearing a fentaNYL patch on her chest to treat pain associated with multiple sclerosis. When the mother awoke, she found her son unresponsive.

News

ANA Issues Standards for Safe Patient Handling as Foundation for National Drive to Improve Worker Safety

The American Nurses Association (ANA) has published new national standards for safe patient handling and mobility that are designed to infuse a stronger culture of safety in healthcare work environments and provide a universal foundation for policies, practices, regulations, and legislation to protect patients and healthcare workers from injury.

Patient- and Family-Centered Care

Partnering with Patients and Families from the Bedside to the Boardroom

By Libby Hoy and Mia Arias

Imagine a setting where patients and families feel confident and comfortable asking questions, providing valuable historical information, and discussing their health priorities in open dialogue with their providers. How many adverse medical events could be avoided? How many duplicated tests could be eliminated?

Analytics

Predictive Analytics Drives Patient Engagement and Improves Care

Despite the best efforts of clinicians around the country, healthcare delivery is still largely a cottage industry. Just like the old family-run corner store, or the artist down the street who makes jewelry to sell at local craft fairs, isolated teams of wonderfully talented and committed individuals have for many years done the best they can to provide rescue care.