Pandemic Telehealth Growth Mostly in Urban, Upscale Areas
The study — published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine — looked at more than 6 million employer-based private insurance claims in 2019 and 2020, representing 200 employers across all 50 states. It found that most of the telehealth claims were for more affluent beneficiaries who lived in metropolitan areas.
Barriers to Incident Reporting in Healthcare
By symplr To understand and improve any system, we must look at its successes and failures. When it’s life and death, healing or inadvertently injuring patients, the stakes could not be higher. Our healthcare providers and staff undertake complex work under pressure of time constraints, and in environments where priorities shift. These individuals must adhere … Continued
PSQH Innovation Awards Winner: Jefferson Healthcare Revamped Infection Control Processes After COVID-19 Hit
A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic first took hold in the U.S. in Washington state, which forced healthcare organizations there to spring into action against a virus that health experts knew very little about. One such organization, Jefferson Healthcare in Port Townsend, successfully managed to transform its processes and has been selected as the winner of the third annual PSQH Innovation Awards.
Inside The Technology Protecting Healthcare From Supply Chain Cybersecurity Attacks
With cybersecurity risks on the rise at hospitals and health systems, third-party access has been identified as a point of vulnerability. While preventing these types of breaches presents special challenges, there are actions organizations can take to mitigate risk.
Acclaimed Clinical Leader Offers 4 Steps to Quality Improvement
Quality improvement is crucial, not only to benefit the patient but also to enhance processes for the staff. “[Quality improvement] has the best outcome for the team and ultimately for the patient, so it’s mission critical for an organization,” says Kerri Scanlon, executive director of Northwell Health’s Glen Cove Hospital .
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 24 – The State of Healthcare Interoperability
On episode 24 of PSQH: The Podcast, Micky Tripathi, the new national coordinator for health information technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, talks about the state of healthcare interoperability. As part of Patient Safety Awareness Week, this episode is presented in partnership with Vocera, GOJO—the makers of Purell, and Symplr.
Unit-led Just-in-Time Coaching: Part of a Winning Strategy to Improve Hand Hygiene
As hospitals reopen services, patients are seeking assurances that their healthcare facility has made their personal well-being a priority from the moment they are admitted.
What Might Be in a Federal OSHA COVID-19 Standard?
The proposed standard would likely require employers to create a company-specific plan to minimize worker exposure to COVID-19. The rule is expected to mandate mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing breaks, and communication procedures for workers during outbreaks. The new standard, which many feel is long overdue, is expected to protect the most at-risk workers.
Protecting and Connecting Our Nation’s Healthcare Workforce
By M. Bridget Duffy, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Vocera Throughout the pandemic, many clinicians have described their experience with COVID-19 as a war with an invisible enemy. As I hear endless tragic stories and see many heart wrenching images from colleagues on the frontlines, I fear our healthcare workforce will be battling PTSD next, and … Continued
CDC’s ‘Huge Mistake’: Did Misguided Mask Advice Drive Up COVID Death Toll for Health Workers?
Those performing such “aerosol-generating” procedures, often in an intensive care unit, got the best protective gear even if there wasn’t enough to go around, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. And for anyone else working with COVID patients, until a month ago, a surgical mask was considered sufficient. A new wave of research now shows that several of those procedures were not the most hazardous. Recent studies have determined that a basic cough produces about 20 times more particles than intubation, a procedure one doctor likened to the risk of being next to a nuclear reactor.