CMS Updates State Operations Manual
The updated Interpretive Guidelines for CMS surveyors includes most—but not all—of the new or revised Conditions of Participation for discharge planning and burden reduction outlined in two final rules published in September.
CMS Offers Training on New Electronic Form for Restraint-Related Deaths
CMS announced the new electronic form and provided instructions on how to use it, including a video, in a Quality, Safety & Oversight Group memo, on December 2.
Asymptomatic Carriers of C. Diff May Be Significant Source of Infection at Hospitals
Hospitals have focused on reducing transmission of C. diff from symptomatic patients. However, the new study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology found asymptomatic carriers of C. diff spores are at significant risk of progression to symptomatic C. diff infection.
Berwick Outlines 7-Step Campaign for the Quality Movement
Berwick urged healthcare providers to embrace his unabashedly progressive agenda that looks beyond their own immediate needs and margin pressures, and actively confronts the root causes of the vast social and moral issues that ultimately affect the health of humanity, such as a lack of access to food, shelter, healthcare, and hope.
IHI Looks to Expand ‘Age-Friendly’ Health Systems
The initiative, Age-Friendly Health Systems, uses evidence-based framework called the 4Ms: what matters to older adults; medication that is age friendly; attending to mentation, including delirium, depression, and dementia; and mobility, so seniors can maintain function.
Medical Malpractice Rate Dropped Over 10-Year Period
When looking at the number of defendants per 100 physicians, the steepest decline was in OB-GYN claims with a 44% drop over 10 years. The drop is possibly attributable to focused safety efforts in labor & delivery over the last 15 years, but more research is needed.
Hospital Splits This Payroll Expense 50/50 With Local Payer to Curb ER Overuse
Rather than shouldering the full cost of employing a full-time ED social worker, the hospital partnered with local insurer South Country Health Alliance. They struck a deal and signed a contract agreeing to split the personnel expense 50/50, beginning in 2012.
Hospitals Need to Brace for Upward Trend in Malpractice Claims
Over the past two decades, the medical professional liability insurance marketplace has been hardening in response to higher paid claims. The evolving market is putting upward pressure on premiums and downward pressure on insurance industry capacity.
Report: Antibiotic Resistance More Prevalent in Device-Associated Infections
The report compiled data from more than 5,600 facilities from 2015 to 2017 and found that resistance was consistently higher for device-associated healthcare-acquired infections than for the same bacteria identified after surgical procedures. The devices studied were those used for a limited time in a hospital setting such as central lines, ventilators, and urinary catheters.
Q&A: The Impact of To Err is Human at 20
Since the report’s initial claim that as many as 98,000 people die annually from medical errors, there have been major strides in changing healthcare organization’s systemic problem, workplace cultures, and improvement processes.