Costs of Care Announces Winning Essays: Providing High Value Care
Patients and their caregivers are uniquely positioned to recognize inefficiency in the healthcare system but are seldom empowered with information they need to reduce harmful spending. With the help of New England Journal of Medicine Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Drazen, former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, former White House advisor and bioethicist Zeke Emanuel, and New York Times columnist and surgeon Pauline Chen, Costs of Care (www.CostsOfCare.org) launched an innovative essay contest this fall aimed at elucidating both the challenges and opportunities to save patients’ money with routine, cost- conscious medical decisions.
Update on Meningitis Outbreak Caused by Mass. Compounding Pharmacy
The Nov/Dec issue of PSQH included news coverage and commentary about the fungal meningitis outbreak caused in late 2012 by contaminated medications that had been shipped throughout the country by a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts. In The New England Journal of Medicine, Smith et al. report that as of Dec. 10, 2012, the outbreak resulted in 590 reported cases of infection in 19 states and 37 patient deaths. According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, this outbreak is one of the most harmful adverse events ever associated with compounding pharmacies in the United States.
Does CMS Proposed Measure for PCA Safety Go Far Enough?
This is the question that I have been asking myself ever since Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced proposed quality measures it is considering for adoption through rulemaking for the Medicare program. One of the measures under consideration by CMS (proposed quality measure #3040) calls for “appropriate monitoring of patients receiving PCA [patient-controlled analgesia].”
Key Questions for Safety Projects
Safety-related projects may arise from root cause analyses of actual incidents, other structured risk identification efforts (e.g. failure modes and effects analysis), or external reports of adverse events that occurred elsewhere (e.g. Joint Commission Sentinel Events). An appropriate response to such information may be to undertake an effort to review and, where necessary, revise processes and technology so that the identified event does not reoccur, or not occur at all if the impetus is external information.
HTT and Datix Collaborate to Improve Patient Safety
Healthcare Team Training (HTT) – a global provider of services focused on improving patient safety, satisfaction and quality – and Datix – a leading supplier of patient safety software solutions – have announced their collaboration to use enterprise event reporting and risk management systems to improve quality and enhance operational efficiency.
ECRI Institute PSO Analyzes Data from More Than 100,000 Adverse Events
Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) permit healthcare providers to report adverse events under legal protection and are a rich source of important information that can be put into practice. With nearly four years’ experience reviewing patient safety data, ECRI Institute PSO has released important trends and guidance that can be used to reduce injury and deaths.
Research Finds Link Between Patient Experience of Care Measures and Readmissions
Press Ganey Associates, Inc., a recognized leader in health care performance improvement, has released a new research study indicating hospitals that perform better on patient experience of care measures have lower patient readmission rates.
Is Incremental Change Enough?
Nothing has changed; but in health care, everything has changed. — Former Senate Majority Leader William Frist, MD
Though he did not attend the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI’s) National Forum last week in Orlando, Senator Frist’s words served as its chorus. Frist’s observation came during a meeting hosted by IHI in Washington, DC, two days after the national election in November. The meeting, titled “Out of the Blocks,” was scheduled to assess the effect of the election—however it turned out—on the Affordable Care Act and, therefore, also on the U.S. healthcare industry.