“Show Me the Money”
By Carlos Nunez
A curious thing is happening.
As the healthcare conversation moved front and center over the last several years, a correlation developed linking cost and quality. Politicians and providers, payors and patients have embraced these complementary themes as the “one-two punch” that will win the fight to keep our healthcare system safe, solvent and sustainable. As far as punches go, it sounds almost painless: Make the system better and safer, and the savings will follow. Who would argue with that logic?
Now it seems that some prominent voices have started to pivot the conversation toward the need for greater cost control, suggesting that quality and safety efforts alone may not deliver the necessary savings.
Collaboration Announced to Prevent Surgical Site Infections and Other Adverse Outcomes
NIST Releases Technical Guidance for Evaluating Electronic Health Records
An important aspect of any product is how easily someone can use it for its intended purpose, also known as usability. Electronic health records (EHR) that are usable have the potential to improve patient care, which is why the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has outlined formal procedures for evaluating the usability of EHR systems.
Patient Safety Education Program Offers QRC-Enabled Posters
Kimberly-Clark and Safe Care Campaign team with CDC, The Joint Commission’s Speak UpTM Educational Campaign and the Patient Channel to provide consumer education.
AHRQ Offers Free Quality Indicators (TM) Toolkit
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) offers a free toolkit to help hospitals understand and make effective use of the agency’s Quality Indicators (QIs) and Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs). In addition to its focus on these indicators, the toolkit is a general guide to using improvement methods.
Health 2.0 and ONC Announce Reporting Patient Safety Events Challenge
Health 2.0 and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today launched the Reporting Patient Safety Events Challenge, designed to spur development of platform-agnostic health information technology (HIT) tools to facilitate the reporting of medical errors in hospital and outpatient settings. The deadline to submit applications is August 31, 2012.
A New Look, Nickname, and Expanded Content
Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare and its family of products in print and online has a new look. In our print publication, we also have a fresh approach to news items, and better integration with related offerings at www.psqh.com. We’ll continue to publish the eNews Alert twice each month.
Standard Register and HealthTrust Expand Agreement
Standard Register, a recognized leader in managing critical communications and information for health care, has signed an agreement with HealthTrust Purchasing Group, L.P., (HealthTrust), a Tennessee-based group purchasing organization (GPO).