Top Patient Safety Issues for 2013
2013 should be a busy year for patient safety experts at hospitals and surgery centers; as quality reporting requirements continue to go into effect, facilities will be expected to ramp up compliance programs and prove their progress. Click to continue »
5 Tips on Engaging Physicians in Major Process Changes
The healthcare industry is facing tremendous change, including a movement to value-based care, new reimbursement models and a focus on collaboration. Click to continue »
10 Guiding Principles for Patient-Centered Care
In August, Mountain States Healthcare Alliance, a 13-hospital integrated healthcare delivery system based in Johnson City, Tenn., received the 2012 National Quality Healthcare Award from the National Quality Forum, recognizing the system’s achievement of multiple quality-focused goals. Click to continue »
Turning Heart Failure Into Heart Success: Transitioning CHF Patients to Home
Under CMS’ Readmission Reduction Program, which took effect Oct. 1, hospitals will lose Medicare funds for excessive preventable readmissions of patients with acute myocardial infarction, heart failure or pneumonia. Click to continue »
Study: Wide Variation in Implementation of Strategies to Reduce Readmissions
Research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests there is wide variation in hospitals implementing effective strategies to reduce hospital readmissions. Click to continue »
Study Finds Social Factors Linked to Hospital Readmissions, Mortality
Researchers have determined a range of social factors are associated with increased risk of hospital readmissions or mortality, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Click to continue »
How Health Systems Can Create a Robust, Enterprise-Wide Patient Safety Program
Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System launched its “No Harm Campaign” in 2008, a system-wide approach to patient safety that has a goal of reducing adverse events by 50 percent by 2013. Click to continue »
Report: Top Academic Medical Centers Have High Variation in Care Practices
Top academic medical centers vary widely in their intensity of care, procedure rates, patient experience and patient safety, according to a report from the Dartmouth Atlas Project (pdf). Click to continue »
Study: Higher Patient Satisfaction is Linked to Lower Hospital Readmissions
Hospitals with low readmission rates tend to have high patient satisfaction scores, according to a report by Press Ganey Associates. Click to continue »
The Joint Commission to Add 2 Medical/Surgical Hospital Requirements
The Joint Commission announced it will expand performance measurement requirements for accredited general medical/surgical hospitals from four to six core measure sets, effective Jan. 1, 2014. Click to continue »
CMS to Develop Survey on Patient Experience in the ED
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is seeking input on the development of a survey of patient experience in the emergency department, according to a CMS request for information (pdf). Click to continue »
Study: 37% of Physicians Give in to Patients’ Demands for Brand-Name Drugs
Thirty-seven percent of physicians sometimes or often give in to patients’ demands for brand-name drugs when equivalent generic drugs are available, according to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine, formerly Archives of Internal Medicine. Click to continue »
Study: Surgery Generally More Cost-Effective Than Radiation for Prostate Cancer
Surgical treatment for localized prostate cancer is generally more cost-effective than radiation therapy, according to a study in the British Journal of Urology International. Click to continue »
Surgeons Make Preventable Mistakes 4,000 Times a Year, Study Says
Despite a significant push to reduce “never events” — surgical errors such as wrong-site surgery, mistaken patient identity and retained surgical items — surgeons make such mistakes more than 4,000 times a year in the United States, according to a Johns Hopkins study published in Surgery and reported by The Wall Street Journal. Click to continue »
Hospital Cleaning Protocol Has Limited Effect on Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria
Current cleaning protocol may be insufficient to eliminate multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in patient rooms, according to a study in the American Journal of Infection Control. Click to continue »
6 Risk Factors for Central Venous Catheter-Related Blood Stream Infections
Congestive heart failure is a risk factor for hospital-acquired peripherally inserted central venous catheter-related blood stream infections, according to a study in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. Click to continue »
Strategies to Prevent Multidrug-Resistant Organism Outbreaks
Multidrug-resistant organisms are a significant threat to hospitals and other healthcare organizations, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Click to continue »
Study: 26% of C. Diff Patients Received Only Unnecessary Antimicrobials
Twenty-six percent of patients with a recent Clostridium difficile infection received only unnecessary antimicrobials, according to a study in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. Click to continue »
7 Hospital and Health System CEOs: What Disruptive Innovation Means to Me
Disruptive innovation is broadly defined as the creation of new market values and breaking away from existing market trends. Click to continue »
Which Hospital Markets Had the Best 2013 Value-Based Purchasing Results?
Hospitals in the Fort Wayne, Ind., region, on average, performed the best on CMS’ Value-Based Purchasing Program, which went into effect this year, and Washington, D.C., hospitals collectively scored the worst, according to a regional analysis by Kaiser Health News. Click to continue »
3 Simple Ways Hospitals Can Engage Patients in Their Care
Successfully reducing readmissions and improving patient satisfaction requires hospitals to engage patients in their care. Click to continue »
Population Health Management is a Two-Way Street: Encouraging Patient Engagement
Under CMS’ Readmissions Reduction Program, hospitals will be financially penalized for having high readmission rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia. Click to continue »
Database of Downloadable Safety and Quality Tools & Resources Now Available
Becker’s Operating Room Clinical Quality & Infection Control finds and is provided with a wide range of downloadable tools and resources designed to help healthcare providers improve the quality of care they can provide to their patients and ensure a safe working environment for their staff members. Click to continue »
51 Hospitals With the Lowest 30-Day Mortality Rates For Pneumonia
Here is a list of 51 hospitals with the lowest 30-day mortality rates for pneumonia from July 2008 through June 2011, according to data from CMS’ Hospital Compare database. Click to continue »
