A survey of nearly 80 healthcare executives from Huron Healthcare revealed that executives feel “…improving clinical operations and care delivery offers the biggest opportunity for cost reductions,”
“These survey findings are consistent with what we are seeing and hearing from clients across the country,” said Gordon Mountford, executive vice president of Huron Healthcare.
Tempering their optimism about value-based care however, are the concerns they have about implementing it. Nearly 55% of those polled said their organization’s primary challenge in the transition to value-based care will be adapting their cost structures to generate revenue and control costs.
You can read more details, and download the full report here
A survey of nearly 80 healthcare executives from Huron Healthcare revealed that executives feel “…improving clinical operations and care delivery offers the biggest opportunity for cost reductions,”
“These survey findings are consistent with what we are seeing and hearing from clients across the country,” said Gordon Mountford, executive vice president of Huron Healthcare.
Tempering their optimism about value-based care however, are the concerns they have about implementing it. Nearly 55% of those polled said their organization’s primary challenge in the transition to value-based care will be adapting their cost structures to generate revenue and control costs.
You can read more details, and download the full report here
But, for many, the pain is not. No one enjoys the thought of getting a shot, and Risk and Quality Managers also wince at the need to track their organization’s vaccination screening compliance – most systems are a hassle. There’s no need to worry anymore.
We’ve taken the pain out of compliance tracking with our easy-to-use Influenza Vaccination Screening Compliance Worksheet addition to ActionCue Clinical Intelligence.
A recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling has concluded that hospitals’ internal review reports written after adverse events occur should remain private. But, that doesn’t mean hospitals should not be tracking and reporting adverse events.
Under the ruling, the Valley Hospital of Ridgewood, New Jersey is allowed to keep secret a memo that was written after a roundtable discussion, following events that led to a 2007 malpractice suit alleging a newborn suffered brain damage as a result of negligent care during birth.
In the 4-3 majority ruling, the court said, “[t]he Legislature included in the Patient Safety Act a provision creating an absolute privilege. It reasoned that healthcare professionals and other facility staff are more likely to effectively assess adverse events in a confidential setting, in which an employee need not fear recrimination for disclosing his or her own medical error, or that of a colleague.”
The 2004 Patient safety Act, the Supreme Court was referring to, ensures the confidentiality of healthcare workers in order for them to be more forthcoming when a hospital error is made. Without this provision, hospital staff are less likely to report an adverse event for fear of being held liable. Doctors and nurses should feel they are protected, without the threat of reprisal, to share all information surrounding a bad outcome — allowing for timely and accurate incident reporting.
Timely and accurate incident reporting is essential to improving patient care by identifying adverse event trends due to bad practices, poor planning, or insufficient training. A study from the Journal of Patient Safety calculated the annual toll of preventable deaths due to medical errors in hospitals at as many as 440,000. The finding did not include tens of thousands more who die outside of hospitals from medical mistakes such as drug or diagnostic errors.
It can easily be argued that, in a hospital environment conducive to efficient incident reporting — where all staff feel secure to participate in a culture of quality — and with a robust, integrated Risk, Quality and Performance Improvement program, a large number of those 1,000 deaths per day are preventable.
Source: ABC News
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There is still a mystery surrounding Enterovirus cases spreading around the country. Now the CDC is investigating possible connections between the virus and temporary paralysis. Although its symptoms are similar to the common cold, its rapid progression and severity makes it very different — with many cases ending up in Intensive Care. Hundreds are hospitalized in 11 states, at higher risk are children with asthma.
Here are some important things you should know:
• Highly contagious, spreadable by cough or sneeze, and also can live on surfaces. But full knowledge of how is spreads is unknown due to lack of scientific studies on the virus.
• Starts like common cold; Runny Nose, Coughing, sneezing and fever
• Progresses rapidly; difficulty breathing, possible loss of consciousness (look for wheezing, shortness of breath or difficulty speaking)
Apparently this isn’t the first case of an outbreak of Enterovirus (EV-D68). According to a 2011 CDC report, from 2008 to 2010 there were clusters of Acute Respiratory Illness associated with EV-D68 across multiple continents including Asia, Europe and the United States. While it’s not the first time however, health officials are scratching their heads as to why it has reemerged… and with such voracity.
Particularly alarming is the lack of specific treatment for the virus and its, now possible, connection to acute onset of focal limb weakness — or temporary paralysis. Instead, health officials are tasked with treating the symptoms of the infection, often requiring hospitalization.
For the most current information on the virus, and to find out what is being done about it, visit the CDC website.
The CDC has a specific link for Healthcare Professionals on Evaluating, Reporting, Testing and Infection Control Recommendations here.