Healthcare Risk Management articles from August 2004

Healthcare Risk Management archives from August 2004

Underwriters are demanding more and looking more closely for potential flaws: self-assessments help prepare for their visit, show ways to improve.
August 1, 2004... Insurers continue to exert pressure on risk managers, and industry leaders say you should be getting a closer look from underwriters than you have ever had before. The latest example comes in the form of underwriters who may poke around...

Self-assessments correct problems and buff image.(Risk assessment)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Self-assessments can be used to address known problems within the organization and also to promote a risk manager's stature, says Kenneth W. Felton, RN, MS, FASHRM, senior vice president and health care practice leader with Webster Insurance in...

Visit HRM, ED Legal Letter site.(Hospital Risk Management)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... We now offer free on-line access to www.hrmnewsletter.com for Hospital Risk Management subscribers. The site features current and back issues of HRM and ED Legal Letter, also from Thomson American Health Consultants. Included on the site...

Step-by-step process helps assess ambulatory care risk.(self-assessment of new acquisition, risk assessment methods, health care industry)
August 1, 2004... Risk managers must investigate potential exposures with a critical eye, especially when the area in question is a new acquisition for the organization, says Donna Young, CPHRM, FASHRM, vice president of risk management services with Mutual...

Who might fill the role of your patient safety officer?(Health care risk management)
August 1, 2004... If you don't already have a patient safety officer in your institution, it might just be a matter of time before you do. But should you be the person who fills that role? And if you're not, how does that new position fit in with your role in...

Hallway talk can violate patient confidentiality.
August 1, 2004... Have you ever been walking through the hospital and overheard staff talking about patients? So have plenty of other people, according to new research that warns such overheard conversations can be a serious breach of patient confidentiality....

Surcharge at the heart of covering high insurance.(pregnancy charge by 150 obstetrician-gynecologists practice in Connecticut)
August 1, 2004... A practice of 150 obstetrician-gynecologists in Connecticut is planning to charge an extra $500 per pregnancy starting Sept. 1 in response to its high medical liability premiums, even though the state attorney general say such a surcharge...

Doctor sues to fight for rights of whistle-blowers.
August 1, 2004... A physician in California physician recently sued the Florida Medical Association (FMA) in Tallahassee and three other doctors in an effort to fight what he says is an attempt to discourage doctors from testifying against others in medical...

Complaint: 'peer review' of witnesses is intimidation.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... This is an excerpt from the lawsuit filed by John Fullerton, MD, a San Francisco physician who accuses the Florida Medical Association (FMA) in Tallahassee of intimidating doctors who testify in medical malpractice cases: * Conspiracy...

Nurse stole pain meds from dying patients, police say.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox recently announced charges against a Howell, MI, nursing home nurse supervisor that accuse him of stealing prescription painkillers from hospice patients. Jeffrey Joseph Wolos, 32, of Swartz Creek, MI, was...

AMA says Massachusetts joins those in liability crisis.(American Medical Association, medical liability)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The American Medical Association (AMA) recently announced that Massachusetts has become the 20th state in a full-blown medical liability crisis due to its deteriorating medical liability climate and the growing threat of patients' losing access...

Outpatient clinic can be OK for injured employees.(risk management, law violation)
August 1, 2004... Question: The answer to a recent reader question suggested that injured employees be treated in the employee health department instead of the emergency department (ED), but what if you don't have an employee health department? We only have an...

Diplomacy required when patients want to leave ED.(Emergency department, Emergency medical treatment and active labor act of 1985, law violation risk)
August 1, 2004... Question: How much do we really have to encourage people to stay for treatment in the emergency department (ED) when they want to leave? I understand that it can be considered an EMTALA violation if they leave without being seen and say it was...

CE questions.
August 1, 2004... Nurses participate in this continuing education program by reading the issue, using the provided references for further research, and studying the questions at the end of the issue. Participants should select what they believe to be the correct...

Unnecessary and negligent surgical procedure leads to death and a $1.4 million verdict.(Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, risk management methods, pancreatitis cases)
August 1, 2004... News: One summer day, a man was scheduled to have surgery to remove his gallbladder. Upon the recommendation of his gastroenterologist, however, the patient underwent an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) first. Negligence...

Classic appendicitis goes undetected, leads to death.(Diagnostic error cases, risk management methods)
August 1, 2004... News: A man with no prior abdominal problems presented to an emergency department (ED) complaining of severe abdominal pain in the area of his appendix. Based on X-ray findings, two physicians made an incorrect diagnosis of gastroenteritis and...

Many health care organizations still remain a long way from security compliance: URAC identifies four barriers to meeting security demands.
August 1, 2004... Even though less than a year remains before the HIPAA security rule takes effect April 21, 2005, many health care organizations are a long way from compliance, according to an assessment by Washington, DC-based URAC, the only organization...

OCR reports more than 5,000 complaints: largest number filed against private practices.(Office of Civil Rights)
August 1, 2004... As of April 2004, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) had received more than 5,000 complaints from individuals about alleged HIPAA privacy violations. New Haven, CT-based Wiggin & Dana attorney Jennifer...

Working Group concerned about claims rejections: Slow-Pay modification is at issue.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, medicare)
August 1, 2004... The HIPAA Implementation Working Group, a coalition formed to help providers and vendors better understand the process by which the HIPAA electronic standards are developed and modified and to increase provider and vendor representation in that...

Vendors agree on HIPAA interpretation 43% of time.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The HIPAA Conformance Certification Organization (HCCO) says its Common Compliance Assessment Process determined that, on average, the nation's leading HIPAA translation and validation vendors agree in their interpretation of compliance 43% of...