Healthcare Risk Management articles from June 2006

Healthcare Risk Management archives from June 2006

'Patient dumping' charges in Los Angeles call attention to care of homeless.
June 1, 2006... 'Patient dumping' charges in Los Angeles call attention to care of homeless Los Angeles hospital accused, but most hospitals face same dilemma A Los Angeles hospital is under fire for what critics call "patient dumping" after local...

Document diligently, send patients with needed items.
June 1, 2006... Document diligently, send patients with needed items When you must discharge a homeless patient with nowhere to go, make sure you document extremely well and avoid making mistakes that can cast your hospital in a bad light, experts advise....

Guidelines call for special care with bariatrics.
June 1, 2006... Guidelines call for special care with bariatrics These are some excerpts from the special guidelines that PHT Services, an insurer in South Carolina, provides to client hospitals that perform bariatric surgery: * Laparoscopic...

On-site JCAHO surveys offer lessons to others.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
June 1, 2006... On-site JCAHO surveys offer lessons to others The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' (JCAHO) switch to conducting all types of on-site accreditation surveys and certification reviews on an unannounced basis is...

Checklist helps Baylor staff ready for surprise surveys.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Checklist helps Baylor staff ready for surprise surveys When you hear that today is the day you'll be surveyed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), it's too late to make any major improvements. But...

JCAHO warns about problems with some tubing.
June 1, 2006... JCAHO warns about problems with some tubing The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has issued a special warning to double-check how tubes and catheters are connected to patients, citing a number of...

Wrong-site surgery rare, major injuries even more so.
June 1, 2006... Wrong-site surgery rare, major injuries even more so Insurance records suggest that wrong-site surgery is extremely rare and major injury from it even rarer, according to a study supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality....

Legal Review and Commentary: Ineffective, delayed treatment of sepsis leads to double amputations and $3.6 million settlement.
June 1, 2006... Legal Review and Commentary 5-year delay in notifying patient of dental implants recall leads to confidential settlement in Indiana By Blake J. Delaney, Esq. Buchanan Ingersoll, Tampa, FL News: In 1984, a woman received dental...

Legal Review and Commentary: Court overturns malicious credentialing verdict.
June 1, 2006... Legal Review and Commentary Court overturns malicious credentialing verdict $2.4 million settlement reached with 2 physicians News: A patient undergoing back surgery experienced a cardiac arrest after losing excessive amounts of...

CE Objectives/Questions.
June 1, 2006... CE Objectives After reading this issue of Healthcare Risk Management, the CE participant should be able to: * Describe legal, clinical, financial, and managerial issues pertinent to risk management in health care. * Explain how...