Healthcare Risk Management articles from September 2004

Healthcare Risk Management archives from September 2004

Trust and its perception: Hospitals and charitable lawsuits clash in the courts: review your collections practices and EMTALA procedures now.(Special Report: Charitable Hospital Lawsuits)
September 1, 2004... Even if your hospital was not named in the recent wave of lawsuits against charitable providers, the alarm bell is ringing and you need take action now. The message from legal experts and health care analysts is clear: These lawsuits represent...

Review collection practices critically, suggests lawyer.(Charitable Hospital Lawsuits)
September 1, 2004... Do you know how your organization goes about collecting debts from past patients? Do you know exactly how? Would you mind if those practices were detailed on the evening news over a picture of your front entrance and logo? The recent...

Serious EMTALA violations charged in charity lawsuits.(Charitable Hospital Lawsuits)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... When it comes to EMTALA, you don't want to just toe the line, says Bryan Liang, PhD, a professor of law, medicine, and public policy at California Western School of Law in San Diego. You want to be so far away from the line that no one could...

Lawsuit primer: hospitals accused of profiteering.(Charitable Hospital Lawsuits)
September 1, 2004... Here is what you need to know about the class action lawsuits filed against some of the largest nonprofit hospitals in the United States: The lawsuits were filed by Charitable Mississippi attorney Richard Scruggs, best known for heading the...

Guidelines cover five rules for charity care, collections.(Charitable Hospital Lawsuits)
September 1, 2004... Responding to the lawsuits against charitable hospitals, the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) recently provided its member hospitals with a comprehensive set of guidelines addressing charity care, financial aid, and...

Hospital investigated after improper photo is taken.
September 1, 2004... A Denver hospital is facing strong criticism and threats of a lawsuit after emergency department (ED) staff photographed an unconscious patient's genitals and left the photo on the man's digital camera. The hospital already has weathered...

Newest JCAHO patient safety goals include falls.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
September 1, 2004... The newly released 2005 National Patient Safety Goals indicate that the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) will put special emphasis on efforts to reduce patient falls, infections, and misidentification of...

Infant deaths subject of new Sentinel Event Alert.
September 1, 2004... Incidents of perinatal death of permanent disability have declined steadily in recent years, but the tragedy still occurs too often, reports the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). JCAHO's most recent Sentinel...

JCAHO offers up advice for reducing infant deaths.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Because the majority of perinatal death and injury cases reported root causes related to problems with organizational culture and with communication among caregivers, JCAHO offers these recommendations: 1. Conduct team training in perinatal...

Medical error rate may be higher than IOM estimate.
September 1, 2004... The number of medical errors per year may be twice as high as previously estimated, according to a new report. An average of 195,000 people in the United States died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the...

Medical errors concern most of public, study says.
September 1, 2004... Hospital-based medication, surgical and diagnostic errors are of concern to most Americans, according to the results of a new Harris Interactive poll of 2,847 U.S. adults. Three in five Americans (63%) are "extremely concerned" (39%) or...

CE questions.
September 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...

An obstructed airway causes permanent brain damage: $24 million verdict in Kentucky.
September 1, 2004... News: A boy who broke his arm playing football was taken to an emergency department (ED). His broken bone was reset, and he was transferred to a recovery unit. The boy's airway became obstructed, which went unnoticed by his anesthesiologist,...

Failure to treat volvulus: $2.9 million settlement.
September 1, 2004... News: A 5-year-old awoke in the middle of the night with intense stomach pains and was driven to an emergency department (ED). The ED physician's preliminary diagnosis was a probable bowel obstruction. The child was seen by his family...