Hospital Peer Review articles from January 2002

Hospital Peer Review archives from January 2002

Joint Commission wants to see new effort on terrorism plans: cooperating with other local providers now a big focus for surveyors.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
January 1, 2002... Health care providers must step up their preparations for terrorist attacks and other disasters, according to a new Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations directive that says past requirements for emergency preparedness...

QI project: get babies home fast, yield savings.
January 1, 2002... Cutting length of stay is a goal at most hospitals, but neonates usually are not a target because they are seen as too delicate and no one wants to risk sending a sick newborn home too soon. At a North Carolina hospital, however, the quality...

Hospitals should still use Sentinel Event Alerts.(to calculate the hospital's patient safety management score)
January 1, 2002... Much to the relief of many peer review professionals, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is backing off a plan to require that providers respond to its Sentinel Event Alerts in ways that could be assessed by a...

ORYX option can reduce duplication of data.(in long-term care organizations)
January 1, 2002... The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has announced a new option that can help long-term care organizations reduce duplicative data collection requirements and even the costs of complying with ORYX. Under a new...

Office CM program draws praise from physicians.(case management)
January 1, 2002... Program helped decrease inappropriate admissions A medical office case management program that began in July at Sutter Health Central in Sacramento, CA, is drawing praise from initially reluctant physicians and offering veteran case...

CAQH announces plan for credentialing system.(Coalition for Affordable Quality Healthcare)
January 1, 2002... Pledging to ease physician paperwork, The Coalition for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) in Washington, DC, announced plans to launch a credentialing application system that it says will be dramatically simpler than existing systems and...

Health plans report quality improvements.(National Committee for Quality Assurance)
January 1, 2002... The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) reports that its fifth annual State of Managed Care Quality shows significant gains in all key areas of care and service from health plans for the second year in a row. The report is...

CHSRA indicators deemed a success.(Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis)
January 1, 2002... The Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis (CHSRA) indicators are being called a success after nearly a decade of use, and the developers say the development process should be a model for the creation of other quality indicators. The...

Credential your allied health professionals. (The Quality - Cost Connect).
January 1, 2002... The medical staff credentialing process serves several purposes. First, the process helps in setting standards for the practice of patient care within the institution to ensure quality patient care. Well-drafted credentialing policies and...

CE questions.(continuing medical education questions)
January 1, 2002... 1. Following the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations added a new clause to the intent section of which accreditation standard?...

Anthrax outbreak forces closer focus on patient safety: facilities may have to revisit preparedness plans.
January 1, 2002... The recent anthrax bioterror attacks have been a rude awakening for health care professionals across the country; they now know that what they once considered a dim possibility now is a reality. And while the threat seems to have died down,...

HHS commits $50 million to better patient safety.(Health and Human Services)
January 1, 2002... In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released $50 million to fund 94 new research grants, contracts, and other projects to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. This initiative, the...

Leapfrog compliance pays off for hospitals.(Leapfrog Group)
January 1, 2002... Hospitals will begin to reap monetary rewards if they implement some specific patient safety initiatives backed by the Washington, DC-based patient safety improvement organization, The Leapfrog Group. A consortium of Fortune 500 companies...

NPSF taps Diamond as interim director.(National Patient Safety Foundation appoints Louis H. Diamond)
January 1, 2002... The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) in Chicago has appointed board member Louis H. Diamond, MB, ChB, FACP, as interim director of programs. Diamond is medical director and vice president at The MEDSTAT Group, providing clinical...

Flu or anthrax? First inhalational cases yield clues for clinicians to make the critical call: use case history, blood work, x-rays, rapid tests.
January 1, 2002... There is a postal worker in your emergency department (ED) with flulike symptoms. That once insignificant observation about occupation and illness now triggers a detailed algorithm created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

CDC moving quickly on smallpox front: immunizations, training, vaccine dilution studied.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
January 1, 2002... Though officially stating it has no knowledge of any impending use of smallpox as a bioweapon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is scrambling with conspicuous speed to be ready for just such an event. CDC workers from a...