By Michael Wong

This is the question that I have been asking myself ever since Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced proposed quality measures it is considering for adoption through rulemaking for the Medicare program. One of the measures under consideration by CMS (proposed quality measure #3040) calls for “appropriate monitoring of patients receiving PCA [patient-controlled analgesia].”

The Joint Commission recently released a free monograph, “Improving Patient and Worker Safety: Opportunities for Synergy, Collaboration and Innovation,” to draw attention to the need to create a culture that focuses on both the safety of patients and the health care workers who care for them.

Insulin has consistently been declared a high-alert medication due to the risks associated with its prescribing and dosing. When a nutrition order for a patient is modified, the patient’s insulin regimen may inadvertently remain unreviewed or unchanged.

ECRI Institute®, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, is pleased to announce The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, as the winner of its 7th Annual Health Devices Achievement Award.

New comprehensive guidelines for the pre-operative care of the nation’s elderly patients have been issued by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Geriatrics Society (AGS). The joint guidelines—published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons—apply to every patient who is 65 years and older as defined by Medicare regulations.

“Improving America’s Hospitals: The Joint Commission Annual Report on Quality and Safety 2012,” includes 620 hospitals that are leading the way nationally in using evidence-based care processes closely linked to positive patient outcomes. The hospitals identified as attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability performance in 2011 represent approximately 18 percent of Joint Commission-accredited hospitals reporting core measure performance data.

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products and recognized innovator in patient monitoring and respiratory care solutions, has been granted 510(k) clearance to market the Covidien Nellcor Bedside SpO₂Patient Monitoring System by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Although hospital patients may need the strong pain relief that only opioids can provide, a Sentinel Event Alert issued on August 8 by The Joint Commission urges hospitals to take specific steps to prevent serious complications or even deaths from opioid use.

By Tim Gee

On July 11, 2012, President Obama signed into law the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. Applauded by big pharma, the American Medical Association, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, and others, this new legislation reauthorizes various user fees, and revises regulations in an effort to address problems around drug shortages, the paucity of therapies for rare diseases, and improving availability of pediatric drugs and devices.

In response to requirements in legislation that passed Congress with broad bipartisan support, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed that most medical devices distributed in the United States carry a unique device identifier, or UDI.