Minnesota Hospitals Improve Patient Safety

Concluding the first year of a two-year contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Minnesota’s hospitals participating in the Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Network record the prevention of more than 3,200 readmissions, 463 fewer patients experiencing a fall, and 158 fewer patients experiencing a pressure ulcer. The initiative builds on the Minnesota Hospital Association’s (MHA) award-winning Call-to-Action framework launched in 2007 and the statewide Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively (RARE) campaign.

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Key Questions for Safety Projects

Safety-related projects may arise from root cause analyses of actual incidents, other structured risk identification efforts (e.g. failure modes and effects analysis), or external reports of adverse events that occurred elsewhere (e.g. Joint Commission Sentinel Events). An appropriate response to such information may be to undertake an effort to review and, where necessary, revise processes and technology so that the identified event does not reoccur, or not occur at all if the impetus is external information.

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HTT and Datix Collaborate to Improve Patient Safety

Healthcare Team Training (HTT) – a global provider of services focused on improving patient safety, satisfaction and quality – and Datix – a leading supplier of patient safety software solutions – have announced their collaboration to use enterprise event reporting and risk management systems to improve quality and enhance operational efficiency.

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Schwartz Center Announces 2013 Grants Program

The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the relationship between patients and their clinical caregivers and maintaining the human connection in healthcare, is now accepting letters of interest from U.S. healthcare organizations developing innovative programs and initiatives to promote compassionate care within the patient-centered medical home setting.

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Never Mind Cutting Medicare, It’s Time to Take a Closer Look at Wasteful Spending Areas in Healthcare

Despite Medicare being a target in common for both Democrats and Republicans during the past elections, there are many bigger problems plaguing our healthcare system. Now, in order to bring healthcare inefficiencies in check amid the specter of a Fiscal Cliff in January, it is going to be incumbent on Washington politicians and healthcare executives to tackle these larger issues, such as unneeded care, a glut of paperwork and other waste. To say that all of these are costing us dearly is an understatement.

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SIDM and Cautious Patient Foundation Collaborate to Avoid Diagnostic Errors

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) and the Cautious Patient Foundation have announced a collaboration to help patients avoid diagnostic errors in their own care. Diagnostic error, defined as wrong, missed or delayed medical diagnosis, occurs in 10% to 15% of diagnostic encounters, is the largest contributor to medical malpractice claims, and is responsible for 40,000 – 80,000 deaths per year in the United States.

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