Some HIPAA Requirements Waived For Hospitals Affected By Hurricane Harvey
Hospitals and other healthcare organizations affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana were granted an emergency reprieve from certain limited HIPAA requirements, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced in an August 30 email alert. The agency also published a bulletin August 29.
What Exactly is a ‘High-Performing’ Health System?
A review by The Joint Commission finds broad and inconsistent uses for the term and definitions that are all over the map, hindering effective measures for the concept.
Bringing Innovation To Your Facility
In healthcare, some of the best innovations are deciding what not to do—especially when the current practice has no evidence basis.
The Secret to Lowering C-Section Rates? Patience.
The perinatal director at SSM St. Mary’s Hospital shares how the organization achieves C-section rates well below the national average.
Structured Patient Handoffs: The Movement Toward Adverse Event Reduction in the Perioperative Unit
The use of a standardized handoff checklist tool improves time efficiency, reduces medication discrepancies, and there is a reduction of deficits or missed communications in the handoff process.
Structured Patient Handoffs: The Movement Toward Adverse Event Reduction in the Perioperative Unit
Clinician handoffs spiked in 2011 after the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education implemented rules to limit the number of hours residents worked.
Precision Medicine: Integration May Be Closer Than You Think
The emergence and growing affordability of genetic testing along with patient demand means healthcare organizations need a strategy for their role in precision medicine.
Data on Social Needs May Redefine Precision Healthcare
Data derived from the non-medical drivers of a patient’s health can improve quality of care and enrich the utility of so-called intelligent machines.
Hospitals Ramp Up Hyperbaric Therapy for Diabetics, Despite Concerns
The American Diabetes Association does not recommend the treatment. Some experts say hyperbaric therapy’s increased use for diabetic wounds owes more to hospitals’ pursuit of Medicare revenue than to the treatment’s proven value.
The New War on Sepsis
The sepsis program in the St. Joseph Hoang network seems to be working. The death rate for all of its hospitals from 2015-2016 has dropped from 15 percent to 12 percent for severe sepsis/shock, and from 12 percent to 9 percent for all sepsis cases.