ABQAURP News
The Laboratory as a Service Line and Revenue Generator
The Laboratory as a Service Line and Revenue Generator
At a time when clinical quality, cost-effectiveness, and healthcare automation have become daily news topics, inexplicably one of the most advanced sectors of healthcare has been largely ignored: the laboratory and its laboratory information system or LIS.
Clinical Documentation: More than a Cumbersome Chore
Clinical Documentation: More than a Cumbersome Chore
“Charting” is often viewed by nurses as a necessary evil. Sure, deep down most nurses know that the exercise is essential — and that regulatory bodies such as the Joint Commission, National Quality Forum, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are looking for the clinical documentation that illustrates that care is being delivered in line with a set of established standards.
Connectivity to Improve Patient Safety
Connectivity to Improve Patient Safety
For the past 5 years the Medical Device “Plug-and-Play” Interoperability Program has been leading the evaluation and adoption of open standards and technology for medical device interoperability to support clinical innovation and improve patient safety.
Online Connectivity
Online Connectivity
The government campaign to stimulate physician adoption of health information technology is focused on electronic health records. But other types of information technology that are considerably more affordable and less difficult to implement can also help improve safety and care quality.
Editor’s Notebook: Seeing the World Through Patient Safety Eyes
Editor’s Notebook
Seeing the World Through Patient Safety Eyes
I wish that everyone could learn and practice the skills we ask healthcare professionals to acquire in the name of safety and quality improvement. We’d all be better off, and many things in the world would work better if we respected each other and communicated well.
Health IT & Quality: Raison d’Être
Health IT & Quality
Raison d’Être
What is the purpose of health information technology? Why are we spending all these billions of dollars on this “thing” we struggle to understand, implement, and use? Is it achieving the goals of its purpose?
Health Information Exchange: NHIN: The New Health Internet
Health Information Exchange
NHIN: The New Health Internet
I have not been a big fan of the National Health Information Network (NHIN) concept. It was — and in large part still is — a top-heavy federal government effort to create a nationwide infrastructure to facilitate the exchange of clinical information. That is a high, lofty, and admirable goal, but one that is too far in front of where the market is today.
EMR Implementation: Clinical Informatics and the CMIO
EMR Implementation
Clinical Informatics and the CMIO
If you have a pulse, you’ve probably heard about the HITECH Act, which promises financial compensation (and IT bragging rights) for hospitals and physicians using an EMR in a “meaningful way.”
Patient Communications: Enhancing Patient Safety by Automating Discharge Instructions
Patient Communications
Enhancing Patient Safety by Automating Discharge Instructions
By Pattie Boast and Cathy Potts, MT (ASCP)It has been well documented that providing patients with the tools to become active, informed participants in their own care improves decision quality and prevents overuse of medical options (O’Connor et al., 2004).