Sentara Healthcare Boosts Efforts to Address Social Determinants of Health
Sentara Healthcare has launched a community care program to provide neighborhood-level access to services for people who are on Medicaid or are uninsured or underinsured. A primary focus of Sentara Community Care is to help patients address social determinants of health such as housing, food security, and transportation, which have a pivotal impact on the physical and mental health of patients.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement Boosts Health Equity Efforts
Health equity has emerged as a pressing issue in U.S. healthcare during the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, there have been COVID-19 health disparities for many racial and ethnic groups that have been at higher risk of getting sick and experiencing relatively high mortality rates.
TJC Tweaks EC and LS standards, Adds Specifics to Some Requirements
Review your Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) policies and procedures now that The Joint Commission has issued another round of revisions, prepublished September 21 with an effective date of January 1, 2023. Only 12 standards are involved in this latest round. Many of the revisions add specifics to long-standing requirements, including several that add new notes under the element of performance (EP). Others are simple tweaks.
OSHA: Look for Final COVID Rule, Emerging Infectious Disease, Workplace Violence Standards
In addition to a final rule on COVID-19, the agency is working on standards covering emerging infectious diseases and workplace violence in healthcare, said OSHA’s Assistant Secretary of Labor Doug Parker in an address at the National Safety Council’s 2022 NSC Congress & Expo in San Diego.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 62 – A New Approach to Cognitive Assessment
On episode 62 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, and Chief Medical Officer of Linus Health, talks about his new research into cognitive assessment.
Quality Metrics Drive Physician Performance at Crossover Health
Crossover Health has 42 clinics throughout the United States, a mixture of on-site and near-site clinics, as well as a national virtual medical practice. The organization built its population health tool to overcome what Ezeji-Okoye calls the “tyranny of the visit” that dominates traditional electronic health record software.
How to Reduce Hospital-Onset Clostridioides Difficile
Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) is a bacterium that causes severe diarrhea and colitis, with nearly half a million infections in the United States annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in 11 patients over age 65 with a healthcare-associated C. diff infection die within one month, the CDC says.
Tighter Focus on Nursing Home Infection Control Offers More Effective Patient Safety
Duties of an on-site infection preventionist would include gathering and reporting data on different infections to the state and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and doing rounds through the facility to observe direct care practices, providing coaching and feedback if necessary. If a resident had previously been treated for an infection, the preventionist would follow up with them.
Executive Briefing: TJC to Trim Requirements Starting January 1, 2023
TJC will be looking for requirements that are now obsolete or unnecessary, President and CEO Jonathan Perlin said, and will “eliminate standards and elements performance that don’t add commensurate value,” noting “that’s where the cost is, that’s where the burnout is.”
New Study Touts Value of In-Person Training for Patient Portal Use
New research conducted at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and published in JAMA Network Open finds that patients who are trained by their healthcare providers in person will have a better grasp on how to use digital tools than those who use videos for their education. This means that healthcare organizations should emphasize and invest in hands-on training if they want to see the full benefits from patient portals.