Quality and Safety
An operating room (OR) that has medical imaging, catheter-based interventions and surgery may sound far fetched as these disciplines have traditionally been in separate spaces, but as hospitals are discovering new and more efficient methods and technologies of delivering patient care, they are bringing these processes together.
A new report released by the Institute of Medicine this week urges the Food and Drug Administration to adopt a full life cycle approach to drug safety oversight that would include strengthening data collection and the monitoring of drugs after they have received FDA approval.
Last week, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) announced the launch of a new accreditation program for small hospitals, which will be offered through the Accreditation Association for Hospital/Health Systems Inc. (AAHHS).
A coordinated takedown by Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in seven cities resulted in fraud charges against 107 people announced the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday.
Occupying a former medical offices building in Maine's largest city, Portland Community Health Center serves about 2,600 of the city's population of just over 66,000. Its patient population is largely on Medicaid and about 35 percent of them have no insurance at all. Half are refugees from countries such as Sudan and Somalia.
With the future of the health reform law in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, a majority of hospitals and health systems are anticipating a drop in revenue as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Within a handful of miles of the birthplace of the American Revolution, a new revolution was being fomented the last week of April.
As a way to bring awareness to an inexpensive way to prevent injuries and death to children, the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (Ohio AAP) is sponsoring Bike Helmet Safety Awareness Week from May 7-11, 2012. According to Ohio AAP, a $10 bike helmet saves a healthcare system $41 per child.
The National Quality Forum (NQF) board of directors has endorsed two measures that address all-cause unplanned readmissions in hospitals -- an area of healthcare targeted for improvement given national imperatives to make healthcare safer, more affordable and keep people healthy.
In order to control the overall cost of healthcare in the U.S., stakeholders must focus on high-cost patients with chronic conditions, David Blumenthal, MD, told an audience at NEHI's Bridging the Innovation Gap conference in Boston on Thursday.