ED physicians sue WA state
Patient Safety Monitor Alert, October 5, 2011
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor Alert!
Emergency physicians in the state of Washington have filed a lawsuit against a state plan to classify more than 700 diagnoses as non-emergent, and limit Medicaid reimbursements to no more than three non-emergent visits to the emergency department each year.
"The state has been mandated to try to save $72 million over the next two years, and this will clearly impact emergency care," Stephen Anderson, MD, president of the Washington Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, told HealthLeaders Media."The list at the moment includes chest pain, hemorrhage during miscarriage, infections of the leg that can result in amputation, passing out for no reason, heart arrhythmia. It's frightening."
Anderson says the new restrictions could impact healthcare access for the poor and those most in need of care in at least 19 other states that have worked with Washington State to develop the policy, which went into effect on Oct. 1.
"If this plan goes into effect, other states will certainly follow suit," he said.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor Alert!
Related Products
-
Patient Safety Monitor
As part of your Patient Safety Monitor membership, you'll receive Briefings on Patient Safety. In this 12-page monthly...
-
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
This e-mail newsletter provides healthcare professionals with the latest patient safety news, while offering useful...
-
Patient Safety Quality Monthly
Ken Rohde, Senior Consultant for The Greeley Company with over 25 years of experience in quality management. His roles in...
-
Occurrence Reporting:
Take advantage of the information occurrence reports provide and make sustainable enhancements at your facility. Expert...
-
Transform Your ED into a Profit Center
As the major source of admissions, your ED is poised to be a serious revenue driver, or drain. Get in-the-trenches...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- HIPAA Q&A: Answering service messages
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- State medical board will hear unprofessional charges against OB-GYN
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- E-mailed
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Are your workforce members texting PHI?
- Don't let these sentinel events trigger falsely
- Arkansas woman convicted for HIPAA violation
- Q/A: Coding infusions to correct low potassium levels
- Q&A: Coding for protein malnutrition
- Q&A tackles coding questions about injections and infusions
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Identify modifiable risk factors to prevent patient falls
- Searched