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Executive Briefings Digest

This weekly news digest keeps healthcare professionals abreast of breaking regulatory and management news in the healthcare industry.

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Executive Briefings Digest

Issue 17, April 25, 2006

• Hospitals short on ventilators if bird flu hits

  Public health officials say the nation’s hospitals will not have enough ventilators to...

• FDA issues bed-safety suggestions

  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 10, 2006 published new guidance about hospital bed...

• New York hospitals reach settlement

  The New York Attorney General’s (AG) office on February 14, 2006 reached settlements with two...

• Use of implanted patient-data chips stirs debate

  Despite objections from privacy groups, patients nationwide may soon have the option of having a...

• VHA issues quality guidelines for bar coding

  The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in February 2006 issued a directive that provides a set of...

Issue 16, April 18, 2006

• Robber steals laptop containing HIV information

  A thief stole a laptop containing the HIV test results of almost 2,000 clients of the Sacramento...

• Hospital introduces new visitor badges

  In response to incidents at area hospitals, University Hospital in Syracuse, NY, began issuing...

• Brailer praises CalRHIO’s progress

  National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Brailer, MD, PhD, praised the...

• CMS urges PDPs to use standardized codes

  Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) should adopt the use of standardized "patient...

• Water main break impedes Milwaukee hospitals

  On March 10, 2006, a water main break triggered a power outage-and with it, the cancellation of...

Issue 14, April 4, 2006

• Federal agency wants new medical flight standards

  After an 18-month study revealed a high number of fatal medical helicopter accidents, the National...

• Government funds national framework pilot for performance measurement

  The Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance (AQA) plans to launch a pilot program in six U.S. regions to...

• Study confirms low flu vaccination rate for healthcare workers

  A study of influenza (flu) vaccination rates published in the February Journal of General Internal...

• Trend: Hospitals give pagers to visitors

  In an effort to be more customer-friendly, a growing number of hospitals are issuing pagers to...

• HIMSS goes international

  The Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is expanding its...

Issue 13, March 28, 2006

• Sentinel Event Alert stresses medication reconciliation efforts

  The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) on January 25, 2006...

• Four employees leave Providence in wake of data breach

  Oregon-based Providence Health System fired one employee and had three employees resign in the...

• Drug insert changes aim to provide clear prescribing information

  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 18, 2006 released revisions to prescription drug...

• New Web sites help consumers find docs with specific characteristics

  Several new Web sites are putting a new spin on affinity-group marketing by helping consumers find...

• Boston hospital faxed patient information to bank for six months

  Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital mistakenly faxed patient data to a local investment bank...

Issue 12, March 21, 2006

• Survey: Organizations are still behind in compliance efforts

  It's been almost three years since the compliance date for the Health Insurance Portability and...

• USP: Staff performance a major cause of radiology drug errors

  Staff who failed to follow the proper procedures accounted for half of all errors involving...

• Checklist helps faith-based and community organizations prepare for influenza pa

  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in January 2006 released Faith-Based and...

• CMS addresses Part B and Part D drug coverage dilemmas

  Confusion about eligibility marred the first weeks of the Medicare Part D prescription drug...

• Consumers skeptical of EHR privacy and security

  Consumers think privacy and security are the top obstacles to healthcare providers establishing...

Issue 11, March 14, 2006

• Ruling: Nurses don’t need flu shots to keep jobs

  A federal judge ruled that nurses at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle do not have to choose...

• North Carolina Blues donate free e-tools

  BlueCross and BlueShield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) will supply 1,000 high-prescribing physicians...

• Nuclear commission corrects radiation officer training

  On January 12, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) corrected a radiation officer training...

• Smoke alarm deadline looms for long-term care

  Nursing homes have until May 24 before inspectors enforce a new fire safety mandate. Nursing homes...

• Duke docs get EHRs

  Duke University Health System in Durham, NC, will establish e-prescribing tools and electronic...

Issue 10, March 7, 2006

• Flu patients force hospital to close

  An influx of influenza (flu) patients forced the emergency room at Banner Baywood Medical Center in...

• eHealth Initiative provides health IT toolkit for communities

  A new online toolkit from the eHealth Initiative (eHI) will help communities connect to a health...

• Unprofessional behavior in medical school tied to future disciplinary action

  Medical students who display unprofessional behavior in medical school are more likely to be the...

• Study shows healthcare 10 years behind in EHR adoption

  The EHR products currently available on the market don't have what it takes to meet President...

• Miscommunication is leading cause of ICU medication errors

  Miscommunication and improper IV pump programming are major factors in hospital intensive care unit...

Issue 9, February 28, 2006

• State inspectors often miss nursing home deficiencies, GAO says

  State surveyors conducting nursing home inspections often overlook deficiencies, according to a new...

• Washington suspends a hospital’s license

  The Washington Department of Health announced in January that it suspended the license of Puget...

• The JCAHO explores mandatory flu shots

  The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is in the midst of a...

• British study: Privacy restrictions compromise medical advances

  Bureaucratic and unnecessary privacy restrictions inhibit advances in medical research, according...

• Two million American noses harbor drug-resistant bacteria

  Approximately two million people carry a strain of drug-resistant bacteria in their noses...

Issue 8, February 21, 2006

• ISMP, FDA partner to launch abbreviation campaign

  The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will...

• New York health commission reorganizes

  The Rochester Health Commission in New York closed November 30, 2005, but will return as a...

• CMS ’STRIVES’ to update payment system

  Get ready to learn a new acronym: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled the...

• OIG sets its sights on familiar targets in 2006 Work Plan

  Below are three of the major outpatient procedures/services highlighted by the Office of Inspector...

• New Hampshire begins work on Medicaid system

  The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services awarded Affiliated Computer Services...

Issue 7, February 14, 2006

• HHS names new head of OCR

  Winston Wilkinson replaced Richard M. Campanelli as the director of the Office for Civil Rights...

• Alabama to track controlled-substance prescriptions

  Alabama began a pilot project in January 2006 for a prescription drug database that will keep track...

• Stolen equipment contained patient info

  Thieves may have compromised patient information by stealing stole bone density scanning equipment...

• Lima County, OH, to construct EHR system

  Ohio’s Lima Community Health Center will use a $339,000 telemedicine grant from the United...

• Long-term care quality crisis headed for Louisiana

  A quality-of-care crisis is on the horizon for Louisiana skilled nursing facilities, according to...

Issue 6, February 7, 2006

• CMS and the JCAHO expect to see corridor door roller latches gone

  The deadline is fast approaching for hospitals to make eliminate the use of corridor door roller...

• Michigan to design health IT network

  Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has launched the Michigan Health Information Network, an...

• New accreditor seeks CMS approval

  CMS has begun formal evaluation of a recently completed application by TUV Healthcare Specialists...

• Robbery exposes data for 700 patients

  Robbers stole six computers from a family medical practice in Squirrel Hill, PA, exposing the...

• Hospital foundation to fund record-sharing

  In an intermediate step to full electronic health record (EHR) migration, North Carolina providers...

Issue 5, January 31, 2006

• OIG saves, recovers record $35.4 billion in 2005

  The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has nearly doubled its savings and recoveries during the...

• Committee recommends process for modifying claims attachments

  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) should provide an easier process for adding to...

• Hotline offers help with Medicare Part D

  The Medicare Rights Center, a national nonprofit consumer group, introduced a hotline in fall 2005...

• Boiler problem leads to an evacuation

  Medical staff evacuated or discharged up to 30 patients from Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge...

• SNFs face Part D obstacles

  Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are now scrambling to find out to which Medicare Part D...

Issue 4, January 24, 2006

• Leavitt awards contracts to lay groundwork for health information network

  Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt in November 2005 awarded...

• ADA settlement will cost millions

  After a legal agreement in November to provide disabled people with equal access to care...

• Nursing home costs increase

  The average daily cost of a private room in a U.S. nursing home jumped 5.7% in 2005-from $192 in...

• CDC will consider requests to borrow 1918 virus samples

  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will consider releasing samples of the 1918 deadly flu virus...

• Michigan adds another RHIO

  Lansing, MI-based healthcare providers, educators, and state officials announced plans in November...

Issue 3, January 17, 2006

• Bush announces $7.1 billion plan to fight bird flu

  President Bush recently unveiled a $7.1 billion plan to provide early detection, containment...

• CMS pushes for bulk enumeration of NPIs

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently urged emergency approval for bulk...

• California docs offer PHRs

  The California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG) has joined an initiative to bring...

• It’s always happy hour at nursing home

  Experts say a pint of beer a day may actually help nursing home residents with an average age of 85...

• Information technology firms form EHR partnership

  Health information technology firms Healthvision and Allscripts are partnering to enable healthcare...

Issue 2, January 10, 2006

• Still time to comment on electronic claims attachments proposed rule

  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has extended the public comment period for...

• JCAHO increases accreditation thresholds for 2006

  Hospitals in 2006 will have a slight cushion in the number of requirements for improvement...

• North Carolina to track outbreaks

  North Carolina is launching a new electronic health database that will use emergency room (ER) data...

• Georgia officials say they can’t use new hospital

  A new, $19 million state hospital in Milledgeville, GA, remains empty since it was built in 2003...

• HHS leading EHR effort on Gulf Coast

  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is collaborating with the Southern...

Issue 1, January 3, 2006

• Minnesota computer security lacking

  Members of Minnesota's Legislative Audit Commission testified to the state legislature that the...

• Delaware network receives RHIO funding

  The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will give the Delaware Healthcare Information...

• CMS revises guidance on past noncompliance in SNFs

  Sometimes during a skilled nursing facility’s (SNF) annual state inspection, surveyors...

• Oregon State to give students EMRs

  Oregon State University’s student health services will give its more than 19,000 students...