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Quality Improvement Monitor

Get the latest developments in the CMS Quality Initiative and news on QI/PI issues with this informative weekly newsletter.

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Quality Improvement Monitor

Issue 45, November 14, 2008

• Notice: Last issue of Quality Improvement Monitor

  HCPro is sorry to report that this is the last issue of Quality Improvement Monitor. We thank you...

• Joint Commission names Codman award winners

  The Joint Commission this week named the 2008 recipients of the 12th annual Ernest Amory Codman...

• Study: C. diff infects 13 out of every 1,000 patients

  A new study released this week by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and...

• Google tracks flu through online searches

  Google has unveiled Google Flu Trends, a new tool that analyzes users’ search data to serve...

• WalkRounds involve senior leaders with frontline staff

  If staff members in your facility feel that their concerns are not being heard or taken seriously...

Issue 44, November 7, 2008

• Notice: Second-to-last issue of Quality Improvement Monitor

  HCPro is sorry to report that this is the second-to-last issue of Quality Improvement Monitor. We...

• Family awarded $13.5 million in hospital death

  A superior court jury awarded $13.5 million this week to the family of a Hopkinton, MA, woman who...

• CMS to host PQRI conference call on November 20

  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will host a free conference call on the 2008...

• Joint Commission releases new FAQs for Universal Protocol

  The Joint Commission this week published frequently asked questions and answers about the new...

• Three keys to readying your anticoagulant program

  The Joint Commission is set to survey hospitals’ anticoagulant therapy programs in January...

Issue 43, October 31, 2008

• Report: Patient satisfaction lacking in many hospitals

  A new report from the Harvard School of Public Health found that patients are not satisfied with...

• NQF endorses consumer-focused public reporting guidelines

  The National Quality Forum (NQF) this week endorsed guidelines for consumer-focused, Web-based...

• Transparency leads to problems for Boston hospital

  The president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has pledged that the Harvard...

• Timeouts need to include the entire surgical team

  Hospitals that want to comply with The Joint Commission’s new Universal Protocol&trade...

Issue 42, October 24, 2008

• Hospitals need more funds to reduce healthcare-associated infections

  Hospitals throughout the country have successfully reduced healthcare-associated infections, but...

• Carolinas HealthCare System joins Premier alliance

  Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS) of Charlotte, NC, this week announced it has become a member of...

• Johns Hopkins develops hand-off tips

  Physicians at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore have published a list of good surgical sign-out...

• CMS struggles with implementation of no-pay conditions

  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has faced early challenges as it rolls out its...

• Timeouts need to include the entire surgical team

  Hospitals that want to comply with The Joint Commission’s new Universal Protocol&trade...

Issue 41, October 17, 2008

• HealthGrades quality study finds 70% lower death rate at top hospitals

  Patients have a 70% lower chance of dying at top-rated hospitals compared with the lowest-rated...

• CMS updates PQRI Web site

  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has added an E-prescribing Incentive Program...

• Foundation offers $10 million prize for improving healthcare quality

  The X Prize Foundation, which has previously sponsored competitions to build cars that get 100...

• SCIP expert: OR environment can lead to infections

  One of the top experts and biggest proponents of the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) says...

• Pay-for-performance emphasis helps with smoking cessation

  A study in the October 13 Archives of Internal Medicine found that programs that tie physician pay...

Issue 40, October 10, 2008

• Newspapers praise CMS' new no-pay policy

  Editorials in newspapers across the nation, including The New York Times, are lauding CMS&rsquo...

• AHRQ awards grant to reduce central line infections

  The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has awarded nearly $3 million for a contract...

• New compendium provides infection prevention guidelines

  As healthcare professionals work on the frontlines to prevent and control infections, leaders in...

• HRET to study how CMS' new rule will affect safety net hospitals

  The Commonwealth Fund has awarded an affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA) a...

• Timeouts need to include the entire surgical team

  Hospitals that want to comply with The Joint Commission’s new Universal Protocol&trade...

Issue 39, October 3, 2008

• Will CMS' no-pay rule significantly hurt hospitals' bottom lines?

  As the healthcare industry ushers in a new era of accountability, some suggest that...

• Lawmaker introduces value-based purchasing proposal

  A Pennsylvania congressman has introduced a bill to implement value-based purchasing (VBP) on a...

• CMS approves another hospital accrediting organization

  CMS last week announced the approval of DNV Healthcare, Inc. as a deeming authority for U.S...

• Antibiotic monitoring improves quality, reduces cost

  In an effort to reduce pharmaceutical cost and stop the rise of bacteria resistant to antibiotics...

Issue 38, September 26, 2008

• Survey finds senior leadership lacking on infection prevention

  Only 15% of respondents said that senior leadership was actively engaged in reducing...

• Joint Commission issues Sentinel Event Alert on anticoagulants

  The Joint Commission this week issued a Sentinel Event Alert on anticoagulant use and medical...

• Can doctors' clothes spread infections?

  As worries grow about hospital infections, some experts question whether healthcare workers&rsquo...

• Providence doctor operates on wrong knee

  A doctor at a Providence Hospital last week operated on the wrong knee of a patient, a mistake...

• Higher levels of insulin often needed for glucose control

    Hospitals that want to keep their diabetics’ glucose levels under control need to test...

Issue 37, September 19, 2008

• Massachusetts orders hospitals to stop ER diversions

  Massachusetts hospitals will have to stop diverting ambulances from their emergency rooms (ER...

• Hospitals not reporting errors in PA, NJ

  Some hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are flouting state laws that require them to report...

• AHRQ releases new DVT prevention guides

  Just weeks before CMS’ new no-payment rule goes into effect, the Agency for Healthcare...

• CMS adds conditions to no-pay list

  Hailed by some as a big step forward for patient safety, CMS’ addition of new conditions to...

Issue 36, September 12, 2008

• Doc: P4P pneumonia measure may spur more infections

  In a commentary for the New York Times, a prominent cardiologist argues that some of the measures...

• Seattle posts hospital quality data online

  Seattle consumers can now go online to find about the about the quality of care hospitals provide...

• Studies find paint, green dye can kill MRSA

  New studies have found that a type of paint exposed to fluorescent light and a green dye that gives...

• CMS adds conditions to no-pay list

  Hailed by some as a big step forward for patient safety, CMS’ addition of new conditions to...

Issue 35, September 5, 2008

• Hospitals launch SWAT teams to fight infections

  With less than a month to go before Medicare stops paying for hospital-acquired conditions, some...

• Georgia hospitals get low marks on Hospital Compare

  The death rates at nine Georgia hospitals are worse than the national average for pneumonia and...

• California hospitals fined for preventable errors

  California health officials last month slapped four hospitals with the maximum $25,000 fine for...

• CMS adds conditions to its no-pay list

  Hailed by some as a big step forward for patient safety, CMS’ addition of new conditions to...

Issue 34, August 29, 2008

• SC Medicaid to stop paying for errors

  Following the government’s lead, another state Medicaid program has decided to stop paying...

• Hospitals urged to provide more private rooms

  Hospitals should move toward single-patient rooms in all newly built hospitals, according to a...

• Report finds hospital cost increases slowing

  A new report finds that cost increases incurred by hospitals fell in 2006 because insurers asked...

• Ask simple questions to manage your data

  Quality departments struggling to keep up with increasing demands to collect, analyze, and present...

Issue 33, August 22, 2008

• CMS Web site adds specifics on death rates

  CMS this week updated its Hospital Compare Web site to include more specific information on cardiac...

• Report finds N.H. hospitals not reporting infection rates

  The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services has come under fire after reports...

• Infections may spur next wave of malpractice suits

  A jury award of more than $2.5 million to a hospital patient who developed a case of...

• Joint Commission cracks down on disruptive clinicians

  Dictatorial docs who demean, bully, or otherwise behave badly may want to get in touch with their...

Issue 32, August 15, 2008

• Stroke patients may be better off going to specialized facility

  More stroke patients are being taken to stroke care-specific facilities, reports USA Today. Even...

• CMS: California hospital puts patients in ’immediate jeopardy’

  Anaheim General Hospital has been cited by both CMS and The Joint Commission for inadequate...

• CMS seeks to coordinate payment policies for ’never events’

  CMS has issued a letter offering guidance for coordinating response to hospital providers billing...

• New Patient Safety Goals focus on infection prevention

  Revised elements of performance (EP) for medication reconciliation and the Universal...

Issue 31, August 8, 2008

• CMS adds three new conditions to no-pay list

  CMS last week added three new hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) to its non-payment list and...

• Patients visit EDs more often, wait longer

  The number of visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments...

• Illinois insurer to stop paying for errors

  Another insurer this week announced it will no longer pay hospitals for egregious errors, according...

• New Patient Safety Goals focus on infection prevention

  Revised elements of performance (EP) for medication reconciliation and the Universal...

Issue 30, August 1, 2008

• Kansas insurer to stop payment for some errors

  Yet another insurer will stop paying hospitals for preventable medical complications, the Wichita...

• Study: P4P has little effect on quality

  A new study finds that pay-for-performance has little effect on improving healthcare quality...

• Preventable surgical complications cost nearly $1.5 billion

  Preventable surgical complications may cost employers as much as $1.5 billion a year, according to...

• Rounding cuts number of call lights by 3,000

  Six months after the telemetry unit at Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital in Louisville, KY...

Issue 29, July 25, 2008

• Medicare offers incentives for e-prescribing

  Medicare is offering incentive payments to physicians who adopt electronic prescribing, calling the...

• Study: Physician-administration relations need improvement

  Physicians and administrators in hospitals continue to suffer from a disconnect, according to a new...

• AHRQ finds skin infection rates for children on the rise

  Children under the age of four were hospitalized with skin infections more than 34,000 times in...

• Case study: Rounding cuts number of call lights by 3,000

  Six months after the telemetry unit at Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital in Louisville, KY...

Issue 28, July 18, 2008

• CMS' quality reporting initiative pays $36 million

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will pay more than $36 million to health...

• Study: Patient satisfaction higher at wired hospitals

  Wired hospitals have better outcomes in patient satisfaction and risk-adjusted mortality rates...

• U.S. healthcare quality low despite heavy spending

  A new study shows vast disparities between cost and quality in the U.S. healthcare system, reports...

• How to set up an effective rapid response system

  Small hospitals struggling to implement a rapid response system may want to take a cue from East...

Issue 27, July 11, 2008

• New standards aim to tame disruptive clinicians

  The Joint Commission this week sent out a Sentinel Event Alert and a message to clinicians who...

• Boston doc operates on wrong side of patient

  A doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston performed surgery on the wrong side of a...

• Hospitals routinely board mentally ill patients in ER waiting rooms

  The death of a New York woman, who lay prone on a psychiatric emergency room for an hour before...

• CMS proposes hospitals report four new outpatient measures

  Hospitals would have to report on four new outpatient quality measures in 2009 to receive their...

• Protect apnea patients from perioperative risk

  For some reason, clinicians suffer from the misapprehension that patients recovering after surgery...

Issue 26, July 4, 2008

• Joint Commission unveils 2009 standards

  The Joint Commission has released its revised standards, rationales, and elements of performance...

• Videos released of two hospitals ignoring dying women

  The video of a woman who died after writhing in pain for 45 minutes on the floor of an emergency...

• California posts adverse event data

  During a 10-month period beginning in July 2007, 466 patients in California developed pressure...

• Express care improves patient flow in the ED

  Sun Health Del E. Webb Hospital in Sun City West, AZ, was in trouble. From 2002 to 2007, the ED had...

Issue 25, June 27, 2008

• Legislation would create RI patient safety organization

  A bill sent to Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri this week would create a state patient safety...

• WHO unveils safety checklist for surgery

  The World Health Organization (WHO) this week unveiled a surgery safety checklist to reduce the...

• Overworked staff, crowding hamper MRSA reduction

  Overworked doctors and nurses are less likely to wash their hands, hampering hospital efforts to...

• How to comply with critical test result reporting requirements

  Keep your lists of critical tests and critical results and values short and minimize the number of...

Issue 24, June 20, 2008

• Blue Cross of MA, state to halt payment for errors

  The state of Massachusetts and its largest private health insurer will no longer pay hospitals and...

• Patients treated in P4P pilot hospitals live longer

  The more than 1.1 million patients treated in five clinical areas at hospitals participating in a...

• Consumers Union lauds CMS IPPS proposal

  Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, lauded CMS for its proposal to stop...

• Joint Commission releases 2009 National Patient Safety Goals

  The Joint Commission this week released the 2009 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) and their...

• How top hospitals achieved success

  Engaged employees, happy patients, useful technology, and the right leadership philosophy are key...

Issue 23, June 13, 2008

• AHA slams CMS proposal to add 43 quality measures

  In a letter to CMS this week, the American Hospital Association (AHA) called the proposal to add 43...

• Massachusetts insurer to expand physician ratings

  Despite a lawsuit claiming that physician ratings defame doctors, one Massachusetts insurer is...

• CMS plans to halt hospital Medicare funding after patient death

  CMS plans to cut off a North Carolina hospital’s Medicaid and Medicare funding June 22 after...

• How to comply with critical test result reporting requirements

  Keep your lists of critical tests and critical results and values short and minimize the number of...

Issue 22, June 6, 2008

• NY Medicaid to stop paying for 14 'never events'

  New York State’s Medicaid program this week announced that beginning in October, it will no...

• $300 million grant aimed at boosting quality of care

  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) yesterday announced a $300 million grant to improve...

• Children more likely to suffer hospital infection than adults

  Children suffer many hospital acquired infections, reports The St. Louis Post Dispatch. The study...

• Assess all patients to prevent pressure ulcers

  Heightened awareness, new beds that provide pressure relief, and skin assessments on every patient...

Issue 21, May 30, 2008

• Consumers Union to start rating hospitals

  Consumers Union is starting a new service that will rate hospitals on their quality of care...

• Some hospitals improving quality of care during off-hours

  Some hospitals are trying to improve the care patients receive on nights and weekends, according to...

• More expensive care doesn't affect patient perceptions

  A new study finds that patients who get more expensive medical treatments don’t necessarily...

• How to comply with critical test result reporting requirements

  Keep your lists of critical tests and critical results and values short and minimize the number of...

• NEWS FROM HCPRO

  NEWS FROM HCPRO: HCPro, publishers of this e-newsletter, wants to make you aware of a companion...

Issue 20, May 23, 2008

• Newspaper ads urge consumers to shop for quality care

  CMS this week launched a $1.9 million ad campaign to drive consumers to its Hospital Compare Web...

• CIGNA Web site lets members find high-quality hospitals

  CIGNA this week launched a Web site that its members can use to find quality physicians and...

• Medical society sues over physician ratings

  The Massachusetts Medical Society this week filed suit against the Group Insurance Commission...

• Experts: HCAHPS release will improve patient care

  The release of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores may...

Issue 19, May 16, 2008

• Gainsharing can control costs without hurting quality

  Rewarding physicians who reduce hospital spending with financial bonuses controls costs without...

• Study: One-third of hospital toilets insufficiently cleaned

  One third of patient toilets in a Canadian study of hospitals were found to be insufficiently...

• Quality suffers at safety-net hospitals

  Hospitals that treat poor and underserved patients lag behind other hospitals when it comes to...

• CMS proposal would add 43 new quality measures

  A new CMS proposal would add nine hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) to the list of conditions it...

Issue 18, May 9, 2008

• Oregon posting more quality data online

  Oregon has added 14 new procedures and conditions to its Web site of publicly reported medical...

• NH aims for 100% hand hygiene compliance

  New Hampshire has become the first state to launch a project aimed at getting all of its hospitals...

• Weak economy temporarily eases nursing shortage

  The sputtering economy prompted some nurses to come out of retirement and others to take on more...

• Experts: HCAHPS release will improve patient care

  The release of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores may...

Issue 17, May 2, 2008

• Child flu deaths linked to MRSA

  Massachusetts health officials have linked two recent childhood deaths to methicillin-resistant...

• Patient Safety Authority undertakes 11 new initiatives

  The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority released its 2007 annual report this week, outlining 11...

• GAO report: HSAs drawing mostly wealthy taxpayers

  A new report says the number of people enrolled in health savings accounts (HSA) has topped the 6...

• CMS proposal would halt payment for nine more hospital-acquired conditions

  A new CMS proposal would add nine hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) to the list of conditions it...

Issue 16, April 25, 2008

• Study: C. Difficile cases up 200%

  A new study has found that the number of patients infected with Clostridium difficile, or C...

• New test identifies surgical patients with sleep apnea

  A Canadian team of anesthesiologists has developed a simple, inexpensive, and quick test to...

• Hospital collaborative dramatically reduces infections

  A voluntary collaborative of 39 hospitals in five San Francisco Bay Area counties this week...

• Preserving evidence essential to effective RCAs

  A good root cause analysis (RCA) is akin to the investigations done on the hit television series...

Issue 15, April 18, 2008

• CMS proposes 43 new quality measures

  A new CMS proposal would add nine hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) to the list of conditions it...

• GAO: Government needs to better protect patients from infections

  The federal government needs to do more to protect patients from hospital infections, which kill...

• Cigna will no longer pay for hospital-acquired conditions

  Another insurer has announced it will no longer pay for the same preventable errors for which...

• Med rec survey highlights compliance trouble spots

  Originally introduced as a National Patient Safety Goal by The Joint Commission in 2005, medication...

Issue 14, April 11, 2008

• Patient safety mishaps cost Medicare $8.8 billion

  Medical errors cost Medicare $8.8 billion and resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths...

• Long Island patients unhappy with their hospitals

  Long Island patients generally gave their hospitals poor marks on patient satisfaction surveys,with...

• Preserving evidence essential to effective RCAs

  A good root cause analysis (RCA) is akin to the investigations done on the hit television series...

Issue 13, April 4, 2008

• Wellpoint to stop paying for 11 medical errors

  Following the government's lead, Wellpoint, one of the nation's largest healthcare insurers...

• CMS releases patient satisfaction ratings

  The release of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores...

• Docs, insurers agree on ratings system

  Doctors, insurers and patient advocates this week agreed to a physician rating system to replace...

• Report: Expensive care doesn't mean better care

  Medicare pays many hospitals and doctors more than some of the most efficient healthcare...

• Med rec survey highlights compliance trouble spots

  Originally introduced as a National Patient Safety Goal by The Joint Commission in 2005, medication...

Issue 12, March 21, 2008

• New study finds screening reduces MRSA

  Just one week after a study concluded that screening for methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus...

• Angie's List to include doctor ratings

  Consumers can now rate their doctors on Angie's List, according to the Indianapolis Star.

• AHRQ releases report on states' healthcare quality

  The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released its 2007 State Snapshots Web...

• Louisiana lawmakers consider posting quality data online

  Louisiana lawmakers are considering legislation that would create a state-run Web site to allow...

• How one facility reduced MRSA and saved money

  For those hospitals that think screening every patient for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus...

Issue 11, March 14, 2008

• Suit: Fill-in nurse contributed to patient death

  The practice of hospitals routinely hiring outside nurses to fill in for regular staff has come...

• Hospitals implementing new policies to prevent medication errors

  Hospitals across the country are implementing new policies and procedures for the prevention of...

• Wrong kidney removed from patient with kidney cancer

  A surgical team at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park in Minneapolis removed the wrong kidney...

• Study finds widespread testing did not combat MRSA

  A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that widespread screening...

• Press Ganey report finds patients want prompt response to complaints

  Press Ganey Associates, Inc., this week released its 2008 Hospital Pulse Report: Patient...

• Real-time data can drive up SCIP performance

  Even small hospitals with limited resources can perform well on Surgical Care Improvement Project...

• Pennsylvania site compares hospital quality

  Consumers in Pennsylvania can now go online to see how one hospital compares against another...

• Teamwork, support from top leaders help boost compliance with med rec

  Teamwork, clear definitions of each clinician's roles and responsibilities, and strong support from...

• HCPro News: HCPro, Inc. launches new logo and tagline as part of its new corporate branding

  HCPro, Inc. is launching a new corporate branding campaign designed to reflect the company’s...

Issue 10, March 7, 2008

• Report: Healthcare quality gains slowing

  The quality of healthcare improved by an average 2.3% a year between 1994 and 2005, a rate that...

• HealthGrades partners with Google

  HealthGrades, Inc., an independent medical ratings company, is partnering with Google to help...

• Joint Commission seeks input on requirements

  As part of its Standards Improvement Initiative, The Joint Commission is seeking feedback from the...

• Hourly rounding helps boost scores on HCAHPS

  As hospitals brace for the public unveiling of their patient satisfaction scores, one expert is...

Issue 9, February 29, 2008

• U.S. government estimates healthcare-related spending to rise sharply in next decade

  An aging population and higher prices will cause healthcare spending to rise 6.7 percent annually...

• California falling behind other states in terms of tracking drug-resistant infections

  California has spent time collecting data about drug-resistant infections in the community, but not...

• CMS to include more measures in its Physician Quality Reporting Initiative for 2008

  CMS Physician Quality Reporting Initiative has been in place for a year, and in that time the...

• Options for EMR software, pay for performance incentives boosted adoption rate for one health system

  Partners Community Healthcare explained how they achieved a 100% adoption rate of electronic...

Issue 8, February 22, 2008

• Michigan infection checklist program to resume

  The federal Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) will allow Michigan hospitals to continue...

• Sentinel event alert issued on MRI safety

  The Joint Commission last week issued a sentinel event alert, calling on ambulatory care centers to...

• Stroke patients admitted on off-hours more likely to die

  Stroke patients admitted to the hospital on nights and weekends are more likely to die than those...

• Data collection needs to bring about change

  Editor's note: This is the first article in a regular series about how to collect and analyze data...

Issue 7, February 15, 2008

• Lab mix-up leads to mastectomy, death

  A woman who died of complications from a double mastectomy at Mercy Medical Center on Long Island...

• Government proposal would create patient safety organizations

  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is accepting comment on a proposed rule that...

• Massachusetts cracks down on infections

  Regulators in Massachusetts this week launched a crackdown to reduce the spread of hospital...

• Real-time data can drive up SCIP performance

  Even small hospitals with limited resources can perform well on Surgical Care Improvement Project...

Issue 6, February 8, 2008

• CMS probe cites deficiencies at Maine hospital

  A CMS investigation into the death of a 61-year-old man who was found dead in a snow bank the day...

• Study: Patients at top hospitals have 27% lower risk of dying

  Patients at top-rated hospitals in the United States have an average 27% lower risk of dying than...

• Tennessee insurer to post quality, price info

  BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will soon allow consumers to compare doctors on quality of care...

• Focus on infections to ensure CMS reimbursement

  Hospitals that plan to screen every single patient for urinary catheter-associated infections to...

Issue 5, February 1, 2008

• Premier: P4P could save 70,000 lives per year

  If all U.S. hospitals were to achieve the three-year cost and mortality improvements found among...

• Washington hospitals stop charging for never events

  Washington hospitals have joined those in a handful of other states that have promised not to bill...

• Hourly rounding boosts HCAHPS performance

  As hospitals brace for the public unveiling of their patient satisfaction scores, one expert is...

Issue 4, January 25, 2008

• Pennsylvania hospitals stop charging for never events

  Pennsylvania has become the third state whose hospitals will waive charges for care that causes...

• Family sues after mom dies after fall from surgical table

  A Massachusetts family is suing Boston Medical Center after an 86-year-old woman fell from an...

• BCBS proposes paying Massachusetts docs for quality care

  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts this week proposed to change the way it pays physicians...

• RCAs can boost quality without taxing staff

  Safety systems in high-risk industries such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration...

Issue 3, January 18, 2008

• Beth Israel aims to eliminate preventable harm

  Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has launched an initiative to eliminate all...

• Insurers consider stopping payment for egregious errors

  Taking a lead from Medicare, insurers are moving to stop payments for care caused by medical...

• Massachusetts hospitals post pressure ulcer rates

  The Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) this week began publicly posting data on pressure...

• Study: Tracking catheter use key to stopping infections

  Patients often remain on catheters needlessly, causing urinary tract infections that can be...

• Study: ER wait times up by 36%

  Emergency rooms are so overcrowded that it takes almost an hour for 25% of heart attack patients to...

• Reactions to CMS' P4P proposal run gamut

  CMS' plan to reduce Medicare payments by 2%-5% and allow hospitals to "buy back" the money through...

Issue 2, January 11, 2008

• AHA urges HHS to change quality improvement policy

  The president of the American Hospital Association (AHA) last week sent a letter to the secretary...

• U.S. ranked last at preventing deaths from preventable conditions

  The United States is the worst of 19 industrialized countries at preventing deaths due to treatable...

• RCAs can boost quality without taxing staff

  Safety systems in high-risk industries such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration...

Issue 1, January 4, 2008

• Early detection, data mining combat MRSA

  Hospitals in California and throughout the nation have found that aggressive action to detect...

• Hospitalists reduce length of stay

  A study published in the December 20 New England Journal of Medicine found that the use of...

• Study: Blacks and Hispanics receive less pain meds in ED

  Blacks and Hispanics who go to hospital emergency departments in pain are significantly less likely...

• New guideline empowers patients and families to call for rapid assistance

  Had Sorrel King been able to launch a rapid response team at the hospital where she watched her...