Hospital Peer Review – October 1, 2018
October 1, 2018
View Archives Issues
-
Fix to ED Overcrowding Includes Hallway Treatment
A hospital in Mississippi has significantly improved its emergency department throughput and reduced the perennial problem of overcrowding in part by embracing a concept that most facilities try hard to avoid: treating patients in hallways and other non-standard areas. -
ED Uses Two-stage Triage to Improve Flow
Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, MS, developed a two-stage triage process that has helped improved throughput and many other aspects of care in the ED. -
Research Shows Skepticism Over Hallway Care
The practice of treating ED patients in hallways has generated some reports in the medical literature expressing concerns for patient safety, though the incidents cited do not reflect a system in which patients are first stabilized and seen by a physician in an exam room. -
Disruptive Physicians, Staff Must Be Held Accountable
Accountability is key, even though there has been a movement away from holding individuals accountable in favor of redesigning systems to encourage the desired behavior. -
CMS Developing More Uniform Ligature Risk Guidance
Hospitals may soon have a more uniform set of guidance on protecting patients from ligature risk, with CMS announcing recently in a memo to state survey agency directors that it will incorporate findings from The Joint Commission Suicide Panel’s November 2017 special report on suicide prevention into its revised interpretive guidance. -
BPCI Advanced Program Begins in October
Participation agreements for the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Advanced program from CMS were due recently, and providers are going live with the program on Oct. 1. In a new twist from old versions of BPCI, CMS has issued an option for providers to retrospectively drop out of the program in March 2019. -
Judge Dismisses Hospital’s Lawsuit Against Leapfrog
A Chicago hospital has failed in its attempt to sue the Leapfrog Group for defamation related to its low score, and the experience may hold a lesson for other hospitals about ensuring the accuracy of data submitted to Leapfrog Group and other ratings organizations. -
Improve Hospital Ratings With Patient Input
Hospital ratings on publicly available resources could be improved by allowing patients to prioritize their needs and preferences, according to a recent analysis by the RAND Corporation, a public-private think tank based in California. -
Only 49% Follow CMS Sepsis Protocols
Fewer than half of U.S. hospitals follow CMS’s sepsis treatment requirements, according to a recent government report.