January 1, 2013
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Hospital prevails in nurse’s lawsuit claiming pay for meal breaks
A Tennessee hospital has come out on top in a lawsuit filed by a nurse regarding pay for time worked during meal breaks. -
Establish procedures, audit your payment processes
The recent dismissal of a lawsuit under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) against Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, TN, holds several lessons for risk managers, says the health systems attorney, Paul E. Prather, JD, a shareholder with the law firm of Littler Mendelson in Memphis. -
Does your crisis communications plan need updating?
The healthcare industry is made up of people who handle crises on a daily basis. They are great under pressure and can make quick decisions when it comes to dealing with life and death aspects of human nature. -
Be transparent when talking about a crisis
Consider the following points when responding to a crisis, according to Adele Cehrs, president of Epic PR Group, a public relations firm in Alexandria, VA, that assists corporations with crisis communication: -
Johns Hopkins reports that it has reduced bedside alarms up to 74% in some units
A group of Johns Hopkins nurses, physicians, and engineers have significantly reduced the number of distracting, non-critical bedside alarms in some of the hospitals noisiest areas up to 74% in some cases in an improvement that has been linked to patient safety. -
Baseline assessment was key to reducing alarms
In 2006, Maria Cvach, MSN, RN, CCRN, assistant director of nursing clinical standards at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Andrew Currie, MS, CBET, the director of clinical engineering, were asked to head a team to reduce clinical alarms. -
Analyzing alarm data was no easy task
Simply gathering the data about clinical alarms wasnt enough to help The Johns Hopkins Hospital improve patient safety. Those numbers have to be broken down into meaningful parts. -
Lessons learned from Johns Hopkins’ alarm reductions
The task force that reduced clinical alarms at The Johns Hopkins Hospital learned many valuable lessons along the way, says Maria Cvach, MSN, RN, CCRN, assistant director of nursing clinical standards. -
Health system to pay $9.3 million for alleged False Claims Act, Stark violations
Freeman Health System, a healthcare provider and hospital system located in Joplin, MO, has agreed to pay $9.3 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Stark Law and the False Claims Act by knowingly providing incentive pay to physicians in a manner that violated federal law, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced recently. -
Study finds rising med mal payments
An analysis of surgical malpractice claims shows rising payment amounts, with patient outcomes as the strongest predictor of payment size. -
Doctors don’t disclose conflicts of interest on social media
As the use of Twitter and other social media by physicians and patients rises, some professionals worry that physicians increasingly seem to forget to do what many consider crucial for building doctor-patient trust: -
‘Wait for Labor’ campaign discourages induction
To increase awareness about the health risks of elective inductions of labor and the importance of full-term pregnancies, the Association of Womens Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) has launched the Wait for Labor to Start on Its Own online pledge. -
Pennsylvania hospitals implement wrong-site best practices
More than 30% of Pennsylvania healthcare facilities have successfully implemented 21 potential recommendations for preventing wrong-site surgery, according to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority (PPSA). -
Legal Review & Commentary: Widow awarded more than $6.7 million due to hospital’s failure to prevent fatal heart attack
News: In 2005, a 43-year-old man was crushed by an all-terrain vehicle when it crashed and flipped over while he was riding it. -
Legal Review & Commentary: Over $4.6 million award for failure to maintain adequate blood supply resulting in death of mother
News: This case involves the death of a 36-year-old woman following the caesarean section delivery of her first child. -
2012 Salary Survey Results: The uncertainty in healthcare brings more demand for risk managers
Risk manager, your time has come. With all the turmoil in the healthcare industry from changes associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), moves toward electronic records, and an increased focus on fraud from government regulators, you might be in more demand than ever before.