False Claims Suit Alleges Improper Privileging

A word to hospital leaders...

Do you think that medical staff credentialing and privileging is just low-level paper-work? Does your organization provide ongoing education and support, not just for the employees who work in the Medical Staff Services Department, but also for the physicians who sit on your Credentials and Medical Executive Committees, as well as for Board Members who must make the final credentialing and privileging decisions?

When the message is uncomfortable, do you listen?

A recent press release from the U.S. Department of Justice clearly shows why those actions are so vital to both the health of your patients, and the health of your organization.

Hiding a Problem Doctor In Plain Site

How much important information is locked away from those who need it in your organization?  And how much added expense and potential patient harm does that create, at a time when national efforts are focused on eliminating both? Because of legitimate concerns related to privacy and confidentiality, hospital leadership allows, and even encourages, protecting sensitive information.  However, that action often creates the unintended consequence of hiding valuable data behind locked doors. 

How to Respond To An Angry Patient Complaint

An angry complaint can ruin your day. You have to spend extra time dealing with the patient. Extra time spent listening to your colleague's side of the story. Extra time spent thinking about the situation and how you could have responded differently. Here are some steps for handling angry complaints so that they don't consume more time and energy than necessary...

If you've been following the changes taking place within the Joint Commission during the past year or so, you know that the healthcare accreditor has been updating standards to more closely align with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid's (CMS) Conditions of Participation (CoPs).

Courageous Credentialing and Privileging Support Patient Safety

The National Association Medical Staff Services, whose members are charged with verifying credentials and clinical competency for healthcare providers in hospitals, managed care panels, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing homes, etc.  has long stated that "Patient Safety Begins With Us." Verifiers and administrators provide the foundation for a thorough credentialing and privileging program, but more is required.

Restraint and Seclusion - A Hot Topic for Hospitals

CMS and Joint Commission are taking the issue of patient restraint and seclusion seriously.  Hospitals and individual care givers must do the same,  Not just because of the regulatory agencies, but because patients deserve to feel safe, and to be treated with dignity. 

That having been said, some patients need to be restrained, for their own safety and for the safety of staff.  In my years working in an emergency department I saw more than a few abusive, dangerous, out-of-control patients.

While browsing the Wall Street Journal Health blog this morning I came across this intriguing post: How Quality-of-Care Rules Can Lead Doctors Astray.  It opens with:

"Rating doctors and hospitals and paying them based on the quality of care they provide can have dangerous consequences — especially when the issue of how to define “quality” is up in the air."

Metrics are certainly not evil; measuring compliance, targets, and outcomes can provide insights not otherwise gained.  Peter Pronovist, M.D., Medical Director, Center of Innovations in Quality Patient Care at Johns Hopkins Hospital,  made the statement that "without valid measurement tools we believe that we are safer than we are."

Healthcare Transparency In A Non-Punitive Environment - Is It Possible?

Healthcare is all about transparency these days.  Most organizations strive to increase openness to error disclosure, both internally and externally.  Leadership confidently promises a non-punitive environment because evidence proves that most errors are the result of process flaws, not human inefficiency. 

"Report errors, how can we fix what we don't know is broken?"  It's all good, right?

Well, humans being human and all, is a non-punitive environment realistically possible?