A controversial radiation treatment for patients who have had lung cancer surgery may not help elderly people live longer, U.S. researchers have found. FULL STORY »
Healthcare IT infrastructure for accountable care organizations should be flexible, secure and able to support analysis and care coordination, an eHealth Initiative report says. FULL STORY »
By Maureen McKinney | February 11, 2012
| Print Magazine
Those who want to test their patient-safety skill set while adding some letters after their name will be able to do so starting March 5, when a certification board established by the Boston-based National Patient Safety Foundation launches its credentialing program. FULL STORY »
Helen Darling, president and CEO of the employers' group National Business Group on Health, states the case for making flu shots mandatory for healthcare workers and for Congress to increase its focus on reducing healthcare costs. FULL STORY »
More than 560 of the nation's nursing homes have not budged for the past three years from a one-star federal government rating—the lowest on a five-star scale—even as most homes improved. FULL STORY »
HHS' National Vaccine Advisory Committee approved a recommendation that healthcare employers that haven't achieved 90% influenza vaccination compliance after following other recommendations to boost flu vaccination rates “strongly consider” an employee requirement for flu vaccination. FULL STORY »
Millions of healthy people—including shy or defiant children, grieving relatives and people with fetishes—may be wrongly labeled mentally ill by a new international diagnostic manual. FULL STORY »
Consuelo Solorio, a middle-aged tomato-cannery employee, traveled three hours from her home in the San Joaquin Valley in California to have spine surgery for an injury from tumbling off a ladder. FULL STORY »
The board of Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas has cited legal concerns and declined to make public a report on improving patient safety. FULL STORY »
A study finds that while a majority of doctors believe they should disclose significant medical errors to patients, some won't for fear of being sued. FULL STORY »
Despite expert guidelines and scientific evidence to the contrary, a third of U.S. primary-care physicians say ovarian cancer screening is effective and many would offer it to patients, according to a survey. FULL STORY »
Efforts are taking hold for New York to join other states that require doctors and pharmacists to participate in a real-time reporting system before dispensing prescriptions for painkillers, sleeping pills and other controlled drugs. FULL STORY »
Smith & Nephew will pay about $22 million to the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve allegations that it made improper payments to physicians in Greece in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. FULL STORY »
There is a simple and effective way of getting hospital workers to wash their hands consistently: Watch them wash, and then congratulate them for having done so. FULL STORY »
By Matthew Greis | February 04, 2012
| Print Magazine
Hear that? It's the sound of water gently cascading from a decorative fountain in a hospital lobby. But, if the murmur of flowing water is meant to instill a sense of calm among patients, visitors and staff, the reality is far more disquieting. And newsworthy. FULL STORY »
The California Hospital Association hired Dr. David Perrott as senior vice president and chief medical officer to replace Dorel Harms, who recently retired as senior vice president, clinical services. FULL STORY »
New Jersey's state health department has launched a website that allows the public to examine inspection reports for 260 ambulatory surgery centers. FULL STORY »
Dr. Mark Chassin, president of the Joint Commission, discusses the federal government's new patient safety initiative, the $1 billion Partnership for Patients program, and how that program dovetails with the work of his organization, the largest private-sector healthcare accreditation body. FULL STORY »
David Daniel, CEO of Lakeland (Fla.) Surgical & Diagnostic Center, won the second annual Healthcare Administrator Award from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. Lakeland Surgical reduced its infections to just two, even as its number of procedures grew by more... FULL STORY »
Jeffrey Rivest, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, discusses how his hospital has made it onto the Leapfrog Group's top hospitals list in each of the five years that the group has ranked hospitals. The University of Maryland Medical Center and Virginia Mason... FULL STORY »
Gary Kaplan, chairman and CEO, Virginia Mason Health System, Seattle, discusses how his hospital has made it onto the Leapfrog Group's top hospitals list in each of the five years that the group has ranked hospitals. Virginia Mason Health System and the University of Maryland Medical Center,... FULL STORY »
Mortality, length of stay and patient safety. Those are among key clinical measures used in the annual 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks study conducted by Thomson Reuters to recognize high-performance hospitals. But that's only part of the picture. The study also includes financial markers... FULL STORY »
Thomas Priselac, President and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, talks with Modern Healthcare editor David Burda about patient safety challenges during the American College of Healthcare Executives' 2010 Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago March 20-25. FULL STORY »
I'm responding to your article about the Health Affairs paper that said that one-third of all hospitalized patients at three tertiary hospitals suffered adverse events. FULL STORY »
The Joint Commission is on a confused track. Mark Chassin's study of his organization's quality process measures was interesting to those of us who find “process” measures typically indirect, microfocused and therefore misguided as an approach to improving quality. FULL STORY »
