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Experts in quality improvement say that the recent listing of the first 15 patient safety organizations (PSOs) under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 will help hospitals [...]

A new facility in Atlanta is turning the concept of 'health care' upside down. Rather that, treating sick patients, the health care professionals, called 'partners', will see individuals, called 'participants,' [...]

Key Points * Process gets help to patients further upstream, to detect signs of deterioration earlier. * It takes about six months to begin to see real results from rapid [...]

Case managers with the Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), a nonprofit medical indemnity association, follow a practice model that differs significantly from that used at most other insurance companies, says [...]

As the newly hired patient financial services director at St. Helena Hospital in Deer Park, CA, Kim Meredith was ready to put her focus on reducing the institution's denial rate. [...]

An 'all-employee' guest-relations program at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago aims to increase both the hospital's market share and its Press Ganey Associates patient satisfaction scores. The effort began about [...]

SAN DIEGO, California -- Point-of-care (POC) testing has been one of the growth segments within the clinical diagnostics industry for more than a decade, driven by new developments in sensor [...]

Synopsis: Oseltamivir treatment of children with influenza A virus infection was associated with the selection of resistant mutants in 18% of cases. Source: Kiso M, et al. Resistant influenza A [...]

After obtaining a nursing diploma in 1978, Marjorie Schirado, RN, went to work for Bismarck (ND) Hospital, which is now Medcenter One Health Systems, and she still is employed at [...]

One of the great challenges in the whole world of quality and patient safety is learning to take advantage of the richness of clinical cases,' says Robert M. Wachter, MD, [...]

In April 2002, Donna Zazworsky, MS, RN, CCM, FAAN, director of grants, partnerships, and policy at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic in Tucson, AZ, got a telephone call from a [...]

Part 2 of a two-part series As often occurs when new Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards are introduced, hospitals are rushing to complete failure mode and effect [...]

Health care practitioners now have had a couple years of experience in doing failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) projects. Now that we've got some know-how in how to do [...]

To share or not to share? That's the question for many organizations currently in the thick of the decision-making process for whether to send in the results of their periodic [...]

Last year's worldwide outbreak of a deadly new virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), made health systems around the world re-examine their preparedness to deal with a sudden epidemic of [...]

In its recent initiative to minimize medical errors, William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI, has made its patients 'Partners in Safety.' That's the name of the new program, which [...]

A case management program for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients at MeritCare Health System in Fargo, ND, helps women smoothly navigate through the health care maze as they make treatment [...]

(Editor's note: Due to the delicate nature of some of the information in this article, many of the sources quoted agreed to share their comments only on the condition of [...]

Cathryne Woolery, operations manager of guest housing for Providence Health System in Portland, OR, is a woman with a mission. 'My biggest challenge is how to get the word out [...]

First rate, then reward your access associates Bonuses given to registration staff At the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Health in Charleston, registration staff are carefully trained in greeting [...]

Are complaints fact-based, or unfounded? If you sometimes feel as though every complaint in the hospital is directed at your department, you may not be that far off. 'I believe [...]

Is excellent service always given? Observe staff and know for sure Role is becoming more complex Giving excellent customer service all the time sounds simple enough, but for most patient [...]

The Critical Child in the Community ED Authors: Alfred Sacchetti, MD, FACEP, Chief Emergency Services, Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden, NJ, and Assistant Clinical Professor, Emergency Medicine, Thomas [...]

Fine-tuning ED registration processes Obtaining accurate, detailed information about a patient's insurance coverage is the goal of any registrar, regardless of the patient's point of entry. Clearly, though, emergency department [...]

Surge in self-pay, underinsured shows no sign of slowing down Revamp your processes If a patient requests financial assistance at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, he or she [...]

Antimicrobial stewardship program for the budget-conscious hospital Launch some or all of these changes All hospitals need to form some sort of antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP), and lack of funding [...]

Hospital develops early warning system A scoring system designed to provide an early warning of patients who may need prompt care has helped a hospital decrease its code blue calls [...]

Medicare project focuses on hospital readmissions QIO, hospitals, nursing homes collaborate Since DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, AL, and the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation began collaborating on a Medicare [...]

Make needless claims denials a thing of the past with staff involvement Turn mistakes into a 'teaching moment' Too many claims denials lead to loss of revenue and unhappy administrators [...]

With claims denial tools, look before you leap Is it user-friendly? Is your patient access department considering investing in software to decrease and manage claims denials? If so, compliance and [...]

Critical Path Network Center dedicated to patients over age 65 Staff are trained to provide geriatric care, support The nation's first senior emergency center, opened by Holy Cross Hospital in [...]

Center dedicated to patients over age 65 Staff are trained to provide geriatric care, support The nation's first senior emergency center, opened by Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, MD, [...]

Combined roles means a streamlined process Patients are helped right away If a patient becomes upset about the amount he or she will owe, Joseph Ianelli, senior financial manager of [...]

Are registrars accountable for registration mistakes? Without question, the mistakes made by front-end staff can make or break the success of your patient access department. 'Registration is one of the [...]

Eliminate costly gaps in your authorizations It sounds fairly cut and dried: If an authorization isn't obtained from a payer, the claim will be denied. However, payer requirements are getting [...]

Put a stop to complaints on call center wait times Patient access leaders at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, NY, knew there was a perception by some people [...]

Don't miss a chance to collect Do you have the technology, processes you need? Lack of the right technology to automate time-consuming, error-prone processes can put patient access departments at [...]

Smaller hospitals can do well with medication management programs Here's one good example Pharmacy directors of small hospitals might think that offering medication therapy management (MTM) services is a little [...]

Hospital, skilled nursing facilities collaborate Continuity-of-care department spearheads effort By working closely with a carefully chosen network of skilled nursing facilities, The Methodist Hospital in Houston has smoothed the transitions [...]

PAPRs end frustration of fit-test failures Hospital diverts funds to reusables At DuBois (PA) Regional Medical Center, employees were failing N95 fit tests in alarming numbers. In the cardiology department, [...]