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(Commonwealth Fund: New York) -- How do patients feel about the care they receive in U.S. hospitals? A study in the October 30 New England Journal of Medicine, supported by the Commonwealth Fund, shows that while patients are generally satisfied with their care, satisfaction levels aren't as high…
(The Joint Commission: Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois) -- Beginning Jan. 1, 2009, under a new Joint Commission policy, laboratory accreditation decisions will no longer immediately affect hospital accreditation decisions. This policy establishes comparability in the way that a laboratory with an…
(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Washington, D.C.) -- As the beginning of the annual election period for the Medicare Prescription Drug Program nears, many seniors and their caregivers are in the dark about how the program works and how to make the most of it. This is something Esther…
(Press Ganey Associates Inc.: South Bend, Indiana) -- By analyzing patient satisfaction data representing 1.5 million patients and 1,158 hospitals across the nation from January 2007 through June 2008, Press Ganey Associates Inc. found a dramatic upturn in patient satisfaction, strengthening the…
(AHRQ: Rockville, Maryland) -- The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (Patient Safety Act) authorized the creation of patient safety organizations (PSOs) to improve safety through the collection and analysis of data on patient safety events. By providing privilege and confidentiality, PSOs…
(National Quality Forum: Washington, D.C.) -- To support consumer engagement and improved quality in health care, the National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsed guidelines for consumer-focused, internet-based public reporting. These guidelines will assist report sponsors to present information about…
(Best Practices LLC: Chapel Hill, North Carolina) -- Within the hospital marketplace, pharmaceutical and biotechnology salespeople must negotiate increasingly complex organizational and decision-making structures to effectively represent their brands. Hospital formulary decisions are not only…
(Medco Health Solutions Inc.: Franklin Lakes, N.J.) -- Noting that the United States spends twice as much per capita on health care as most other developed nations, but achieves no better clinical outcomes, Medco Health Solutions Inc. chairman and CEO, David B. Snow, Jr., unveiled a…
(HHS: Washington, D.C.) -- The Chartered Value Exchanges (CVEs) is a growing movement to build a health care system where consumers, providers, and payers make decisions based on the value and quality of care. Currently, there are 25 local collaborations of health care providers, employers,…
(AHRQ: Rockville, Maryland) -- Potentially preventable medical errors that occur during or after surgery may cost employers nearly $1.5 billion a year, according to new estimates by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
In a study…
(CMS: Baltimore, Maryland) -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announced payment of more than $36 million in bonus payments to many of the more than 56,700 health professionals who satisfactorily reported quality information to Medicare under the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting…
(NCQA: Washington, D.C.) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently released its 2007 annual report, “Coming Home to Better Care.” The report looks at the promise of the patient-centered medical home, a promising approach that seeks to strengthen the patient-physician relationship…
(Quality Digest: Chico, California) -- Be sure to check out the new, fully redesigned Quality Digest homepage and web site. Not only is the new site more aesthetically pleasing than ever, it’s easier to navigate, so you can now find your favorite topics, columnists, departments, and articles…
(IBM: Armonk, New York) -- IBM’s vision statement, "Healthcare 2015 and Care Delivery: Delivery models refined, competencies" defined calls for collaboration among providers to achieve new milestones in defining, measuring and delivering value across national and global health care systems.
The…
(American Society for Quality: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- Physician profiles are becoming an integral part of hospital appointment, reappointment, and ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) as now required by The Joint Commission. A free seminar scheduled for Wednesday, July 30, 1-2 p.m…
(American Society for Quality: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- The American Society for Quality has submitted guidelines to the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in response to a concern about a ruling that could threaten to…
(The Joint Commission: Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois) -- The Joint Commission recently announced the 2009 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for each of its accreditation programs and its Disease-Specific Care Certification Program.
The National Patient Safety Goals promote…
(NQF: Washington, D.C.) -- Recognizing that patient safety remains a major hurdle in the United States, the National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsed 48 voluntary consensus standards focused on measuring the performance of acute-care hospitals, including measures addressing pediatric safety, hospital…
(NCQA: Washington, D.C.) -- The Quality Crossroads Group, a group of stakeholders drawn together to identify strategies to address the complex challenges confronting the United States health care system, recently proposed a five-point agenda that examines quality in patient safety, the…
(Medtral: Auckland, New Zealand) -- With a growing number of international medical travelers concerned about hospital accreditation, Medtral New Zealand, a health care organization based in New Zealand that coordinates medical travel packages from North America, addresses some of the pressing…
(AHIP: Washington, D.C.)-- The U.S. could reduce total health care spending and improve the quality of patient care if the plan recently proposed by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is implemented. PricewaterhouseCoopers reviewed AHIP’s proposals and estimates, and concluded that if…
(CMS: Baltimore, Maryland) -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking steps to encourage physicians and other eligible professionals to take part in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), a program designed to improve the quality of care provided to Medicare…
(American College of Physicians: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) -- More than a dozen U.S. specialty health-care organizations joined the four major primary care physicians’ professional groups to endorse the seven-point Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH).The PCMH offers…
(OHSU: Portland, Oregon) -- A recent study, “Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics,” by William Hersh, M.D., professor and chair of the department of medical informatics and clinical epidemiology at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), says a 40 percent hike in information…
(Tefen USA: New York) -- The imminent surge of more than 70 million aging baby boomers could overwhelm the U.S. health care system and engulf the nation’s tenuous economy, according to “Will the Boom Bust Health Care?” a new study by management consulting firm Tefen USA. A recent report from…