Tag: Quality
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Friday Feature: Back to the Future and Care Rounds
TGIF! A frequent reader sent me a note earlier in the week and asked if I would drop in more clinically oriented stuff from time to time. I asked for details, and she said stuff “that is germane to patient care and operational improvements – QA/QI stuff”. So, today’s post is by request, sort of.…
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Reducing MDRO Prevalence in Healthcare Facilities: The Impact of Chlorhexidine Bathing and Nasal Decolonization on Hospitalizations
I’m sure the first reaction to this title is, it’s an April Fool’s joke. This is not that. I know, I don’t really write on any deep clinical topics, for various reasons. First, I’m not qualified clinically (I read to stay B.S. proof and to help my wife’s work – clinical compliance). Second, my only…
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Friday Feature: You Will be Hated
TGIF! I found this piece on LinkedIn and thought it was quite good and worthy of reposting in its entirety. I know what this is about, personally. I was an administrator, moreover, a senior living and healthcare CEO for many, many years. I ran large organizations primarily but the parallels within this story, don’t change.…
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Record-breaking $2.7 Billion Paid by Healthcare Providers in False Claims Act Cases
A couple of weeks ago, on February 22nd. the Department of Justice issued its annual statement regarding False Claims Act activity in FY 2023 (federal fiscal years run 10/1 to 9/30). “Settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act exceeded $2.68 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023. The government and whistleblowers were…
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Fast-Track Nursing Programs: Meeting America’s Growing Need for Nurses?
Across this site, there are 400 plus posts spanning more than a decade. Sprinkled throughout, are posts on staffing and the need for labor, especially nurses. In other words, the U.S. health system, all provider segments, needs nurses and the pandemic exacerbated this need. The need is most critical at the bed side, direct care.…
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Wednesday Feature: Navigating the Evolving Landscape – Enhancing Ethics and Compliance Programs for Risk Mitigation
Happy Hump Day! Long title for what is going to be, a rather brief post. As followers and regular readers know, my firm (I am the co-founder and part owner) H2 Healthcare, LLC has a practice area uniquely concentrated on clinical compliance and complex litigation support. The practice area is headed by Diane Hislop, RN (yes,…
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Why Managers Need to Shift Focus from Putting Out Fires to Empowering Their Teams
In my reading stack this weekend (ok, virtual stack), I came across a number of articles on leadership and management. Some were good, some were not, and lots were focused on “old” issues and problems. One in particular, caught my attention – “Management as We Know it Is Broken: How can Leaders Fix It?” What…
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Unveiling the Allegations: Lawsuit Claims Advocate Aurora Health’s Monopoly on Health System is Hiking Prices in Wisconsin
Late last week, I ran across a number of news posts regarding a proposed class action lawsuit against the hospital/health system giant Advocate Aurora, alleging that the organization used its market mass to limit competition and in return, impose excessively high prices on commercial health plans and their insureds. The suit was filed in Wisconsin (where…
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Rising Tide of Audits: Brace Yourself for Increased Scrutiny on Skilled Nursing Providers in 2024
In 2023, regulators re-instituted audits of facilities for inappropriate diagnoses of schizophrenia (justification for anti-psychotic use), plus a five-claim audit of every nursing home. The purpose of the audit was to address a long-standing concern that inappropriate coding was driving higher Medicare reimbursement under PDPM, despite documentation in patient records, not substantiating the level of care…
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Iowa Lawsuit = More Bad News for Assisted Living
In January of 2022, a resident with dementia wandered out of her Assisted Living Memory Care facility in Iowa and ultimately, froze to death. The State of Iowa investigation uncovered that the resident wandered outside of the building at 9:30 p.m. the previous night. Her absence went unnoticed for eight hours plus even though the alarm…