All Entries Tagged With: "politics"
Nurses targeted after anonymous complaint about physician
Two registered nurses from Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit, TX are being prosecuted for reporting complaints to the Texas Medical board about a physician’s standard of practice, according to the local CBS affiliate.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) has joined the Texas Nurses Association (TNA) to criticize the state’s response. Both associations worry about the precedent the action sets for future nurse whistle blowers who advocate for patient safety. An initial hearing on the nurses’ motions to dismiss the case was held July 15 but no ruling was made.
The nurses sent an anonymous letter to the Texas Medical Board. The Winkler County Sheriff’s Department then received a harassment complaint from the physician, and initiated the investigation that resulted in criminal charges. The Texas Medical Board has notified the sheriff’s department that the complaints were confidential and not subject to subpoena. TNA has set up a fund for the nurses’ legal fees.
What do you think of this case, will it hold?
CMS tells Idaho to stop posting hospital inspection results
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) was warned last month by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to stop publicly posting hospital and nursing home inspection results online, according to the Idaho Statesmen. CMS told IDHW that such information was only to be released after a written request under the Freedom of Information Act was submitted. The IDHW has appealed the change, while results of inspections have been temporarily taken down.
Readers, what do you think of this? Will the order to take the results down be reversed?
Consumers Union says healthcare lacks progress in reducing medical errors
It’s been 10 years since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published its groundbreaking report To Err Is Human, which detailed the need for reform in healthcare. The report, published in 1999, estimated that 98,000 American die every year from preventable medical errors.
Ten years later and the Consumers Union has issued a new report, To Err is Human-To Delay is Deadly, its own version of the current state of progress in reducing preventable medical errors. Director of Consumer Union’s Safe Patient Project Lisa McGiffert said there’s little evidence to suggest much progress has been made, yet billions of dollars have been spent. She says the U.S. healthcare system failed to adopt the reforms recommended by the IOM in 1999. [more]
What to do with non-urgent ED patients
Emergency departments (ED) across the country are suffering from overcrowding. There are many reasons for the plethora of people in today’s EDs, from hospital closings to primary care physician shortage. At University of Chicago Medical Center’s ED, part of the problem was that 40% of the 80,000 patients who show up every year don’t need emergency care, according to a Wall Street Journal post. So the University of Chicago Medical Center decided to redirect those non-urgent patients to other local health clinics to receive care. United States Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), among others, have questioned this method.
I know our readers must deal with crowded EDs every day. What do you think of this method? How does your hospital handle overcrowded EDs?
Who will replace Tom Daschle?
The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services undoubtedly affects patient safety, it is under his or her guidance that the government makes the laws that ultimately govern how our hospitals run. Tom Daschle, President Obama’s original nomination for the position, withdrew his candidacy yesterday after it was found that he had failed to pay some of his taxes in the past. So, now the question becomes, who should replace Daschle? An article in the New York Times today suggests a few names, some of whom I am familiar with, others of whom I am not. These include three current state governors and one former governor of Oregon:
- Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas
- Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania
- Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan
- former Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon
I saw Kitzhaber speak at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement‘s 20th Annual National Forum for Quality Improvement in Healthcare back in December. He presented a keynote speech about healthcare in the 21st century. He had many good ideas, but his biggest point was that to change our current system to one that sees producing health as the goal, and not to finance the healthcare system will require a fundamental shift in thinking and doing. You can see his whole speech by visiting his Web site, The 100th Meridian.
The other names in this list I am less familiar with, although I know that Rendell is known for pushing transparency in his state which implemented one of the nation’s first event reporting systems. He has in recent years taken up the cause of expanding health insurance to those who are uninsured in Pennsylvania.
What have you heard about the other names on this list? What are your thoughts on Daschle withdrawing his nomination?
