Study Shows Hospitals Have Long Way to Go
(Commonwealth Fund: New York) -- How do patients feel about the care they receive in U.S. hospitals?
Joint Commission Accreditation Changes
(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.
Making Medicare Work for Seniors
(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.
Public Reporting Creates Spike in Patient Satisfaction
(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.
HHS Issues Interim Support for Patient Safety Organizations
(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.
Guidelines for Consumer-Focused Public Reporting
(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.
Functional Optimization Increases Hospital Sales
(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.
Engaged and Accountable Health Care Reform Plan
(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.
HHS Value-Driven Health Care
(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.
Surgical Errors Cost Nearly $1.5 Billion Annually
(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).
