In this issue . . .
December 2007 • Vol. 3 No. 12
By Judith (Ski) Lower, RN, MSN, CCRN, CNRN
Critical Care Nurse Representative, Maryland Nursing Workforce Commission
Research studies documenting the harmful effects of disruptive workplace behaviors should serve as a wake-up call for managers responsible for retaining experienced perioperative nurses and ensuring safe care for surgical patients.
HHS gives Congress plan to link
Medicare payments to performance
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services late last month gave Congress an outline of a future pay-for-performance plan that would push beyond current incentives for reporting quality-of-service measures and directly link hospitals’ actual performance on quality measures to the payments they receive.
NQF endorses 5 quality measures
as consensus standards for ASCs
Five ASC-specific quality-of-care measures submitted by the ASC Quality Collaboration have been endorsed by the National Quality Forum—a step that ASC industry groups hopes will pave the way for the measures to be included as part of new quality reporting requirements imposed by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Global healthcare leaders support
standardized patient safety protocols
Top health care leaders from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the U.S. met in Washington, D.C., early last month to sign a letter supporting joint efforts to advance global patient safety. Known as the High 5s project, the initiative aims to develop and implement standardized operating protocols addressing five widespread patient safety problems.
Joint Commission’s annual quality report
shows quality, patient care improvements
Hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission showed measurable improvements in quality-of-care and patient safety performance in 2006, and requirements that hospital follow standardized quality measurement, reporting and improvement processes contributed significantly to the improved results.
Aetna commits to adopt safeguards
nationwide for doctor ranking plans
Aetna, the nation’s third-largest healthcare insurer, has adopted nationwide an agreement with New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo on safeguards to ensure that programs rating physicians for consumers are fair and complete.
News briefing for perioperative leaders
This month’s news briefing includes a report on a meta-analysis of more than 100 peer-reviewed research studies relating lower nurse staffing levels to poorer patient outcomes, an online training course for improving medical staff communication with patients, a report on Medicare’s continuing efforts to reduce improper claims payments and much more.
ASC news review
This month’s ASC news review includes the Nov. 30 announcement that members of both the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers and FASA overwhelmingly approved the merger of the two organizations, effective Jan. 1, the adoption of 31 new quality measures by the AQA alliance and more.
