Before injecting patients with anything the patient should be informed of:
what is being injected
how much is being injected
the type and location of the injection
the probable benefit of the injection
the possible after effects, including pain and swelling (and alleviating the
symptoms)
Then, any questions should be answered before proceeding.
Physicians need to assure that clinical staff are properly trained in injection procedures, including age appropriate site selection.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
New Health Insurance Regulations
Numerous PPACA changes became effective for insurance plan years starting after 9/23/10 (for most patients this would be January 1). Many changes are related to insurance coverage, including:
coverage extends to dependents up to age 26
certain preventive and immunization services will be covered with no patient cost sharing
lifetime dollar limits will be removed from benefit plans
pre-existing condition exclusions and waiting periods are eliminated for patients under 18 (older patients phase in later)
retroactive cancellation will be only in cases of fraud or failure to pay
Other 1/1/11 changes:
increases in penalties for misusing health savings account funds
changes in flexible savings accounts (FSAs)
Providers need to be aware that insurance policies are changing policies rapidly and billing and collection procedures will be impacted.
coverage extends to dependents up to age 26
certain preventive and immunization services will be covered with no patient cost sharing
lifetime dollar limits will be removed from benefit plans
pre-existing condition exclusions and waiting periods are eliminated for patients under 18 (older patients phase in later)
retroactive cancellation will be only in cases of fraud or failure to pay
Other 1/1/11 changes:
increases in penalties for misusing health savings account funds
changes in flexible savings accounts (FSAs)
Providers need to be aware that insurance policies are changing policies rapidly and billing and collection procedures will be impacted.
HIPAA Nightmares
Technology both enabled these offenses and enabled the discovery of the offenses.
First:
Three employees and a contract nurse were terminated from the Tuscon University Medical Center for looking at medical records of the Tuscon shooting victims. None are accused of leaking any information.
Second:
A relative called this week during the 11 o'clock news. Ohio Health had announced that patient data from Grant Hospital in Columbus had been compromised. She has been a patient there in the last six months.
An employee had stolen computers from the IT inventory, attempted to wipe the hard drives and then to sell the computers. Whatever data was lost was encrypted and the probability of a compromise is low, but Grant will be required to do the full court press on HIPAA security procedures (at no small cost).
How is your HIPAA security program working? Would breaches be detected?
First:
Three employees and a contract nurse were terminated from the Tuscon University Medical Center for looking at medical records of the Tuscon shooting victims. None are accused of leaking any information.
Second:
A relative called this week during the 11 o'clock news. Ohio Health had announced that patient data from Grant Hospital in Columbus had been compromised. She has been a patient there in the last six months.
An employee had stolen computers from the IT inventory, attempted to wipe the hard drives and then to sell the computers. Whatever data was lost was encrypted and the probability of a compromise is low, but Grant will be required to do the full court press on HIPAA security procedures (at no small cost).
How is your HIPAA security program working? Would breaches be detected?
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
And take that!!
The National Labor Relations Board is suing an ambulance company for firing a worker. The company fired the worker after she posted derogatory comments about her supervisor on FACEBOOK (TM), from her home computer.
The company says the employee was fired for multiple reasons.
The NLRB says the company violated the employee's rights, and that further derogatory comments from her and other employees were "concerted activity" protected by federal labor laws.
The new and marvelous age of technology.
The company says the employee was fired for multiple reasons.
The NLRB says the company violated the employee's rights, and that further derogatory comments from her and other employees were "concerted activity" protected by federal labor laws.
The new and marvelous age of technology.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
SGR Cuts for Physicians
Unless Congress intervenes, cuts in December and January will lower the average Medicare physician reimbursement by about 30%. Primary care physicians will see a small increase.
Dropping Medicare rates down toward Medicaid rates will do severe damage to some practices. Given the fixed/variable cost structure of physician practices, short term the only practical cuts are in staffing (and that is tough) and physician incomes. Are some physicians gaming the system? Sure.
Conspiracy theorists believe the administration wants to destroy most private practices and drive docs into hospital employment relationships. This could have some benefits, but could also do severe damage to quantity and quality of care, not to mention many hospitals do a lousy job of managing physician practices. This sort of integration can be done fast or right, but not fast and right.
Yes, we need health care reform. Fast and stupid is not the reform we need.
Dropping Medicare rates down toward Medicaid rates will do severe damage to some practices. Given the fixed/variable cost structure of physician practices, short term the only practical cuts are in staffing (and that is tough) and physician incomes. Are some physicians gaming the system? Sure.
Conspiracy theorists believe the administration wants to destroy most private practices and drive docs into hospital employment relationships. This could have some benefits, but could also do severe damage to quantity and quality of care, not to mention many hospitals do a lousy job of managing physician practices. This sort of integration can be done fast or right, but not fast and right.
Yes, we need health care reform. Fast and stupid is not the reform we need.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Document Archive
We have started an Internet document archive for seminar handouts, white papers, consulting checklists and much more.
healthcarethinktank document archive
healthcarethinktank document archive
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