MHA's Society for Risk Management

FDA Calls for Reducing Infusion Pump Risks

The Food and Drug Administration announced on April 23 that new steps are being taken to address safety problems associated with external infusion pumps—including establishing additional premarket requirements for the pumps used in all environments, including hospitals, clinics, and at-home settings. According to the FDA, infusion pumps have been the source of "persistent safety problems": In the past five years, the organization has received more than 56,000 reports of adverse events.

Read more here.

AHRQ report incomplete, groups say

Infection prevention groups are rallying against a recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, calling the findings “outdated” and “incomplete.”

In its annual National Healthcare Quality Report, released April 13, AHRQ said efforts to lower the number of healthcare-associated infections had seen little success. As proof, the report cited increases in the rates of postoperative sepsis and postoperative catheter-associated urinary tract infections through 2007.

In a statement jointly issued by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, the groups expressed concern that AHRQ's report would create confusion among consumers. Additionally, they criticized the report's reliance on administrative billing and coding data from the CMS, a source they say “paints an inaccurate picture of healthcare-associated infections for the public.”

The organizations called for the creation of national standards to be used in defining healthcare-associated infections, and they also stressed the need for transparent, public reporting.

[ via Maureen McKinney, Modern Healthcare's Daily Dose ]

MHA hosting webinar on infant abduction

On May 4, the Mississippi Hospital Association is hosting a webinar, Infant Abduction: Preventing the Unthinkable Nightmare, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Sue Dill Calloway, MSN, JD, RN, Director of Hospital Patient Safety for The Doctors Company, is the instructor.

Topics covered will include data on total number of abductions, case examples, six root causes of infant abduction, strategies for reducing risk, liability issues, self-assessment for health care facilities, typical abductor profile, educational material for parents, key physical and security measures to take, policies and procedures to put in place, controlling access, educating staff, critical incident response plans, and mock drill plans.

The cost of the webinar is $155. The registration fee includes one connection and site fee. One or more individuals from the same facility may participate for the same fee. For more information about MHA webinars, contact Diane Clift at (800) 289-8884, (601) 368-3217 or dclift@mhanet.org.

Other webinars that may be of interest to risk managers:

• Keys to Complying with the Latest Joint Commission Medication Management Standards
• CMS Revised Hospital Anesthesia Services Interpretive Guidelines
• People Management Skills- The Business of the Future

Get Your Compliance Program in Shape to Avoid, Defend Against Auditors

Whistleblower lawsuits and multimillion dollar Medicare fraud settlements involving otherwise reputable hospitals and health systems are becoming standard media fodder on the Department of Justice Web site. As is almost always the case, the accused providers that are often paying millions of dollars to the federal government to settle whistleblower suits for self-referrals, or inflated outlier charges, or whatever the gist of the suit may be, are also claiming that the settlement is not an admission of guilt.

Learn more here.