Yet another study has been published showing that patients receiving care at PE-owned hospitals experienced a higher rate of hospital-acquired adverse events, like infections and falls, than patients receiving care at hospitals that are not PE-owned. The research comes as concerns about PE-owned hospitals are intensifying — from leaders both within and outside of the healthcare industry.
Although problems in US healthcare abound, the most insidious challenges are often tightly coupled with the industry’s most appealing and instilled virtues — a highly selective and independent workforce, (b) an extremely low tolerance for risk, and (c) a high degree of professional oversight.
This week, two bipartisan members of the Senate Budget Committee launched an investigation into private equity and its impact on healthcare. They initiated the probe to get answers about “questionable financial transactions” that could be hurting care quality for patients at hospitals owned by private equity firms.
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a report that laid out four recommendations to improve patient safety across the nation. Some of these included creating federal leadership positions focused on advancing patient safety and hastening research on systems of safe care.
Each year, nonprofit ECRI creates a list of the industry’s top ten patient safety concerns. This year, the pediatric mental health crisis topped the list, above other important issues like violence against healthcare staff and clinicians being expected to work outside their scope of practice.
Palo Alto-based Theator makes technology to help providers understand the high level of variability in outcomes among common surgical procedures. The startup recently uncovered a key reason why patient suffer complications after hysterectomies, and it stems from the fact that surgeons lack a standardized set of safety practices to which they must adhere.
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
More than 90% of nurses in Michigan believe that understaffing is negatively affecting the quality of care they’re able to provide, according to a new report. The percentage of respondents who know of a patient death being caused by nurses being assigned too many patients nearly doubled in the past seven years — from 22% in 2016 to 42% in 2023.
While no single approach is right for every hospital, there are a few fundamental tenets that all healthcare organizations should keep in mind as they design a quality improvement program.
A 2022 report by patient safety company ECRI listed the top ten risk factors to patient safety and provided actionable steps to mitigate each risk.
A survey by the Service Employees International Union found that 89% of polled nurses and healthcare workers at HCA Healthcare feel staff shortages at their hospital are hurting patients. Union leaders urged hospital leaders to urgently address the shortage.
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
In an interview with MedCity News, Hospital Sisters Health System's Director of Quality Bill Cox discussed the types of technology the 15-hospital system is using to enhance patient safety and why a systemwide strategy and culture shift is necessary for successful IT deployment.
The state of California is suing Brookdale Senior Living for alleged patient safety violations at 10 nursing homes in the state and for providing false data to boost its CMS star rating. Brookdale denies both claims.
Improving patient safety and increasing the bottom line aren’t competing priorities. Here’s how hospitals can accomplish both objectives.
A recent Pennsylvania appellate court opinion related to the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (“PSQIA”) continues a trend of judicial erosion of patient safety privilege protections afforded to health care providers by statute.
Notwithstanding their entrance into the healthcare world and lexicon 15 years ago, Patient Safety Organizations continue to represent a source of uncertainty, confusion and frustration with respect to their promise of sweeping confidentiality protection for provider efforts to analyze system errors.
