surgeries
MA surgical errors persist despite efforts to address them
Hospital leaders in Massachusetts have been working to reduce surgical error rates for more than a decade. Nonetheless, like peers in other states, health executives have been unable to eliminate... Read more...
Quality of children's healthcare questioned
A new study by RAND Corp., Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute and the University of Washington School of Medicine has reached the sobering conclusion that children may be getting worse... Read more...
ALSO NOTED: Highmark questions cardiac surgery reimbursement report; Indiana examines never events; and much more...
> Health plan Highmark is vigorously questioning a recent report noting large differences in reimbursements for cardiac surgeries in the Pittsburgh area. Read more...
Others payors may follow CMS's 'no pay' lead
Hospitals are still trying to get their head around new Medicare rules that will ban... Read more...
Study: Gastric bypass reduces mortality for obese
Bariatric surgery is still under fire among many insurers, several of whom are imposing strict restrictions on when they'll provide such surgery. The following study, however, may give those in favor... Read more...
By 2008, Medicare won't pay for hospital errors
In a move that should rock the industry, Medicare has announced it will stop paying for some hospital mistakes as of next year. Right now, Medicare pays for more than 60 percent of hospital acquired... Read more...
Duke hoping to avoid lawsuit rush
A new study suggests that while patients aren't suffering noticeable after-effects, many continue to believe their health problems were caused by a series of incidents at Duke University hospitals... Read more...
Trade group plans surgical fires guidelines
Surgical fires are a rare complication of surgical procedures--occurring roughly 50 to 100 times per year out of the 50 million surgeries performed in the U.S.--but they can have devastating results.... Read more...
NY tightens regulations on in-office surgeries
The state of New York has issued a new set of patient-safety standards aimed at physicians who perform surgical procedures in their offices. Under a new law, doctors who perform such surgeries must... Read more...
Study: Wrong-site surgeries, close calls common
Wrong-site surgeries happen or almost happen every other day in Pennsylvania healthcare organizations, says a new study. And, researchers suggest, those findings mirror what's taking place in other states.
Officials of the Pennsylvania Safety Authority, which conducted the survey, said in a 30-month time period stretching from June 2004 to December 2006, they received 427 near misses or reports of wrong-site surgeries. Of those, 253 were near misses. Of the remaining surgeries, …
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