Hospitals in particular face daunting challenges for patient safety and quality of care. A Nov. 20 report released by The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) offers guiding principles and actions to prepare hospitals for the inevitable. Read more »

Come Jan. 1, 2009, medical personnel are not allowed to have a bad day. That’s when new standards introduced by The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Health Organizations (JCAHO) in a July 9 sentinel event alert are slated to go into effect.

“Intimidating and disruptive behaviors include overt actions such as verbal outbursts and physical threats, as well as passive activities such as refusing to perform assigned tasks or quietly exhibiting uncooperative attitudes during routine activities,” the commission said. “All intimidating and disruptive behaviors are unprofessional and should not be tolerated.” Read more »

An inventory of quality measures used for reporting, payment, or quality improvement by its agencies and operating divisions was recently announced by Health and Human Services (HHS).

The HHS measures inventory is available on the National Quality Measures Clearinghouse, an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Web site. Read more »

On Dec. 1, bloggers from around the world went online to write about and promote awareness of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/aquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The day marked the 20th annual World AIDS Day. Read more »

Health care professionals have an additional choice for treating patients with moderate to severe acute pain. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tapentadol hydrochloride, according to a Nov. 24 press release. Read more »

Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a final rule for Patient Safety Organizations (PSO) that will go into effect Jan. 19, 2009. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has already listed 15 PSOs.

The final rule addresses concerns regarding how providers may efficiently collect and analyze patient safety event information with privilege and confidentiality protections while complying with existing reporting requirements seeking similar information. Read more »

New CPT® codes that go into effect Jan. 1, 2009 will allow your lab to code more accurately for advancing diagnostic tests, according to the Coding Institute’s Pathology/Lab Coding Alert (Vol. 9, No. 11).

Let’s say, for example, that a patient presents with chest pain but shows a normal EKG and tropinin-negative test results. The physician orders serum myloperoxidase (MPO). You would have to settle for a generic code, such as 83516 Immunoassay for analyte other than infectious agent antibody or infectious agent antogen, qualitative or semiquantitative; multiple step method to describe the test. In 2009, however, you’ll code this sort of test with total clarity using CPT® code 83876 Myeloperoxidase [MPO]. Read more »

Getting paid for unlisted procedure codes can be tricky, especially if a procedure is experimental or investigational.

“It’s not unheard of to get paid for unlisted procedures, but it’s not always easy,” says Joanne Mehmert, CPC, CCS-P, in Kansas City, Mo. “The insurance company has its own definition of medical necessity.” Read more »

National Heritage Insurance Corp. (NHIC) is the newest Part A/Part B Medicare Administrative Contractor (A/B MAC) to be named by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

CMS has awarded NHIC a five-year, cost-plus-award-fee contract to administer Part A and Part B Medicare claims payment in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont — also known as jurisdiction 14. The contract is reportedly worth about $176 million, according to a press release issued by CMS on Nov. 19. Read more »

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized 11 lots of contaminated heparin—a blood thinner drug—from Celsus Laboratories Inc. on Nov. 6, according to an FDA news release.

The 11 lots consisted of five lots of Heparin Sodium Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and six lots of Heparin Lithium. These products were manufactured in China and found to be contaminated with over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS)—a substance that mimics heparin’s anticoagulant activity. Read more »