Quality Products & Resources
This JHQ feature provides members with up-to-the-minute, interesting resources that will help them navigate the constant flood of healthcare quality information. Brief descriptions of recently released media are provided, as well as ordering and Internet access information. New product announcements and company contact information are also provided.
Products
New Trauma Accelerator Charting System Enables Real-Time Trauma Charting
Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS), a medical software company offering clinical information systems and consulting services, has launched the Trauma Accelerator ™ charting system, an electronic emergency department charting solution to address the demanding documentation needs of trauma encounters.
The Trauma Accelerator™ charting systems is part of the Amelior ED® patient care systems, PCTS’ charting solution for emergency departments that allows physicians and nurses to create electronic charts for all their patient interactions. Healthcare providers use Amelior ED® to track patients, create electronic medical charts, and manage results with ancillary departments.
The Trauma Accelerator™ charting system works with Amerlior ED® by using an interface designed for real-time clinical information entry. The information is organized in a manner that matches the trauma process. The interface allows chart completion with minimal typing—speeding up the process while capturing the data needed to comply with government standards.
For more information, visit www.pcts.com.
General Data Company Launches High-Resolution Patient ID Wristbands
General Data Company, Inc., a provider of specialized labeling and identification solutions, launched its patent-pending PersonalID™ patient identification wristbands. The wristbands are designed for error-free bar code and photo identification of patients in hospitals and other healthcare environments.
By using a combination of bar code technology and hi-resolution patient photos, PersonalID wristbands enable healthcare providers to implement patient identification. The wristbands are made of a durable latex-free material that is designed for both short and long-term care and feature a tamperproof snap closure instead of adhesives. Text, bar codes, and patient photos are printed using a thermal-based printing process that does not require toner or a printer ribbon.
PersonalID wristbands are constructed to resist tearing, scratching, alcohol, or blood, as well as to prevent degrading or discoloring in showers, whirlpools, or therapy baths. The wristbands meet the patient identification guidelines for the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
PersonalID wristbands enable healthcare providers to add patient photographs to the patient wristbands, as well as other healthcare documents. This feature provides an additional method for healthcare providers to positively identify a patient prior to medication administration, blood transfusion, specimen collection, or surgical procedures. Patient photos also help reduce patient fraud.
For more information on PersonalID wristbands, visit www.general-data.com/personalID or call 800/733-5252, ext. 2700.
Resources
New Face of an Effective Compliance and Ethics Program
New United States Sentencing Commission amendments to the Federal Sentencing (Organizational Guidelines) will be effective November, 1, 2004 unless Congress disapproves them. The organizational guideline changes toughen the requirements for an effective compliance program. They offer a reduced sentence to organizations convicted of a federal crime if that entity could demonstrate that it had an “effective” compliance program in place. The nature of the amendments move the focus from due diligence to prevent and detect criminal violations to one that also must “promote an organizational culture that encourages ethical conduct and a commitment to compliance with the law.” Amendments place greater responsibility on boards of directors and executives for their oversight and mandatory training for high-level officials, as well as employees.
Amended Organizational Sentencing Guide-lines: A Call to Self-Governance. Available free from LRN at http://www.lrn.com/library/whitepapers/ussc_guide.php.
Questions regarding implementing a program under the sentencing guidelines call 800/529-6366
Compliance Resource for Board of Directors
An Integrated Approach to Corporate Compliance, an educational resource for healthcare organizations’ boards of directors, was developed collaboratively by representatives of the American Health Lawyers Association and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a supplement to the publication Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Compliance: A Resource for Health Care Boards of Directors, this joint educational effort addresses the roles of the in-house corporate general counsel and an organization’s Chief Compliance Officer in supporting the corporate compliance oversight function of healthcare organization governing boards. This resource addresses recent legal issues such as corporate responsibility and lawyers’ professional ethics, the modifications of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations, and the recommendations of the American Bar Association Task Force on Corporate Responsibility. It addresses these issues in the unique context of healthcare compliance and healthcare law, particularly in light of the expressed view of the OIG regarding the risk of structuring an organization’s compliance functions as subordinate to the General Counsel function.
This resource can be accessed online: http://oig.hhs.gov/ or at the Health Lawyers’ Web site at www.healthlawyers.org.
OIG 2005 Work Plan Areas of Focus
The OIG Work Plan sets forth various projects to be addressed during the fiscal year by the Office of Audit Services, Office of Evaluations and Inspections, Office of Investigations, and Office of Counsel of the Inspector General. The Work Plan includes projects planned in each of the department’s major entities: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the public health agencies, and the Administrations for Children, Families, and Aging.
The OIG Work Plan Fiscal Year 2005 is available free online at www.oig.hhs.gov/publications/workplan.html#1.
Patients’ Voices Call for Quality of Life Measures
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap Initiative recently awarded a $6.7 million, 5-year grant to David Cella, PhD, Director of the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Center on Outcomes Research and Education (CORE). The NIH project, titled the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS), will develop standardized outcomes measures across a wide range of chronic diseases for use in clinical research as well as in medical practice. “PROMIS is an initiative that will utilize computer technology to accomplish two objectives,” said Susan Yount, PhD, co-investigator of CORE. “It will provide the infrastructure to develop standardized instruments for clinical trials that assess the effect of a particular treatment on symptoms and quality of life (QOL). This breakthrough is meaningful because currently clinical researchers measure QOL with disparate surveys that vary considerately and hamper comparability of outcomes across studies. Ultimately, PROMIS also will provide the infrastructure for real-time assessment of patients in clinical settings, so a physician may evaluate and modify a course of treatment based on a patient’s symptoms and concerns over time.”
More information on this initiative can be accessed online at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare www.enh.org.
Nancy Houyoux, MBA CPHQ, is president of NLH & Associates in Blue Bell, PA. She is a member of JHQ’s Review Panel.
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