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Hospitalists Back Bill to Reform Medicare Audit Process
June 30, 2015
A bill proposed in Congress to streamline the audit process of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) is being hailed by hospitalists as a needed step forward. The Audit & Appeal Fairness, Integrity, and Reforms in Medicare (AFIRM) Act of 2015 would speed up the Recovery Audit
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Hospitalists Positioned to Lead Improvements in Hospital Quality, Patient Safety
June 30, 2015
Hospitalists are ideally positioned to help create new approaches to hospital quality and safety, but they must acquire the skills necessary to make sustained, systematic changes, says David W.
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Head CT in Kids with Minor Head Injury Down After Quality-Improvement Effort
June 30, 2015
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Following a quality-improvement effort at the Boston Children's Hospital emergency department, the number of head CT scans for children with blunt head trauma has dropped without missing any significant injuries, researchers say. "A combination of an evide
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Stroke Centers More Common Where Laws Encourage Them
June 26, 2015
State laws have played a big part in boosting the number of hospitals where specialized stroke care is available, a new study shows. During the study, the increase in the number of hospitals certified as primary stroke centers was more than twice as high in states with stroke legislation as in st
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Lowering Systolic Blood Pressure Tied to Reduced Atrial Fibrillation Risk
June 25, 2015
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Lower systolic blood pressure in patients being treated for hypertension is associated with a reduced risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), according to data from the LIFE study. "Among hypertensive patients at high risk of atrial fibrillation who can tolerate
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Anticoagulation Therapy Probably Not Needed While A-fib Patients Undergo Surgery
June 23, 2015
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When patients with atrialfibrillation need surgery or other invasive therapy, doctors can safely interrupt their warfarin therapy without offering a bridging anticoagulation regimen, according to a new U.S.-Canadian study. The test of 1,884 patients treated
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Medicare Payments to Physicians Rise in 2013
June 19, 2015
Medicare, the government-run health insurance program for elderly and disabled Americans, paid physicians $90 billion in 2013, up 17% from $77 billion in 2012, U.S.
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Increased VTE Prophylaxis Shows Little Benefit following Colorectal Surgery
June 18, 2015
NEW YORK—Although venous thromboembolism (VTE) rates are low in hospitalized patients following colorectal surgery, the increasing use of prophylaxis seems to have little impact, according to Washington state-based researchers. Dr. Scott R.
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New Tool Improves Harm Detection for Pediatric Inpatients
June 18, 2015
The newly developed Pediatric All-Cause Harm Measurement Tool (PACHMT) improved detection of harms in pediatric inpatients in a recent pilot study. Using the tool, researchers found a rate of 40 harms per 100 patients admitted, and at least one harm in nearly a quarter of the children in the stud
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Risk Stratification Insufficient for Predicting DVT in Hospitalized Patients: JAMA Internal Medicine Study
June 17, 2015
The Wells score is only slightly better than a coin toss for predicting deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in hospitalized patients, researchers have found. "The Wells score risk stratification is not sufficient to rule out DVT or influence management decisions in the inpatient setting," Dr. Patricia C.