Apr 1, 2009 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
As more attention is paid to reducing the number of healthcare-associated infections (HIAs), hospitals and health systems respond with proactive programs to eliminate many obvious sources of such infections. In turn, this affects hospital laboratories, since they play a key role in every hospital’s infection control program.
The basic statistics are stunning. Hospital-acquired infections (HIAs) affect nearly 2 million Americans annually, resulting in 90,000 deaths and up to $6.5 billion in extra costs, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
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Feb 2, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
As part of its plan to stake out a place in the international market for healthcare quality standards, Joint Commission International (JCI), the international arm of The Joint Commission (JC), in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), launched a new global program to improve patient care and safety worldwide.
JCI’s first demonstration project involves financially strapped, low-performing hospitals in Mexico, China and Palestine, according to JCI Chief Medical Officer David Jaimovich. In an interview with Modern Healthcare, he suggests that the demonstration project allows JCI to measure the program’s capabilities under the worst conditions.
The program, “Essentials of Health Care Quality and Patient Safety”, focuses on five high-risk areas known to have the greatest impact on quality and safety. It provides a way to evaluate progress and defines the levels of effort for each criterion. The five areas include:
1) leadership process
2) accountability,
3) competent and capable workforce,
4) safe environment for staff and patients, and,
5) clinical care of patients.
In an interview with Modern Healthcare, Asian healthcare expert Tsung-Mei Cheng, editor of Princeton’s International Forum, says China is committed to updating and upgrading its hospitals, so international benchmarking should be “enormously helpful.”
In Mexico, President Felipe Calderón emphasizes improvements to healthcare as way to maintain the healthy workforce required to sustain the strong economy vital to keeping the nation’s skilled workforce at home. Mexico’s status as a trade partner, neighbor and destination for Americans traveling and living abroad makes the United States a stakeholder in ensuring healthcare quality and safety in Mexico.
In fact, the increased migration of Americans, Canadians, and Europeans to Mexico is an important factor in Mexico’s efforts to upgrade its healthcare system to U.S. standards. Physicians in Mexico, many of whom were educated in U.S. medical schools are forming physicians groups and establishing American-style medical testing and diagnostic services. Some of these physicians have a goal and a hope that they can negotiate contracts with Medicare and other U.S insurers to provide services to U.S. citizens living in Mexico.
The push for international healthcare quality standards will continue to be a priority in a global economy. Foreign markets attractive to aging Baby Boomers, however, also provide tremendous opportunities for healthcare service providers. So it is no surprise that the Joint Commission wants to play an increased role in helping establish and maintain health quality and accreditation standards in many countries across the globe.
Related Information:
Oct 3, 2008 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Three factors are driving the development of imaging systems in pathology. First, the market for digital pathology imaging systems has accelerating momentum as pathology labs acquire and use this technology. Second, the same factors that drove acceptance of digital radiology systems are encouraging wider use of digital pathology solutions. Third, digital imaging systems hold great promise for pathologists, radiologists, oncologists, and other medical professionals seeking to improve the accuracy and timeliness of diagnostics.
“The fields of imaging and informatics in medicine are on the cusp of fusion with the fields of molecular medicine, pathology imaging, and radiology imaging,” said Michael Becich, M.D., Ph.D. “The point at which these three disciplines intersect offers almost unlimited potential for the future of personalized medicine!” Becich is Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Pathology, Information Sciences and Telecommunications at the University of Pittsburgh. Becich also is one of three course directors for a conference to be held later this month: Advancing Practice, Instruction and Innovation Through Informatics (APIII).
“It’s a very exciting time to be working in these fields,” explained Becich. “Digitized pathology tools are contributing to more accurate diagnoses. They are also shortening the time required to make a diagnosis on what have been particularly difficult cases, and we are improving patient safety as well.”
Dark Daily readers interested in how digitized pathology is developing and its intersection with radiology imaging will find expert sessions on this topic at the upcoming conference: “Advancing Practice, Instruction and Innovation Through Informatics (APIII), scheduled for October 19-23, 2008 at the Marriott City Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Of particular interest, conference co-organizer the Association for Pathology Informatics (API) has developed a partnership with the Society of Imaging and Informatics in Medicine to produce a learning track of sessions for radiology informatics professionals.
“The acceptance of digitized pathology imaging systems by pathologists is gaining speed,” observed Becich. “Use of digitized pathology images is already changing the standard of practice in several areas of surgical pathology. Every pathology group should be developing a strategy that addresses digitized pathology systems. Furthermore, the intersection of in vivo imaging and in vitro molecular testing promises to further transform the traditional work practices in pathology.”
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Mar 19, 2007 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
In recent years, we’ve written plenty about one major change in how hospitals and other healthcare organizations undergo accreditation. That is the requirement that: 1) hospitals measure patient satisfaction; 2) that hospitals develop a plan to improve patient satisfaction; and, 3) that by the next inspection, the hospital or healthcare organization demonstrate measurable improvement because of that plan.
This shift in what an accreditation inspection measures is consistent with the goals of employers and Medicare to improve the quality of care, boost patient safety, and, because of better outcomes, lower the cost of care. Hospital-based laboratories and pathology groups have watched their parent institutions take the baby steps needed to survey patient satisfaction and then actively work to improve service.
Now the outcomes from this effort are starting to attract attention. Just a few weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal published an article detailing how hospitals nationwide are using patient satisfaction surveys to expose problems with they way they do business and get suggestions for how they can improve. A survey conducted by Michigan-based hospital chain Spectrum Health in 2004 revealed that staff members were given low marks for helpfulness and attitude towards visitors. It was also learned that patients and their families felt ill-informed about their in-hospital treatment and weren’t given good instructions about how to care for themselves once they went home.
Spectrum took its survey results to heart. It adopted a family-centered health care model, creating a patient and family advisory council to help shape hospital policy. Hospitals conducting patient surveys have found many ways to improve patient care, such as eliminating visiting hours, sending apologies such as flowers or candy to disgruntled patients, having DVD players in waiting rooms, and issuing $25 gas cards to compensate patients for long wait times that required them to return on another day for a test or procedure. Try Googling “Hospital Satisfaction Survey” to see how dozens of hospitals and health systems are conducting on-line patient satisfaction surveys.
Don’t forget that this is also the first year that hospitals will be required to participate in the federal government’s satisfaction survey program to receive full reimbursement from Medicare. The results of patient surveys will be posted on the government’s Hospital Compare Web site. First results are expected to appear on the Web site later this year. It will be the first time that Medicare patients can see how patients ranked their hospitals.
By the way, some of the nation’s most progressive laboratory organizations are already deeply-engaged in measuring patient satisfaction, then using that information to improve and refine their services. During the May 2006 Executive War College, careful listeners in the audience heard a number of case study speakers describe how their laboratories considered improving measured patient satisfaction to be a major strategic goal. Collectively, this is a trend that will raise the competitive bar in the marketplace. That means competitive advantage to laboratories using this tool.
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Patient Satisfaction Surveys Prompting Hospitals To Improve Patient Experiences
If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently
PS: Hospital measurement of patient satisfaction is about to impact another important laboratory service: phlebotomy. In an upcoming Dark Daily, we will share with you how and why hospital administrators are starting to pay attention to phlebotomy services, with an eye to improving them. It’s an unlikely turn of events for a service that been too often underappreciated!
