On July 13, CMS and the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] sent a letter to Congress asking that all medical devices be given a unique ID number and that number be included in billing data and claims ...

A new study has found that incorporating error tracking with checklists can give a more accurate determination of a trainee surgeon’s skill level....

For the last two years, healthcare organizations have been working to comply with the first phase of The Joint Commission's alarm management National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG). As of January 1, 2016,...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finally published its Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain on March 15. However, the guidelines are voluntary and after months of pro...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration updated guidance for protection of healthcare workers from violence in the workplace....

Ensure compliance with CMS’ restraint guidelines! Use of restraint and seclusion is fraught with difficulties and is therefore a top focus of CMS and other regulatory bodies. Staff must be trai...

Learn about the complex accreditation challenges presented by management of conditions in the operating room physical environment with an upcoming HCPro webcast....

Since there aren’t any standards for determining the accuracy and timeliness of quality data, how do we know if today's quality measures are accurate? According to an opinion piece published in ...

In 2011, The Joint Commission ruled that physicians and practitioners were forbidden from using text messaging to send patient care orders. Now the accreditor has reversed its ruling, and effective im...

The topic of alarm hazards has crowned ECRI's top 10 list of health technology hazards for the last four years. It's no wonder: Spend any amount of time in a hospital, either as an employee or a visit...