CMS recently clarified policy on acceptable control materials for lab testing. While not changing any of the standards, the agency explained some of the key points to §493.1256(c) of the Clinical...

The Joint Commission last week published a press release and an eight minute video defending its pain management standards after critics claimed they are fueling the opioid epidemic. ...

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 ...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is attempting to develop better methods of measuring and reporting data on catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and central line-a...

This month, CMS plans to add a new “five-star” hospital rating system to its Hospital Compare website. The plan has come under fire, however, with many saying the rating system is too simp...

More than 60 medical experts and nonprofit organizations signed petitions last week, asking The Joint Commission and CMS for changes in their respective pain management policies. The two petitions, sp...

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Preventing the theft of controlled substances at hospitals continues to be an tremendous issue even with increased security measures. Failed drug diversion programs in hospitals have led to record fin...

Facilities with excessively high readmissions can have their Medicare payments docked between 1% to 3%, with 2,601 hospitals penalized in 2015. Two new studies in The Journal of the American Medical A...

CMS recently updated its Clinical Laboratory Amendments (CLIA) for lab work at critical access hospitals and regular hospitals. CMS surveyors will now accept primary source verification (PSV) as proof...