Special Focus Facilities: The Worst Nursing Homes Of All
I get a large number of questions from nursing home patients and families regarding focused on finding the 'best' facilities available. For some reason, I get an even larger number of people who ask me who the 'worst' facilities are. Maybe there's some sport associated with identifying these facilities? But for to today, let's feed the need to identify the poor performing nursing homes-- the Special Focus Facilities. If you are a nursing home operator or employee the Special Focus Facility (SFF) is definitely a club you want no part of. Rather, the SFF was created by The Centers...
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States Move To More Transparency Regarding Medical Malpractice & Hospital Errors
When a family member is hurt, injured, or sick, you want to know that their hospital has a good reputation with few serious medical errors. You expect doctors and nurses to treat your loved ones with the respect, care, and caution that is owed to them to ensure that they get better, not worse. The frequency and prevalence of medical malpractice and medical errors, especially those medical errors leading to serious injury or even death, are significant factors when choosing a hospital. Illinois has made it easier for patients to know how frequently medical errors occur at hospitals with the Illinois...
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As Congress Debates Health Reform Measures, Some Still Want To Strip Injured People Of Their Legal Rights
This is a great clip showing extreme efforts conservative members of congress will go to promote their big-business agenda. Here you can see Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) constantly getting interrupted by his Republican colleagues chanting 'trial lawyer' as Braley champions patient safety in health care. In his closing arguments, Congressman Braley states: “During this entire health care debate, we've heard a lot from our friends on the other side of the aisle about something called medical liability reform, but all day as they've been talking about this point, you have not heard one word about patient safety.” Good point...
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The Most Important Job In America.... Nursing Home Surveyors
Firefighters, teachers and doctors are all important to the functioning of our society. Without the services they provide, people would suffer in many respects. But when it comes to jobs that are pivotal to the immediate safety, health and overall welfare of people-- especially the elderly, I nominate state and local nursing home inspectors as the most important job in America. Go ahead email me about how 'wrong' I am. There can be no doubt that without this group of civil servants an untold number of our elderly would suffer serious injury or die needlessly. Nursing home inspectors are on...
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Bar Coding To Reduce Mistakes With Administration Of Medication
A Kansas hospital is using a bar coding system- the same technology that allows grocery clerks to quickly scan bags of groceries-- to help with verification when administering medication at the bedside. Many hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care facilities are quickly seeking new ways to cut down on the number of mistakes involving medication errors. Following the lead of many health insurers, new Medicare rules will deny payment for avoidable errors made by hospitals and nursing homes. Experts estimate that 40 percent of medication errors are made with the physician's written order. But another 40 percent are made at...
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