Archive for Uncategorized
Compass Clinical’s Ruth Elzer “One Strong Woman”
“1000 Women Strong” Features Compass Clinical Consulting Ruth Elzer in August 2010 Edition
Ruth Elzer, RN, MS, works as a hospital compliance consultant with Compass Clinical Consulting. Her job requires a significant amount of traveling, and so, as she says,“my weekends are precious.” Since moving to Cincinnati, Ruth has chosen to spend her weekends volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House.
Ruth Elzer, RN, MS, works as a hospital compliance consultant with Compass Clinical Consulting. Her job requires a significant amount of traveling, and so, as she says,“my weekends are precious.” Since moving to Cincinnati, Ruth has chosen to spend her weekends volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House.Rising Health Care Costs? In California, Sponges Can Cost $50,000 Guide Wires $100,000
The California Department of Public Health recently announced the latest in the series of hospital administrative penalties issued under Senate Bill SB1301. Among the latest were hospitals that were fined for a variety of patient care related issues including failure to complete appropriate sponge and instrument counts and gaps in assessment and actions to rescue patients following medication and other errors.
In 2009, the amount of the fines rose from $25,000 per incident to $50,000 for the first violation, $75,000 for the second, and $100,000 for the third or subsequent violation.
Read the complete story, “Rising Health Care Costs?’ via the Hospital Accreditation blog.
Related Link:
“Hospital Near-Death Experience: How Medicare Termination Can Push Your Hospital to the Brink of Closing.” [http://www.compass-clinical.com/hospital-near-death/]
Compass Clinical Consulting Gives Inside Look at a Hospital Near-Death Experience
NEW WHITEPAPER SHOWS HOW STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AND OPERATIONAL CHANGES BROUGHT ONE HOSPITAL BACK FROM MEDICARE TERMINATION
Compass Clinical Consulting (http://www.compass-clinical.com) has released a new whitepaper, “Hospital Near-Death Experience: How Medicare Termination Can Push Your Hospital to the Brink of Closing,”(http://www.compass-clinical.com/hospital-near-death/ ) giving hospital executives a rare look inside the process of Medicare termination and recertification.
DECERTIFICATION
Haywood Regional Medical Center (Haywood), a 190-bed community medical center in Clyde, NC, was decertified as a Medicare and Medicaid provider, effective February 24, 2008. Haywood retained Compass Clinical Consulting to help the hospital evaluate its management and operations in hopes of regaining Medicare certification.
A HOSPITAL NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE
The financial and public relations implications of the Medicare termination process for any hospital are difficult and dire. They quickly affect every aspect of a hospital’s operations, from daily census to staffing. As a result, some hospitals are forced to close. Compass Clinical Consulting calls this process a “Hospital Near-Death Experience.” Immediate corrective measures must be taken.
VIEW HOSPITAL NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE VIDEO
COMPLIANCE ACTION PLAN
Over the course of three months, Compass Clinical Consulting helped Haywood develop action plans to bring the hospital into compliance with CMS Conditions of Participation.
LEADERSHIP CHANGES
Interim executives and clinical directors were brought in to fill leadership gaps and direct the implementation of corrective actions.
FULL COMPLIANCE
Following a successful survey, Haywood was deemed to be in full compliance with the Conditions of Participation for Acute Care Hospitals and, as of June 13, 2008, was once again eligible to receive Medicare and Medicaid funds.
IDENTIFY THE WARNING SIGNS
Compass Clinical Consulting’s new whitepaper, “Hospital Near-Death Experience: How Medicare Termination Can Push Your Hospital to the Brink of Closing,” explores some of the factors that lead to Haywood’s Near-Death Experience and discusses some of the strategies that brought the hospital back to life.
RESOURCE FOR HOSPITAL LEADERS
This document identifies warning signs that can precede regulatory difficulties and gives practical guidance for responding to negative surveys. It will serve as a resource for hospital executives and quality leaders who seek to avoid a Hospital Near-Death Experience.
EXPERTS IN MEDICARE TERMINATION RECOVERY
In the past two years, Compass Clinical Consulting has helped two hospitals recover from the Near-Death Experience of Medicare termination. In addition, they have aided dozens of hospitals in responding to findings of Immediate Jeopardy. “We specialize in clinical operations and regulatory compliance. Our goal is to be the number one go-to resource that hospitals and healthcare systems think of when confronted with a Hospital Near-Death Experience,” said Cary D. Gutbezahl, MD, president of Compass Clinical Consulting.
Compass Clinical Consulting hopes that “Hospital Near-Death Experience: How Medicare Termination Can Push Your Hospital to the Brink of Closing” will share the company’s unique expertise with hospital leaders facing regulatory challenges.
Hospital Leaders Face Another Accreditation Challenge
According to Compas Clinical Consulting CEO Kate Fenner, The July edition of “The Joint Commission Perspectives” contains an ominous signal for hospital executives facing survey and accreditation decisions in the coming months. The publication lists examples of items that can be reviewed by the Joint Commission’s Central Office. Of particular concern is the mention of situations in which the “surveyor has identified leadership changes over the past 12 to 18 months.”
The implicit threat is that surveyors will be able to subjectively evaluate the motivations leading to leadership changes at hospitals.
READ the complete article “Hospital Leaders Face Another Accreditation Challenge,” via the Hospital Accreditation and Compliance Blog.
Hospital Readmissions: Federal Policy Must Stop Interfering with System Thinking
There has been much recent attention to the high cost associated with readmissions. It seems clear that the policy makers are seeking to hold hospitals responsible for preventing readmissions. Holding hospitals accountable is a classic example of failed management-thinking in which the absence of facts is filled by assumptions.
In our experience in case management, both in hospitals and in managed care organizations, we have found many reasons why patients are readmitted to hospitals. These include … Read the complete story “Hospital Readmissions: Federal Policy Must Stop Interfering with System Thinking,” from Better Hospitals.
