Quality & Patient Safety

Hospitals and health systems have made substantial advances in improving care quality over the past decade and patients have reported more favorable experiences with their hospitals.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ yesterday issued guidance regarding the calculation of a plan’s Medical Loss Ratio, which represents the percent of premium revenue that goes toward claims and activities that improve health care quality.

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday published draft guidance to promote clinical studies to increase drug safety information for pregnant and nursing women and their providers.

Training emergency medical services agencies to implement prehospital guidelines for traumatic brain injury doubled the survival rate for patients with severe head trauma, according to a study reported yesterday in JAMA Surgery.

As the AHA and its members continue to address maternal mortality, the association today voiced support for the Joint Commission’s recently proposed standards for perinatal safety.

Candida auris is a type of fungus that can cause serious bloodstream and other invasive infections among hospital and post-acute care patients. It often is resistant to multiple antifungal medications. Patients with weakened immune systems, nursing home patients and those who use breathing/feeding…

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should evaluate state survey agency processes to ensure that all states are meeting federal requirements for investigating complaints and incidents alleging abuse in nursing homes.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Sunday presented the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for performance excellence and innovation to Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center in Jasper, Ind.

Health care is changing rapidly. The rise of consumerism, the digital economy, precision medicine, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, new high-tech entrants to the health care sector and affordability pressures all serve as catalysts for change. And America’s hospitals and health…

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week extended the deadline to comment on their proposed rule updating proficiency testing and referral requirements under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments from April 5 to June 4.