A bill adopted in 2006 by the New Hampshire legislature requires hospitals to report on infections to the state Department of Health and Human Services. However, most facilities have yet to follow the new regulations.
While the top Canadian athletes compete at the Beijing Olympics, a small but important contingent of Canadian doctors are responsible for keeping the team and the staff in tip-top shape. The Canadian Olympic Committee's core medical team consists of 10 physicians as well as a host of other health professionals, including massage therapists and sport psychologists. Along with other Canadian physicians accompanying individual sports teams, they are responsible for the care of the 600-odd Canadian athletes and support staff for the duration of the Olympics.
For years patients have been told that early cancer detection saves lives, but a panel of leading medical experts recently offered exactly the opposite advice. They urged doctors to stop screening older men for prostate cancer, and concluded that for men 75 and older screening for prostate cancer does more harm than good.
When physicians receive a Medicare audit request and realize that their documentation isn't so good or even non-existent, many are tempted to recreate or alter medical record documentation. But this is probably the worst thing you can do in this situation, according to physician law blogger Todd A. Rodriguez. Poor or even non-existent medical record documentation is not necessarily an indicator of fraud or abuse, and in many cases it is simply an indication of the need for documentation and coding education or better record keeping protocols, he says.
When it comes to choosing a doctor, most Americans rank bedside manner and communications skills at the top of the list of qualities important to them, according to a survey commissioned by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Ninety-five percent of respondents ranked communications skills and bedside manner as important, and when asked to select the "most important" physician attribute, 34% named bedside manner and communication skills.
The majority of hospitals in Oregon have voluntarily agreed to follow mandatory reporting rules set by the Oregon Patient Safety Commission. Among the regulations, hospitals are required to notify patients in writing about major medical errors.