In a response to an attempted suicide in Columbia, SC-based Palmetto Health Richland's emergency room, the state prison agency is reviewing its procedures and equipment while the hospital decided to open a separate waiting room for inmates. After the incident, questions were raised about how easily a woman patient was able to pull a gun from a prison officer's holster and shoot herself in the head at the hospital. Neither the hospital nor police would discuss the circumstances of the shooting that put other emergency room patients and hospital staff at risk.
WellCare's HealthEase and Staywell plans, United Healthcare and Amerigroup—the four largest health plans in Florida's Medicaid reform experiment—are dropping out of the program, forcing more than half of 204,000 affected patients to change insurers and possibly doctors. The health plans have given written notice to the state that by Dec. 1 they will withdraw from Broward County and some of four other counties in the Jacksonville area participating in the experiment. The reform started two years ago to save the state billions and also improve healthcare for low-income people with Medicaid by switching them into HMO-style plans.
The number of people dying who were suffering from C difficile has risen by 28% in England and Wales, according to new figures from The Office for National Statistics. The figures show 8,324 death certificates mentioned the infection in 2007, compared with 6,480 the previous year. The number of reported deaths involving the infection has more than doubled in England in Wales since 2005, when there were 3,757 mentions on death certificates.
In a pilot study at Massachusetts General Hospital, 30 patients who had come to see their primary care physician for routine follow-up or acute care agreed to first have a visit via a computer equipped with a Web camera. Their physician sat in another room to conduct the visit. After patients and the doctor completed questionnaires about the virtual visit, they met face to face and went through a second visit with a hands-on physical examination. While the
patients liked the face-to-face doctors' appointments better, the videoconference visits were almost as popular.
A study published in the British Journal of General Practice found that increasing the number of same-day appointments by 10% actually lowered the number of satisfied patients. Due to the findings, researchers from the University of Bristol said practices should be wary when increasing the number of same-day appointments to meet access targets.
Phone calls to a medical practice are usually numerous and labor-intensive. New staff members are often hired to help handle the call volume, many times with limited formal training on practice policies and procedures. The results of these fast hires can be disastrous to a practice.
Start by reviewing procedures and tracking the number and type of phone calls that come into the practice. Listen to your staff members conducting the call to determine how to restructure this function.
Since phone calls are an integral part of a patient's satisfaction with the practice, management should develop a telephone training program for new employees. This program can also be used as a refresher course for experienced staff members.
The following are topics to include in your manual:
How to appropriately answer a telephone call. For example, refer to a script that includes answering with the practice's name, introducing yourself, and asking, "How can I help you today?"
How to deal with angry patients. Create a script that reassures patients that you will be able to answer their questions and refer them to the appropriate resource to resolve their issue.
How to handle patients' individual requests, such as leaving a message with a provider or asking for guidance with a medical emergency. Staff members should have a list of nearby medical centers, hospitals, pharmacies, and other resources for which to refer a patient.
Practice managers should conduct staff training before or after office hours. This gives staff members a better chance to focus on the materials presented and to more quickly learn and perform the functions.
Training programs should be designed with a positive spin to improve and update efficiencies within the practice, rather than a forum that tells staff members they are doing the job incorrectly.
Have a planned agenda, along with supporting documentation and handouts. Start the session on time and factor in a short or long break depending on the length of the session. Allow enough time at the end of the program for staff members to ask questions and share their concerns.
This article was adapted from one that originally ran in the August 2008 issue ofThe Doctor's Office, a HealthLeaders Media publication.