Quality Efficiency Utilization
What US Hospitals and Healthcare Providers Should Take Away from the Ebola Outbreak
October 20th, 2014by: Dr. David Klein
Among reams of coverage on the ebola outbreak, Politico just published a characteristic story with the headline, “In the world of ebola, no room for error.” The only problem is that is as soon as you introduce a human element to any system, there will be error. That’s the reality that healthcare leaders across the […]
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How Do We Measure Real Value in the Emergency Department?
July 18th, 2014by: Dr. Robbin Dick
Emergency Department Directors measure value in their departments with a number of metrics that are tracked religiously: door-to-provider times, ambulance drop-off times, left without being seen rates, length of stay for discharged patients, diversion hours, and 72-hour returns all come to mind. These metrics clearly measure the performance of the Emergency Department, what to they […]
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The No-Interruption Zone
February 20th, 2014by: Dr. Jeremy Tucker
In the hectic ED, interruptions and distractions can cause critical errors, even death. Here are five key areas where disruptions need to be eliminated, and practical ways to get there. The following is an example of a typical cockpit to tower communication during landing. Pilot: “Cincinnati Tower, we’re six miles southeast and control VFR.” Tower: […]
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Reducing Cost While Improving Quality: MEP Expands Bedside Ultrasound Training
January 14th, 2014by: Dr. Neil Roy
The culture of healthcare is changing. We are going from a system of quality at all costs to one of quality at the best cost. Many Maryland hospitals are now operating as so-called Total Patient Revenue (TPR) health systems, giving real financial incentives to hospitals that reduce the cost of care.
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Hospital Capacity Management II: The Surge
November 21st, 2013by: Dr. Robbin Dick
Surge is used when a hospital has reached the point of over-capacity, requiring the hospital to implement a unique processes to allow for decompression. If surging becomes a frequent occurrence in any hospital organization, a sort of “surge fatigue” will occur, when activation means little if anything to associated staff.
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One Hospital Metric to Rule Them All
November 12th, 2013by: Dr. Michael Cetta
If you had to pick a single metric to measure a hospital, which would you choose? Of course, you can’t boil everything about a hospital down to one, single data point. Defining quality, throughput, and other factors used to evaluate a hospital is difficult business. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) tracks dozens […]
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Managing Super Utilizers at Meritus Medical Center
September 24th, 2013by: Dr. Safdar Akbar
Last year at Meritus Medical Center in Maryland, where I am an emergency physician, a certain patient visited the ER 81 times. We have records of at least a dozen more patients like him, though none quite as extreme. One man visited the ER 65 times in 2012. Another visited 48 times. At least two […]
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Maryland’s CRISP: Bringing Health IT into the 21st Century
September 4th, 2013by: Dr. Jason Giffi
Maryland physicians striving to provide excellent care for their patients should know that data management tools don’t end at the (fire)walls of their hospital or healthcare practice. The Chesapeake Regional Information System for Patients (CRISP) is designed to impact everyone practicing medicine in the state of Maryland. For everyone from psychiatric counselors to cardiothoracic surgeons, […]
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Closing the Provider-Psych Patient Information Gap
August 26th, 2013by: Dr. Jeremy Tucker
In the emergency department, psychiatric patients can be particularly challenging. Evaluation in the ED is primarily based on history from many different sources–police, family, EMS, many times second hand or on a written report or petition. Often, family does not accompany the patient to the ED. Patients can be unreliable, intoxicated or just plain unable […]
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More Medicine, Less Art – Reducing Variation in Healthcare Costs
August 13th, 2013by: Dr. Vipul Kella
After eating at my favorite restaurant last week, I started to think why I enjoyed it so much. I have been eating at the same place regularly for years, but never stopped to think about what makes it special. After thinking about it for a bit, I came up with one word: consistency. I know […]
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