by Keri McDermott | Dec 22, 2016 | Archived
The fourth floor hallway at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel was teeming with over 2000 people during the 2016 CMS Quality Conference in Baltimore, MD, last week. Highlighting the conference theme “Aligning for Innovation and Outcomes”, the Gallery Walk stretching from...
by Keri McDermott | Dec 16, 2016 | Archived
CDC has noted low influenza vaccination rates. A selection from CDC’s press release, Flu vaccine coverage remains low this year, is reprinted below. As of early November, only about 2 out of 5 people in the United States reported having gotten this season’s flu...
by Keri McDermott | Dec 16, 2016 | Archived
CMS releases its Person and Family Engagement Strategy A key strategy to achieving better outcomes is to meaningfully engage patients as partners in decisions about their healthcare. CMS recently announced their Person and Family Engagement Strategy, an effort to...
by | Dec 15, 2016 | Archived
Medication errors can result in preventable harm to nursing home residents and can also pose a significant financial burden. The November 2016 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society published a systematic review of the prevalence of medication errors...
by | Dec 14, 2016 | Archived
The National Scorecard on Rates of Hospital-Acquired Conditions shows that about 125,000 fewer patients died and more than $28 billion in healthcare costs was saved from 2010 through 2015 due to a 21 percent drop in hospital-acquired conditions (HACs). In...
by Keri McDermott | Dec 8, 2016 | Archived
Providers can better detect prescribing mistakes through strong patient engagement and education, ultimately boosting medication safety, new research from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) shows. The report, which focuses...
by Keri McDermott | Dec 7, 2016 | Archived
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health’s (OMH) vision is to eliminate disparities in healthcare quality and access and to help all CMS consumers achieve their highest level of health. The office’s target populations include...
by Keri McDermott | Dec 7, 2016 | Archived
If you are a caregiver – have you let taking care of yourself fall off the to-do list? For those who are in the role of a caregiver, it’s time to put YOU back on top! Taking care of your physical and emotional needs is one of the most important things you can do...
by Keri McDermott | Dec 2, 2016 | Archived
National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW), December 4-10, 2016, provides an opportunity to remind everyone 6 months and older that it is not too late to get a flu vaccine. There are many tools and resources to help in your efforts to share flu prevention and...
by Keri McDermott | Dec 2, 2016 | Archived
Insulin Cost Warrants Call for Congressional Investigation Increasing costs for medication to manage diabetes have become a life-threatening obstacle and the American Diabetes Association is calling for action. Despite advancements in manufacturing since the discovery...