health care quality

Waits for inpatient beds are an important factor in ER overcrowding.

Health & Safety

Opinion: Emergency Rooms Shouldn't Be Parking Lots For Patients

8:24pm November 30, 2019

by Clayton Dalton

Patients in hospital ERs can wait hours for inpatient beds to open up. The delays can be maddening. A solution for this long-standing problem has been elusive in the U.S., despite progress elsewhere.

Health & Safety

Atul Gawande Named CEO Of Health Venture By Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway And JPMorgan

1:04pm June 20, 2018

by Scott Hensley

A surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Gawande is probably best known for his work writing about how to improve quality and lower costs in health care.

The goal was to make sure hospitals didn't send patients home too soon, without a plan for following up or without enough support at home to recover completely.

Pushing Hospitals To Reduce Readmissions Hasn't Increased Deaths

11:23am July 18, 2017

The Affordable Care Act penalizes hospitals if patients are discharged and then readmitted with the same problems too often. That effort has improved care for patients, two researchers say.

Hospital-acquired infections are a big risk in health care, especially for older or seriously ill patients.

Medicare Didn't Investigate Suspicious Reports Of Hospital Infections

2:11pm May 09, 2017

by Christina Jewett

The inspector general at Health and Human Services says Medicare should have done an in-depth review of suspicious reports from hospitals to keep them from covering up problems with infections.

Laura Rees (left) and her sister Nancy Fee sit with their father, Joseph Fee, while holding a photo of his late wife, Elizabeth.

Rule Change Could Push Hospitals To Tell Patients About Nursing Home Quality

10:10am November 27, 2016

by Jordan Rau

Hospitals often shy away from offering quality assessments about skilled nursing care because of a Medicare requirement not to restrict choice. Federal officials are weighing changes to that rule.

Dr. Abraham Nussbaum argues for medicine to reconnect with its past: Caring for patients should be a calling, not a job, he says.

Doctor Yearns For Return To Time When Physicians Were 'Artisans'

2:20pm May 24, 2016

by Michelle Andrews

Dr. Abraham Nussbaum, author of a book examining the drive toward standardized quality measures and checklists, says he fears medicine is becoming just another job and not the calling it should be.

Medical errors rank behind heart disease and cancer as the third leading cause of death in the U.S., Johns Hopkins researchers say.

Medical Errors Are No. 3 Cause Of U.S Deaths, Researchers Say

7:48pm May 03, 2016

If not for flawed classification of deaths, medical mistakes would be the third leading cause of U.S. deaths, Johns Hopkins researchers say. They're calling on the CDC to track deaths from errors.

Members of Congress complained to the administration that hospitals needed more time to check the accuracy of quality ratings.

Health & Safety

Medicare Delays Plans For New Star Ratings Of Hospitals

2:19pm April 20, 2016

by Jordan Rau

Medicare's "overall hospital quality" rating aims to help consumers by boiling down a variety of measurements into a number star. But Congress asked the administration to hold off on the change.

Ratings on patient satisfaction and quality of care often don't match.

Conflicting Ratings For Home Health Agencies Can Be Puzzling

5:33pm February 23, 2016

by Jordan Rau

Medicare compiles ratings of agencies' quality and of patients' perceptions. But the stars assigned by the government often don't align.

After knee surgery, David Larson, 66, of Huntington Beach, Calif., experienced pain in a calf muscle. His answer to an automated email from the doctor led to the diagnosis and treatment of a potentially dangerous blood clot.

Health & Safety

The Doctor's Computer Will Email You Now

5:47pm January 29, 2016

by Barbara Feder Ostrov

Though it may sound like an oxymoron, "automating empathy" is becoming a catchphrase in health care. The goal is to help doctors engage with patients cheaply and with minimal effort. Does it work?