|
|
|
ON May 23rd, 2008, the French Ministry of Health launched a national hand cleanliness campaign targeting health care workers, patients, and the general public. The campaign emphasizes that proper hand hygiene is the key element in preventing and controlling nosocomial infections.
It is critical that a through cleansing of one’s hands with a liquid alcohol solution containing an emollient to protect the skin precedes all health care treatments, no matter where they are carried out. All health care establishments throughout the country should see to it that these solutions are available at patient’s bed. Health care workers would also be required to carry a small bottle of disinfectant in the pockets of their uniform. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Home
|
MEDICARE AGAINST MISTAKES |
E-mail
|
|
Written by Christine Besson
|
|
Sunday, 09 September 2007 |
|
THE FEDERAL government is using the
enormous financial power of Medicare to penalize hospitals where patients are
harmed by medical mistakes. The new policy may require refinement, but it puts
US hospitals on notice that they have got to work harder to make sure patients
do not suffer needless harm while under their care.
Acting upon instruction from Congress, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued rules this month that,
starting in October of 2008, Medicare will no longer pay extra for hospital
care needed to remedy a mistake in eight specific areas. The hospital is
prohibited from billing the patient for the difference. The hospital can seek a
review of any disputed charge, but if Medicare administrators determine that
the problem arose there, the hospital will have to absorb the cost.
Before the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid make adjustments in their new rules, they need to be convinced that
hospitals are doing their best to minimize the occurrence of these mistakes.
The federal government, through Medicare, spent more than $185 billion on
hospital care in 2006, and almost certainly more this year. None of
this money should subsidize botched treatment
|
|
