Supporting Safer Healthcare

On Tuesday, January 31 the American Telemedicine Association will host an important Capitol Hill briefing entitled, “Physician Licensure Barriers to 21st Century Healthcare.”  This public briefing is designed to inform Congressional offices, national organizations and other key stakeholders about how the current U.S. state-based systems to license and regulate physicians unduly restrict quality modern healthcare. [...]

Aging physicians on your medical staff are a cause for concern.  Not just concerns regarding their ability to continue to safely care for patients, but concerns for them as valued friends and colleagues, for their dignity and self-esteem. Medical staff leaders struggle with what, if anything, to do when faced with this dilemma.  Should the clinical privileges [...]

All it takes is one fraudulent or unqualified practitioner on your staff to bring enormous harm to both patients and your organization’s hard-earned reputation. And sometimes, all it takes to keep them off your staff is one dedicated, qualified medical staff services professional. November 6-12 is National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week.  If you work [...]

Matthew Scheidt, Jr., 17, of Osceola, Fla., is facing felony charges.  He was arrested September 2nd, accused of impersonating a physician’s assistant for five days at a central Florida hospital. It all started on Aug. 24, when Scheidt allegedly went to the human resources office at the Osceola Regional Medical Center and requested a new hospital badge, [...]

“If the greatest asset of a healthcare organization is its physicians, why then are so few resources put into retention and so many put into recruitment?  It’s a costly imbalance…”  So begins HealthLeaders Media’s recent article 6 Physician Retention Strategies. Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals “…estimated $50,000–$75,000 was spent per physician just on recruitment. Then there [...]

James L. Madara, MD, takes over the position of Executive Vice President, CEO of the American Medical Association on July 1st.  Madara, 60, is a pathologist and the former CEO of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Having worked with physicians for many years, I rarely hear them even mention the AMA. It appears to be an [...]

The Joint Commission released a statement applauding the revised Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Telemedicine Credentialing and Privileging requirements. The new rule, long supported by the Joint Commission, becomes effective on July 5, 2011. The rule, which applies to all hospitals that participate in Medicare, and inpatients at critical access hospitals (CAH), upholds The Joint Commission’s [...]

I spoke at a conference of medical staff service professionals Friday.  My time slot was towad the end of the two day program, and the topic, professional communication skills, was a little lighter fare than that of most of the other speakers.  It’s a topic I like to present because I get to tell stories, some of them [...]

March 30th is designated each year in the US as “Doctors Day,” a day set aside to acknowledge the benefit we all receive from the excellent work of the physicians who touch our lives. I have the privilege in my current position of working with many physicians who repeatedly demonstrate their willingness to “go the [...]

A study suggests medical errors, job burnout and depression lead surgeons to contemplate suicide at higher rates than the general public, and they’re much less likely to seek help. Fear of losing their jobs contributes to surgeons’ reluctance to get mental health treatment, according to the study. Nearly 8,000 surgeons participated. Read the rest Surgery [...]