Supporting Safer Healthcare

Patient experience, and thus patient satisfaction scores, are intrinsically linked with how a hospital or other healthcare organization handles its patient complaint and grievance process.  In addiiton to making good business sense, there are specific CMS regulations and Joint Commission standards that outline how hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers must manage patient grievances.  Lisa Venn, JD, [...]

Do you or a staff member want to brush up on the CMS hospital requirements pertaining to patient grievance? A 20 question quiz on Patient Grievance has been added to the free interactive Healthcare Administration Quizzes available at Simple Data Solutions.com.  Stop over and test your knowledge.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulations for Dialysis centers, updated in 2008, serve as minimum standards that dialysis facilities must meet in order to meet to be certified under the Medicare program.  The revised rule focuses on the importance of patient rights, patient safety and the patient’s participation in the development of his [...]

The Joint Commission reports that 14.8% of the Sentinel Events they investigate come to their attention through complaints, which can easily be reported through their web site.  Minimize your risk by documenting and addressing patient complaints promptly. Related link:  Complying With CMS Patient Grievance Regulations

by Lisa Venn, J.D., M.A. This article examines the issue of whether hospital patient grievance records are privileged i.e. protected from discovery when a patient sues a hospital and requests the production of the patient grievance file. In 1999, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA; later renamed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or [...]