Constellation has announced a strategic partnership with Imprivata®, a health care IT security company offering technology that addresses two critical needs: safeguarding electronic systems and health care data, and improving efficiency in the way clinical work is done.
Citing an increase in cybersecurity attacks on health care organizations, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a framework to plan for and respond to cybersecurity incidents involving medical devices. The Medical Device Cybersecurity Regional Incident Preparedness and Response Playbook covers preparedness and response for medical device cybersecurity issues that impact the functionality of a device. The focus of the framework are threats or vulnerabilities that have the potential for large-scale, multi-patient impact and raise patient safety concerns.
To combat limited access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) of opioid use disorder (OUD) in rural areas, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has developed Telemedicine and Prescribing Buprenorphine for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder to help clarify how clinicians can use telemedicine as a tool to expand buprenorphine-based MAT for OUD treatment under current DEA regulations. This guidance includes a clinical case example.
Read more at HHS https://www.hhs.gov/blog/2018/09/18/using-telemedicine-combat-opioid-epidemic.html
The American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have published best practices on using the health care physical environment to prevent infections.Using the Health Care Physical Environment to Prevent and Control Infection: A Best Practice Guide to Help Health Care Organizations Create Safe, Healing Environments contains best practices, case studies, resources and information based on key research.
For more information or download a free copy of the publication, visit http://www.ashe.org/resources/UseHealthCarePhysEnvironPreventandControlInfection.shtml.
A new AHRQ toolkit, Six Building Blocks A Team-Based Approach to Improving Opioid Management in Primary Care, aims to help primary care organizations take a team- and system-based approach to improving opioid management. The toolkit, Six Building Blocks, recommends that organizations demonstrate leadership support and develop consensus; revise and implement policies, patient agreements, and workflows; proactively track and monitor patient care; implement planned, patient-centered visits; develop resources to care for complex patients; and measure implementation success.
For more resources on chronic pain management, login to the Chronic Pain Management Bundled Solution. Login > Risk Management > Bundled Solutions > Chronic Pain Management
The Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety, a multi-stakeholder collaborative that Constellation is a participant, has released a new toolkit, Health IT Safe Practices for Closing the Loop, that identifies ways that technology can reduce and eliminate errors from diagnostic testing and medication mix-ups. The toolkit identifies three safe practice recommendations related to test tracking and medication changes:
Constellation’s Trish Lugtu, CPHIMS, Sr. Manager, Advanced Analytics Solutions participated and presented to the multi-stakeholder workgroup
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The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), in partnership with the Aspen Institute, launched a public-private partnership made up of more than 35 organizations to develop collective strategies to counter the opioid epidemic. The collaborative will focus on priority areas such as education and training; prescribing guidelines and evidence standards; treatment and community approaches; communication, culture, and stigma; and research and data. Visit Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic for more information.
Constellation’s chief medical officer, Laurie Drill-Mellum, MD, was published in the Medical Professional Liability Association’s Inside Medical Liability magazine. Read her article, “Diagnostic Error: Impacts and Opportunities.”
The One & Only Campaign is a public health effort, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Safe Injection Practices Coalition (SIPC), to raise awareness among patients and health care providers about safe injection practices and eliminate infections resulting from unsafe injection practices.
The Safe Injection Practices Coalition (SIPC) partners with states to help disseminate the messages and materials of the One & Only Campaign. State partners conduct educational outreach and create state-based activities. The SIPC currently has ten state partners – California, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Vermont.
Join us as we show our appreciation and celebrate the work that risk management and patient safety professionals do during Health Care Risk Management Week, June 18-22, 2018. This year’s theme, “Leading Together,” celebrates the leadership that health care risk management professionals provide for their organizations.
Register for our June 20th complimentary webinar, Take the Lead in Building a Resilient Organization, as we discuss the high levels of burnout among clinicians and care team members and the leadership role in reducing burnout and building a resilient organization.