Latest News

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:

• Develop and apply IT solutions to communicate the right information (including data needed for interpretation) to the right people, at the right time, in the right format.
• Implement health IT solutions to track key areas.
• Use health IT to link and acknowledge the review of information and the documentation of the action taken.

Constellation’s Trish Lugtu, CPHIMS, Sr. Manager, Advanced Analytics Solutions participated and presented to the multi-stakeholder workgroup

.

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.

AHRQ offers free resources, Engaging Patients and Families in Their Health Care, to help health care teams get the most out of the time they spend with patients and families. Research shows that when patients are engaged in their health care, it can lead to measurable improvements in safety and quality. Whether you see patients at a hospital, primary care office, or other setting AHRQ has resources tailored to your practice setting.

Log in and visit our Patient-Centered Care Bundled Solution for more guidance, tools and resources on engaging patients in their health care.

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has launched an online repository of resources, Clinician Well-Being Knowledge Hub, to help health systems combat clinician burnout. According to NAM, burnout is primarily a system issue with workplace inefficiencies, accreditation requirements, the practice/learning environment all contributing to burnout and impacting the entire health care team and organization.

To learn more about burnout, well-being and organizational resilience, register for one of our upcoming webinars, view one of the Health and Well-Being for Health-Care Professionals on-demand videos, and visit our Well-Being Center.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) have released updated guidelines for treating Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in adults and children. The guidelines are intended to improve the diagnosis and management of CDI. Clostridium difficile remains the most important cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea and has become the most commonly identified cause of healthcare-associated infection in adults in the United States.

The guidelines recommend health care organizations implement an antibiotic stewardship program to minimize the frequency and duration of high-risk antibiotic therapy and the number of antibiotic agents prescribed, to reduce CDI risk.

To learn more, login to UMIA.com and watch the on-demand webinar, Antibiotic Stewardship: A National Priority.

Take the pledge for patient safety and wear a gown! We are all patients!

Your organization can play an active role in the United for Patient Safety campaign in support of Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 11-17 by planning your week, sharing your plans, and getting ideas and inspiration.

IHI/NPSF offers a number of ways to take action and plan your week including a complimentary webinar on Monday March 12, Engaging Patients and Providers: Speaking Up for Patient Safety.

Join MMIC, UMIA and Arkansas Mutual for a complimentary webinar, Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Senior Living Teams, on Wednesday March 14th from 12:00 -1:00 p.m. CT. Errors in clinical judgment is one of the top contributing factors to patient injury and malpractice claims in all care settings. The lessons and strategies learned from this webinar can be transferred to any health care organization.

AHRQ’s Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care offers tools and resources to support those who are implementing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) in primary care settings. The Opioids & Substance Use Resources page includes information and tools from Federal sources, health professional societies, academic institutions and researchers.

For additional pain management guidelines, tools and resources, login to UMIA.com > Risk Management > Bundled Solutions > Chronic Pain Management.