|
|
|
|
|
August 16, 2022 | Volume XIX, Issue 31
|
|
New, Revised Requirements to Reduce Health Care Disparities
Effective January 1, 2023, new and revised requirements to reduce health care disparities will apply to Joint Commission–accredited ambulatory health care organizations, behavioral health and human services organizations, critical access hospitals, and hospitals. The requirements include six new elements of performance, developed to address health care disparities as a quality and safety priority.
- Identifying an individual to lead activities to reduce health care disparities
- Assessing the patient’s health-related social needs
- Analyzing quality and safety data to identify disparities
- Developing an action plan to reduce health care disparities
- Taking action when the organization does not meet the goals in its action plan
- Informing key stakeholders about progress to reduce health care disparities
Related Content
|
|
|
|
What is The Joint Commission?
|
|
DC Health Expands Eligibility for Monkeypox Vaccinations
DC Health expanded eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine to align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) current vaccination criteria and in response to a continued rise in monkeypox cases. DC Health reports that there are 321 cases of monkeypox in the District (as of August 12), representing the highest number of cases per capita in the U.S. The new eligibility criteria for monkeypox vaccination will include District residents, individuals who work in the District, students enrolled at District universities, colleges, and persons affiliated with DC Health Programs that receive health care services in DC, and 18 years of age or older, who meet one of the three current criteria. The new eligibility criteria, effective August 13, is in line with CDC’s current vaccination criteria.
Related Content
|
|
DC Forensic Nurse Examiners Provide Medical Exams to Victims
DC Forensic Nurse Examiners (DCFNE) provide medical forensic exams to victims of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and family violence. Sexual assault exams are available to individuals 13 and older, and the window for evidence collection is 120 hours, however exams are available past 120 hours without evidence collection. Intimate partner violence forensic exams are available to individuals 12 years or older who have been assaulted by a former or current intimate partner within the last 30 days. Family violence forensic exams are available to individuals 18 years or older who have been assaulted by a family member within the last 30 days. Forensic exams are free of charge and do not require a police report or proof of citizenship. Patients desiring a forensic exam may walk-in at MedStar Washington Hospital Center 24/7 or call/text the DC Victim Hotline at 844-443-5732. For more, contact DCFNE at 202-742-1736 or contact@dcfne.org.
|
|
Mayor's National Maternal & Infant Health Summit
Mayor Bowser's National Maternal and Infant Health Summit will take place on Thursday, September 15. The 5th Annual Mayor Muriel Bower’s Maternal & Infant Health Summit will feature panel discussions, community spaces, breakout sessions, and a virtual resource expo dedicated to connecting District residents with local and national resources and supports needed to families have what they need to thrive.
Related Content
|
|
Action Needed to Protect Against Zeppelin Ransomware Targeting Health Care and Medical Organizations
The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency urged organizations to take steps to protect against Zeppelin ransomware attacks, which use remote desktop protocol and firewall vulnerabilities and phishing campaigns to access victim networks and deploy ransomware. The Zeppelin ‘Ransomware as a Service’ is especially targeting health care and medical organizations. The alert contains very detailed and actionable indicators of compromise which should be immediately loaded in organizations network defense systems. Along with encrypting files, this gang is engaging in the ‘double layered’ data extortion method. It appears this gang is stealing and threatening to publicly release sensitive information such as patient information, payroll, human resources and non-disclosure-protected information. Thus, even if a victim organization can independently restore encrypted files from backup, they face the dilemma of potential public release of stolen information in the possession of the criminals.
|
|
CDC Updates Guidance for Preventing COVID-19 Illness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated public health guidance to help people protect themselves and others if they are exposed to, sick or test positive for COVID-19. New recommendations no longer include the six-foot rule and unvaccinated people no longer need to quarantine after they’re exposed to an infected person. But anyone who has been exposed should still wear a mask and test five days after exposure. New guidance no longer recommends schools regularly test asymptomatic students and staff. Instead, the CDC recommends testing in response to an outbreak. The “test to stay” protocol, which allows unvaccinated kids to stay in school as long as they test negative, is also gone from the guidelines. New guidelines also say that schools may need to require masking in classrooms or other settings to protect immunocompromised students, and masking is recommended in schools (as well as any indoor setting) if the community level is “high.” Masks are also recommended in all health care settings, including school nurses’ officers, regardless of community level of COVID.
Related Content
|
|
COVID-19 Community Transmission Level: High
View more about CDC's COVID-19 data that DC Health uses to measure levels of transmission.
|
|
HHS Updates Hospital COVID-19 Reporting Requirements
Under updated guidance on hospital COVID-19 data reporting released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency will deactivate the collection of certain data elements that are being collected through other federal mechanisms. HHS will host a series of webinars on August 16 and 17 at Noon ET and August 18 at 2 pm to review the changes, using meeting code 587548.
|
|
Effective Utilization of CRISP DC For Care Coordination by Hospitals
August 25 | Noon - 1:pm
This live webinar hosted by the DC Hospital Association and representatives from CRISP DC will demonstrate how to use the CRISP platform to improve care coordination for patients across the healthcare system. Attendees may ask and answer questions throughout the presentation and participate in an instructor-led discussion. This session is free and approved by AAFP for up to 1.0 AMA Level 1.0 CME credit.
|
|
Effective Utilization of CRISP DC For Care Coordination for Outpatient Behavioral Health Providers
September 1 | Noon - 1:pm
This live webinar hosted by the DC Hospital Association and representatives from CRISP DC will demonstrate how to use the CRISP platform to improve care coordination for patients across the healthcare system, identify social determinants of health available in the DC HIE, and review the CRISP DC Consent Tool. Attendees may ask and answer questions throughout the presentation and participate in an instructor-led discussion. This session is free and approved by AAFP for up to 1.0 AMA Level 1.0 CME credit.
|
|
Nurse Executive Fellowship
Develop critical executive competencies to lead, influence and inspire your nursing workforce through the American Organization for Nursing Leadership’s nine-month program. Participants in the fellowship will develop critical executive competencies to lead in complex systems and to influence and inspire the nursing workforce and others. This program uses expert faculty, thoughtful dialogue with peers, experiential simulation methodology and situational analysis to engage participants and equip them to address the challenges that nurse executives face. Deadline to submit is August 31, 2022.
|
|
This free webinar will include a discussion of the benefits and risks related to the exchange of patient information through a Health Information Exchange (HIE). This review will include an analysis of the applicable federal privacy law requirements, including HIPAA and Part 2 regulations. Learn about best practices to capture the proper patient authorizations and to implement safeguards to comply with applicable laws. This session is recommended for Health Information Management Leaders, Compliance Officers, Privacy Officers, Chief Operating Officers and Executive Team Members responsible for the use and disclosure of patient protected health information.
- Understand the benefits and risks associated with a HIE
- Discuss the opt in versus opt out processes related to an HIE
- Review the privacy law restrictions and limitations
- Determine the best practices for proper process and procedure development to support compliance with the applicable privacy and security regulations
Thank you to our sponsor:
|
|
MedStar Washington Hospital Center Brings Home the Bronze in the Patient Safety & Quality Poster Competition
Reducing Alarm Fatigue
|
|
|
MedStar Washington has established alarm safety as a priority. Alarms on busy critical care units can exceed 100,000 times/ month. Excessive alarming can result in alarm fatigue and lead to alarm related safety events. A multidisciplinary team used PDSA to modify alarms and significantly reduced alarm occurrences.
|
|
- I'm Confused by the New Testing Advice, NPR, Max Barnhart, August 12, 2022
- The Polio Virus Was Detected in New York City Wastewater. Do You Need to Worry?, NPR, Jaclyn Diaz, August 12, 2022
- Amazon Expanding Amazon Care with Behavioral Health, Modern Healthcare, Jessica Kim Cohen, August 11, 2022
- Credit Score Provider to Exclude All Medical Debts From Scores, Becker's Hospital Review, Andrew Cass, August 10, 2022
- America’s New Monkeypox Strategy Rests on a Single Study, The Atlantic, Katherine J. Wu, August 10, 2022
- Almost a Third of Patients Don't Take Drugs as Directed, Medscape, Richard Mark Kirkner, August 8, 2022
- HHS Campaign Encourages Blood Donation, HHS, August 5, 2022
- The Coronavirus Has One Strategy We Can’t Vaccinate Against, The Atlantic, Katherine J. Wu, August 4, 2022
- How Maternal Health Disparities Drive Abysmal US Maternal Mortality, Patient Engagement HIT, Sara Heath, July 21, 2022
- Equitable Health Care Requires Inclusive Language, Harvard Business Review, Nkem Chukwumerije, July 19, 2022
|
|
|
|
Advancing Equity Through Quality & Safety During COVID-19
|
|
|
Three Barriers to Timely Patient Care
This report addresses how to empower providers to open their schedules with confidence, free staff from the administrative burden of managing scheduling requests, and nudge patients to schedule recommended care. Learn how to accurately assess the benefits and pitfalls of self-scheduling solutions and why a leading health system replaced their patient portal with self-scheduling, garnering a 96% patient satisfaction rating.
|
|
|
Respectful Maternity Care
August 30 | 12:30 - 1:30 pm
This virtual event, hosted by the National Birth Equity Collaborative, engages clinical care leaders and decision makers on the state of respectful maternity care in health and hospital systems. Panelists will share best practices and obstacles for systematically eliminating bias and building a culture of respectful care for all mamas and birthing people. Following the panel, there will be an optional safe space for other clinical health leaders and activists to share their experiences, questions, and concerns about shifting culture towards respectful care.
|
|
|
Catholic Charities is the social ministry outreach of the Archdiocese of Washington. Motivated by the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, and guided by Catholic social and moral teaching, Catholic Charities strengthens the lives of all in need by giving help that empowers and hope that lasts. To this end, Catholic Charities affirms and supports the dignity of all human life, strengthen families and serve the poor and most vulnerable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
