Safety Net

CRICO assessments are conducted by the patient safety department within their own captive insurer, with no punitive component.

Understanding its own risks and patient care vulnerabilities is vital to a health organization, but gaining that understanding is hard. Hospital leaders in the Harvard system are enthusiastic about outside risk assessments from CRICO, because the recommendations that come out are tangible, with no punitive component.

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the legal system since the pandemic interrupted normal operations in Spring of 2020. In Massachusetts, trials were suspended, and all non-emergency court business stopped. Long-time medical malpractice defense attorney Richard Riley of Murphy & Riley, PC in Boston explains the uncertainty of the litigation landscape as courts try to reopen for trial in the Bay State. Hint: medical malpractice cases have lower priority than their criminal counterparts.

Lowering the age for asymptomatic colon cancer screening from 50 to 45 suggests some important changes for physician practices.

Lowering the age for asymptomatic colon cancer screening from 50 to 45 suggests some important changes for physician practices. Joining us to talk about this change and more is Dr. Joseph Feuerstein, a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and an advisor for “Prevention and Early Detection of Colorectal Cancer: A Decision Support Tool,” previously developed through CRICO.

Making baby cooling safe and available to the infants who need it is moving beyond 2016 recommendations from the AMC PSO, to new advancements. A regional registry of babies considered for therapeutic hypothermia is yielding new insight into how treatment can be delivered more effectively, safely, and consistently to prevent lifetime disabilities.

One of the lesser-known safety risks for hospitals is the transfer of a patient from one facility to another. A new guidance document attempts to make inter-hospital transfers safer.

New federal law gives patients access to almost everything in their medical record, including clinical notes.

New federal law gives patients access to almost everything in their medical record, including clinical notes. It allows for a different kind of partnership between patients and providers where they are co-producing the outcome. This may be good for both patient safety and risk management.

A new guide called Patient Safety Guidance for the Virtual Visit: Managing Risk in a New Care Setting is available free online. It was produced by the Academic Medical Center Patient Safety Organization, and covers a range of issues from the first decision to engage in a virtual visit with a patient, to the follow-up needed to close important loops, and even quality improvement measures. Dr. Philip Ciampa, task force member, walks through some of the key points.