Articles
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Implementation Deadline Approaching for Adapting to Proficiency Testing Regulations
Clinical laboratories produce test results that are crucial to providers’ decision-making in ensuring patients receive consistently high-quality care. How do laboratories ensure providers receive consistently accurate test results? Laboratories conduct proficiency testing to meet CMS quality assurance rules, including rules now being updated.
Advance Directives Require Important Considerations
Advance directives rank among the most important legal documents in the healthcare setting. They come into use when a patient is incapacitated and cannot provide informed consent for care or cannot actively participate in care planning. Among the various types of advance directives, the most common in the healthcare setting are the living will and the durable power of attorney for health care.
Another Site Visit? Be Prepared for Medicare Validation Visits
CMS requires the National Providers Enrollment (NPE) agencies to conduct site visits as part of the process to validate a DMEPOS supplier’s Medicare enrollment.
Why It Matters to Maintain Personnel Records
Maintaining personnel records for staff members is required to achieve ACHC Accreditation and meet applicable state and federal regulations.
Assessing Competencies Helps Ensure Quality and Safety of Patient Care
Competencies are not just requirements in health care. They are crucial aspects. Competencies play pivotal roles in ensuring patient safety, quality and continuity of care, and operational efficiency. As a healthcare professional, your role in identifying and addressing competence-related issues is paramount.
Heads Up, Laboratories! Dengue Virus, Novel Influenza, and More
On June 25, 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) message about an increased risk of dengue virus (DENV) infections in the United States in 2024.
Verifying Personnel Credentials Is a Crucial Task for Hospitals
Your latest hire might not be the healthcare professional you think you hired for your acute care hospital. Did you check? A multi-state scheme to sell fake nursing diplomas should serve as a crucial reminder about the importance of verifying credentials for all licensed personnel.
U.S. Agencies Monitoring Avian Influenza While Measles and Mpox Demand Attention, Too
First, birds, of course. Then cows contracted A/H5 avian influenza. And now with a human case confirmed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking steps to help manufacturers prepare to mass produce devices for testing. And in the U.S. and elsewhere, measles and Mpox require watching, too.
CMS Extends Effective Date for New Hospice Requirements
New Medicare requirements for hospice certifying physicians will now take effect June 3, 2024, instead of the original May 1 effective date. CMS announced the action in an MLN newsletter on April 25.
Why Documenting Feedback Matters for DMEPOS Services
DMEPOS suppliers often are cited during a survey for failing to meet performance management requirements established by DMEPOS Quality Standards of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).