Topic:

Patient Care & Outcomes

Latest Headlines

Latest Headlines

Fear of overtesting and malpractice often drives diagnostic errors

One reason for the widespread problem of diagnostic errors is the pressure clinicians are under to avoid unnecessary tests and control healthcare costs, according to a leading healthcare expert who was one of the reviewers of the recent Institute of Medicine report that revealed most people will experience a misdiagnosis at some point in their lives.

Short pause after patient death helps medical teams recover emotionally

Medical teams at the University of Virginia Medical Center find that pausing for a few moments after a patient dies helps them accept the loss and experience less emotional trauma.  

Why Geisinger's care coordination strategies are a model for the US

Geisinger Health System, a Pennsylvania physician-led hospital system serving predominantly rural coal country, has emerged as a care-coordination model for the nation and CEO David Feinberg told  The   Wall Street Journal  he hopes the strategies will one day be so successful that the system will close its hospitals.

Texing beneficial for heart disease patients

Texting supportive reminders regarding lifestyle choices to patients with heart disease can help improve treatment results, reveals a new study; however, further research is needed to determine if such benefits continue once the texting stops.

BCBSA launches massive claims database

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has launched a massive database that will include cost information from all 36 of its participating health plans.

3 skills most docs learn on the job

While medical school curriculums are beginning to make changes to better prepare physicians for the realities of healthcare today, practicing physicians are left to their own devices to hone several of these skills.

How hospitals can maximize the full potential of infectious disease specialists

Hospitals that use their infectious disease specialists only to reduce hospital-acquired infections and prevent the spread of contagious diseases aren't maximizing their full potential, according to a blog post at  Hospital & Health Networks Daily. 

3 challenges to hospital innovation--and how to fix them

As innovation becomes an increasingly vital part of the healthcare landscape amid rapid change within the industry, several obstacles may keep efforts at innovation from taking off, according to  Executive Insight.

Surgeons call patient follow-ups via portals, face-to-face 'equally effective'

Online communication via a patient portal was a preferred follow-up method for surgery patients, according to research published online in the  Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Insurers turn to nurses to power care coordination

​Health insurers have taken the trend of payer-provider collaboration a step further, adding more nurses to their ranks than ever before.