‘The Criminalization Of Medical Errors Is Unnerving’: Nurses Slam Tenn. Case
RaDonda Vaught was found guilty last week of criminally negligent homicide after mistakenly giving a patient the wrong medication. "This verdict sets into motion a dangerous precedent,” the American Nurses Association said. “Health care delivery is highly complex. It is inevitable that mistakes will happen. ... It is completely unrealistic to think otherwise.”
AP:
Nurses: Guilty Verdict For Dosing Mistake Could Cost Lives
The moment nurse RaDonda Vaught realized she had given a patient the wrong medication, she rushed to the doctors working to revive 75-year-old Charlene Murphey and told them what she had done. Within hours, she made a full report of her mistake to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Murphey died the next day, on Dec. 27, 2017. On Friday, a jury found Vaught guilty of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect. (Loller, 3/30)
KHN:
Reaction To The RaDonda Vaught Verdict: KHN Wants To Hear From Nurses
RaDonda Vaught, a former Tennessee nurse, killed a patient in 2017 by administering the wrong drug. She was criminally prosecuted and convicted of gross neglect and negligent homicide on March 25. She faces up to eight years in prison. Vaught’s conviction drew national attention and left many in the nursing profession worried it will set a precedent for criminalizing medical mistakes. Some observers believe the conviction will make hospitals less transparent about medical errors or dissuade people from pursuing a nursing career. (3/30)
In other news about health workers —
Des Moines Register:
University Of Iowa's Delayed OT For Health Care Workers Ruled Illegal
The University of Iowa owes damages to as many as 11,000 current and former health care workers for delays in paying overtime and other compensation, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. It's not clear how much the university will owe the workers, some of them highly paid, but an attorney representing them said the amount could be substantial. Representatives of the Iowa Board of Regents and University of Iowa Health Care declined to comment on the decision. (Morris, 3/30)
NPR:
A Nurse's Death Becomes A Rallying Cry For Health Workers' Mental Health
On the morning of January 18, Joshua Paredes came home to an empty apartment. His roommate and good friend Michael Odell wasn't there, but there was a giant bag of Skittles, Odell's favorite snack, on the dog bed. Paredes, who has two dogs, texted his friend. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, how many Skittles were in here? Just so I know what's going on with the dogs.'" They were both working as nurses – Paredes at the University of California, San Francisco hospital and Odell at Stanford Health Care – and initially, Paredes didn't think much of his friend's absence, since he typically worked long shifts. (Chatterjee, 3/31)
And more health care industry updates —
Modern Healthcare:
Anthem Fined $5M By Georgia Insurance Commissioner
The Georgia insurance commissioner is hitting Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield with a $5 million fine—the largest in agency history— over claims processing errors. Anthem failed to comply with state laws on a number of occasions between 2015 and 2021, insurance commissioner John King (R) announced Tuesday. Those included improper claims settlement practices, violations of the state Prompt Payment Act, a lack of timely responses to consumer complaints, inaccurate provider directories and provider contract loading delays, according to the regulator. (Devereaux, 3/30)
Modern Healthcare:
Hospitals Hike Prices For Evaluation And Management Services
Hospital charges for services like emergency department visits and initial hospital care continue to grow faster than other types of care, according to a new study. Hospitals boosted their median charges for evaluation and management services by 7% and related negotiated rates rose 5%, according to FAIR Health's analysis of November 2020 to November 2021 high-frequency claims from their database of more than 36 billion claims. Hospital E/M charges and negotiated rates—excluding facility fees—increased the most over that span out of the six categories FAIR Health studied: office E/M services; non-E/M services like psychiatric care, dialysis and immunizations; radiology; surgery; and pathology and laboratory. (Kacik, 3/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital Faces Potential Closure After Patient Overdoses Trigger State Review
Federal regulators have threatened to pull critical funding from San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital after two patients overdosed at the facility last year, a dramatic measure that could force the hospital to shut down. Officials with San Francisco’s health department, which runs Laguna Honda, said Wednesday that the hospital had fallen out of regulatory compliance, putting its funding from Medicare and Medicaid in jeopardy. Laguna Honda, one of the largest skilled nursing facilities in the country, is run by the city and cares for more than 700 patients, including people with dementia, drug addiction and other complex medical needs, who live on the hospital’s campus. (Swan, 3/30)
The Boston Globe:
Independent Hospitals Are ‘One Crisis Away’ From Financial Instability
Many of the state’s small and independent hospitals, buffeted by two years of heavy losses during the pandemic, are facing a significant financial crunch and fear they may not be able to weather another substantial COVID-19 surge on their own. At one point this winter, hospital executives thought they had weathered the worst of the pandemic. Then Omicron came. A decimated workforce, further culled by illness, struggled to care for the latest flood of patients. Expenses for temporary workers and overtime for existing staff soared. And revenues plummeted amid a halt in elective procedures. (Bartlett, 3/30)
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Proposes Policy To Smooth Annual Hospice Pay Changes
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants to permanently cap annual hospice wage index adjustments so payments never decrease more than 5% from a prior year. "We are proposing a policy that increases the predictability of hospice payments for providers, and mitigates instability and significant negative impacts to providers resulting from changes to the wage index," says a proposed rule published Wednesday. Medicare adjusts hospice payments using a wage index that reflects geographical differences. (Goldman, 3/30)
Stat:
5 Tech Trends Drawing Investment As Health Care Moves Into The Home
With Medicare expected to cover a projected 80 million people by 2030, entrepreneurs and investors are cashing in on what analysts see as an inevitable shift in health care away from the hospital and into the homes of aging patients. Incumbents like UnitedHealthcare Group are snapping up home health and hospice providers for billion-dollar price tags. And smaller startups are scoring tens of millions to build out the underlying logistical infrastructure, ranging from medical equipment delivery to digital medical devices that can transmit scans directly to doctors. Several large companies — including tech players like Amazon and health systems like Intermountain Healthcare — are jointly advocating for federal and state policies more conducive to home health. (Ravindranath, 3/31)