Risk Management News and Education

In the coming year, the Risk Management and Patient Safety Department will continue mining data from a variety of sources: CAP closed claims, hotline calls, CAPCares calls, and practice survey data. Our goal is to identify trends, vulnerabilities, and emerging concerns or new issues that impact a physician’s practice. This article will provide a brief summary of findings from the 2017 General Surgery – Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy study. 

Download Form

Download Form

Physicians and their staff have a hard enough time getting their patients to understand the urgency of undergoing follow-up testing.  When the condition looks serious and a frequently traveling patient has a history of noncompliance, getting him or her to a specialist – or to the ER – may be what’s called for.

Do you find yourself asking, “How can I give my patients more time when there are just not enough hours in the day?” or “How can I better communicate critical information to not only to my patients, but involved family members as well?”

As we implement and increasingly use telehealth capabilities, we must commit to acknowledging the implications of this approach to patient care.

We are happy to report that NAS has recently launched an online tool called CyberNET, that offers CAP members and their staff free access to a number of training courses to help keep you HIPAA compliant and reduce the likelihood that you’ll fall victim to a cyber attack.

Our tendency to ignore all but the immediate dangers is an approach that’s being exploited by cyber hackers. Ransomware is evolving, growing, and becoming increasingly sophisticated and effective.

The ease, efficiency, and utility of text messaging isn’t lost on healthcare professionals, 90 percent of whom use it as a method for sharing information with colleagues, patients, and staff.

In every practice, there are always a few patients who are more difficult to manage. The first question to ask is: why is the patient refusing treatment recommendations?