According to the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), disciplinary actions against physicians have risen 6.8% nationwide. The number of prejudicial actions (including license suspensions, revocations, and probations) rose 4.1%, from 4,798 in 2010 to 4,996 in 2011, while...
Only about half of the states consider it unethical and illegal to self-prescribe controlled substances or to prescribe them to family members, and most states do not address self-treatment or the treatment of family members. That means it is up to individual hospitals to prevent practitioners...
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently conducted a study to examine the effect federal fraud and abuse laws have on hospitals' ability to implement financial incentive programs for physicians. Its findings, although not shocking, are notable: The...
Admitting fault and apologizing are skills that don't come naturally to many physicians, not because they are physicians, but because they are human, says Daniel O'Connell, PhD, master trainer and course manager at the Institute for Healthcare Communication in New Haven, Conn.
In mid-May, CMS released a final rule containing many changes to its hospital Conditions of Participation (CoP). There has been some confusion over the change allowing one governing body for a multihospital system. Some hospitals have mistakenly interpreted this to mean...
Thrombosis, sclerosis, embolism-it might not require conjugating verbs, but medical terminology is a language in itself, one that often creates a barrier between physicians and patients. When the patient also doesn't speak English, communicating becomes an even bigger obstacle.
