http://namss.blogspot.com/2013/05/medscape-want-hospital-admitting.html<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><em>NAMSS President, Melissa Walters, is quoted in the article below.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">By Robert Lowes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">May&nbsp;16,&nbsp;2013 </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Physicians seeking medical staff privileges at a hospital should first go into a bathroom and fill a small paper cup, all for the sake of patient safety, suggests an article published <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1682565" target="_blank">online</a> April 29 in <i>JAMA</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Requiring physicians to take a urine drug test as a condition of employment is already the norm at hospitals, but lead author Julius Pham, MD, PhD, and colleagues recommend that hospitals also screen medical staff applicants for possible impairment by substance abuse.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Read the full article and see what Melissa had to say&nbsp;at <a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/804360" target="_blank">medscape.com</a>.</span></div>Fri, 24 May 2013 11:34:00 GMThttp://namss.blogspot.com/2013/05/nejm-expanding-role-of-advanced-nurse.htmlJohn K. Inglehart, May 16, 2013<br /><br />As the 2014 expansion of coverage mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) looms larger, one question with no ready answer is how health care providers, policymakers, and payers will cope with an expected surge in patient demand for services. A shortage of primary care physicians to treat newly insured persons is the most immediate health workforce issue, but when added to the nation's population growth and more aging patients who require treatment, finding a practitioner may become an even more daunting challenge.<br /><br /><br />Read the rest at <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMhpr1301084?query=featured_home" target="_blank">nejm.org</a>.Tue, 21 May 2013 09:29:00 GMThttp://namss.blogspot.com/2013/05/oig-issues-update.html<div align="left"></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">On May 8, the Office of Inspector General issued an update to its Special Advisory Bulletin on the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Effect of Exclusion from Participation </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in Federal Health Care Programs.</span><br /><br />The full report can be found <a href="http://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/files/sab-05092013.pdf" target="_blank">here. </a><br />Mon, 20 May 2013 11:09:00 GMThttp://namss.blogspot.com/2013/05/hhs-npdb-hipdb-has-become-npdb.html<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Effective May 7, 2013,&nbsp;the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) and the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB) are now one Data Bank:&nbsp; the NPDB. The official website is<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/" target="_blank">http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/</a></span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. Users should update their bookmarks with the new Data Bank website address.<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><br /><br />Users will experience no disruption in Data Bank service, and essentially no change to their reporting workflow or requirements. The HIPDB information did not go away, but was integrated into the NPDB. Users’ access to Data Bank information may expand, meaning that query results may include reports that were previously only accessible through querying the HIPDB. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Read the rest <a href="http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/resources/npdbMerge.jsp" target="_blank">here.</a></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span>Wed, 08 May 2013 10:26:00 GMThttp://namss.blogspot.com/2013/05/nyt-why-doctors-are-sued.htmlNicholas Bakalar, April 29, 2013<br /><br />What kind of medical error accounts for most malpractice payments: Surgical mistakes? Overdoses? Obstetric errors? <br /><br />No, no and no. The most common cause of paid claims for malpractice is making errors in diagnosis.<br /><br />Using the National Practitioner Data Bank, which records actions taken by state licensing authorities against health care practitioners, researchers found that 28.6 percent of malpractice payments are for diagnostic mistakes. <br /><br />Read the rest at <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/why-doctors-are-sued/" target="_blank">well.blogs.nytimes.com</a>Mon, 06 May 2013 15:17:00 GMT