5 Stories You Need But May Have Missed This Week

We know you’re busy, but we don’t want you to miss important healthcare quality and patient safety news. Below is a roundup of stories you may have missed but need to take a look at before calling it a week. (Sign up on the right if you’d like these news alerts delivered to you.)

1. Invest in Nursing to Avoid Readmission Penalties
   According to a new study by Health Affairs, hospitals with larger nursing staffs are 25 percent less likely to incur readmission penalties from Medicare simply because a well-staffed environment is more conducive to the performance of efforts that generate successful discharges. Planning, patient education, complication observation, knowledge assessment and care coordination take time, which is something small staffs typically lack by nature.
2. Readmissions ‘Drop Like a Rock’ with Predictive Modeling
   Predictive modeling is hard work, but it’s definitely doable, health leaders say. Discover what tools some hospitals are using to identify and care for the 20 percent of patients who are most likely to be readmitted following a hospital stay– – those patients who aren’t going to get better without some form of intensive coordinated care.
3. MCMA Fears ‘Catastrophic Backlogs’ From ICD-10 Testing Pullback
   Will industry pressure convince CMS to call back  its decision not to conduct testing on Medicare fee-for-service claims before ICD-10 goes into effect? Read why the agency’s “deviation from the traditional Medicare testing policy” has physicians and the Medical Group Management Association on high alert.
4. ‘MacGyver’ Nurses Build Their Own Solutions
   With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Little Devices Lab at MIT, is launching a nationwide search for nurses who are creating innovative devices to improve patient care. While some providers might call it “positive deviance,” the developers of MakerNurse call it genius, and they believe these sharp-witted healthcare professionals and their inventions need to be recognized.
5. U.S. on Track to Reduce Hospital MRSA Infections by 50 Percent
   A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that hospital-associated infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) decreased significantly between 2005 and 2011 while the rate of MRSA infections contracted in the community barely changed.