Good morning … These endangered seals can't stop getting eels stuck up their noses.
Good morning … These endangered seals can't stop getting eels stuck up their noses.
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CNBC’s Christina Farr has an eye-popping story about when electronic health records go wrong: In this case, a woman whose record said she’d had 2 children, when in fact she had never been pregnant. One of those non-existent children was still alive, according to her EHR, and one had died.
How it works: Errors are common. They can originate from having multiple patients’ records open at once, or from some of the same miscommunication issues that have plagued paper records — like a nurse or resident misunderstanding a doctor’s notes.
HHS recently called on states to repeal laws that require providers to ask for permission before they can build new facilities. Now, Modern Healthcare's Susannah Luthi reports that the department might try to force states' hand using the leverage of Affordable Care Act waivers.
Hill-Rom, a major manufacturer of hospital beds, is upgrading its products to include technology that can monitor patients’ vital signs and alert nurses when something seems amiss, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Between the lines: As we’ve seen with EHRs, an increasingly digitized hospital can have real benefits for patients — if hospitals actually make good use of the information and efficiencies they’re gaining.
By the numbers, per WSJ:
We know the U.S. pays more for health care overall than other industrialized countries, with no better outcomes to show for it. And we know the U.S. pays more for drugs. Axios' Caitlin Owens wanted to run all the traps on this and, yes, we also spend more on hospitals.