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"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
----George S. Patton
Military Leader
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Medical Trivia Question
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Q: Trypanophobia is fear of what?
Answer is located at the bottom of this column.
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Contact Us
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Risk Management
24/7 Hotline:
(720) 858-6270 or
(800) 421-1834, ext. 6270
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Upcoming Educational Conferences
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Medical Trivia Answer
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Q: Trypanophobia is fear of what?
A: Shots.
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April 2018
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Rule 400 Update: Delegating to and Supervising Physician Assistants
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The Colorado Medical Board Rule 400 that refers to working with physician assistants (PAs) has been updated. Some of the key aspects include changes to the mandatory on-site supervision requirements, performance reviews, and the need for a certain number of chart reviews and co-signatures for new PA graduates or those who are new to a practice specialty.
Information specific to hospitals:
Delegation:
When a PA is performing a delegated medical function in an acute care hospital, supervision and direction may be performed without the physical presence of the physician if:
- The medical functions are performed where the supervising physician regularly practices or in a designated health manpower shortage area;
- The supervising physician reviews the quality of medical services rendered by the PA by reviewing and signing the medical records to assure compliance with the physicians' directions; and
- The performance of the delegated medical function otherwise complies with the board's regulations and any restrictions and protocols of the licensed supervising physician and hospital.
Read the full article to learn more about the other requirements and contact COPIC's Legal Department at (720) 858-6035 with questions.
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Save the Date: 2018 Patient Safety & Risk Management Forum
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The 2018 Forum will be held at the Brown Palace Hotel in downtown Denver.
October 3-5, 2018
Brown Palace Hotel
Denver, Colorado
Contact Charesse Hansen at (720) 858-6127 for more information.
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COPIC Cyber/Data Breach Coverage
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Did you know COPIC provides insured facilities with $100,000 in cyber liability coverage as part of their COPIC coverage?
One of the greatest risks medical facilities face today is the loss or misuse of sensitive patient data. Reconciling a breach can be costly and additional levels of coverage may be a consideration, depending on the size of the facility.
As the medical industry relies on networked devices, electronic health records, and external business associates handling patient and financial data, they become more susceptible to cyber threats including computer viruses, malware, hacking, or lost or stolen mobile devices.
Consider these examples of health care breaches that occurred in 2017, affecting nearly 1.5 million people, with hacking being the leading cause of the breaches:
- Kentucky: Confidential info taken from nearly 700,000 Med Center Health patients
- Michigan: Airway Oxygen Inc. Ransomware Attack Impacts up to 500,000 Individuals
- Pennsylvania: Security Breach at Women's Health Care Group Affects 300,000 patients
Contact your agent, or Mitch Laycock with COPIC's Financial Service Group at (720) 858-6297, to review your current data breach coverages and learn why data breach limits higher than $100K may be necessary for your facility. Higher limits of data breach coverage are now available to be added to you COPIC professional liability policy. And see the "Information Technology Resources" section below for more information.
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New! COPIC Points Program for Facilities
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Starting January 1, 2018, all facilities insured by COPIC under our facility policy form are eligible to participate in the COPIC Points Program for Facilities.
Click here for additional information
.
If you are interested in earning points with a facility assessment or an orientation site visit, please contact us to schedule the meeting as soon as possible, before the calendar fills up. Contact
Laura Dixon
at (720) 858-6126 with questions.
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COPIC Value-Added Resources
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COPIC is Now ANCC Accredited
COPIC became accredited as a provider of
Continuing Nu
rsing Education (CNE) by the
American
Nurses
Credentialing Center Commission on Accreditation in December 2017. As a provider, we are now authorized to present and award CNE credits for nursing staff education
programs. Contact Laura Dixon at (720) 858-6126 for more information.
COPIC Peer Review Network (CPRN)
Connects facilities with providers who can serve as a resource for performing external professional review services. Additional details are available on our website. (Login with username and password is required to access this information.) Contact Charesse Hansen at (720) 858-6127 for login assistance.
Complimentary Human Resource (HR) Hotline
The HR Hotline connects you with our experts who can help resolve employment-related issues or serve as a sounding board for complex situations. In addition, we can help identify outside resources to handle complex employment law situations.
(844) 208-4680
Mon-Fri, 8:30am-5:00pm (MST)
Education for Physicians
and F
acilities
We provide in-person and on-demand courses to earn CME credit and COPIC points. See our
education catalog
for a list of seminars available to schedule at your facility.
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| Legislative Updates |
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COPIC has long believed that taking an active role in advocating on legislative issues is an important way to maintain stability for access to quality care. That is why we continuously monitor legislation that may impact health care.
Federal:
The Protecting Access to Care Act (H.R. 1215), a bill discussed in our last newsletter,
has not advanced since it was received in the Senate and assigned to the Judiciary Committee in late June of 2017.
The Good Samaritan Health Professionals Act (H.R. 1876), a bill that grants immunity from liability for health care professionals when they are providing uncompensated care to
victims of a federally declared disaster, passed out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee on February 14, 2018.
Colorado:
The Colorado General Assembly convened on January 10, 2018. Below are a few bills that have been introduced:
- Senate Bill 22-Clinical Practice for Opioid Prescribing
- House Bill 1182-Statewide System for Advanced Directives
- House Bill 1207-Hospital Financial Transparency Measures
Nebraska:
The Nebraska Unicameral convened January 3, 2018. Below are a few bills that have been introduced:
- Legislative Bill 931-Provide requirements for opiate and controlled substance prescriptions
- Legislative Bill 104-Provide for a Surrogate to Make Health Care Decisions
- Legislative Bill 117-Adopt the Investigational Drug Use Act
Read the full update here, and COPIC will continue to keep you aware of specific legislative priorities involving health care and alert you so you can be informed and involved.
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Congratulations!
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COPIC would like to congratulate the following facilities for their commitment to health care.
Poudre Valley Hospital (Fort Collins, CO) was named one of Healthgrades 250 recipients of its 2018 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence and as one of Healthgrades 100 Best Hospitals™ for 2018 demonstrating superior clinical outcomes across the majority of common inpatient conditions and procedures.
Gunnison Valley Hospital (CO), Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center (CO), Box Butte General Hospital (NE), Cherry County Hospital (NE), and Memorial Health Care Systems (NE) were each named as one of the 2018 Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the U.S. according to The National Rural Health Association's Rural Health Policy Institute, iVantage Health Analytics and The Chartis Center for Rural Health.
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Infection Control Resources
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Food safety and nutrition
resources for health care professionals
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Society for Microbiology (ASM), along with other endoscope culturing experts, announced the availability of voluntary, standardized duodenoscope surveillance sampling and culturing protocols in addition to meticulously following manufacturer reprocessing instructions to further reduce the risk of infection and increase the safety of these medical devices. These protocols are an update to the "Interim Duodenoscope Surveillance Protocol" released by CDC in March 2015.
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Information Technology Resources
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A recently released
checklist from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights outlines what steps
must be taken and what steps
should be taken in the event of a cyberattack (after notifying COPIC first).
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| News and Tools |
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- State by state APRN prescribing laws.
- In a safety alert, the Institute of Safe Medicine Practice (ISMP) said the health care industry must ban the texting of medication-specific orders until it identifies and resolves safety concerns.
- AHRQ's Opioid & Substance Use Resources.
- AHRQ's Toolkit to promote Safe Surgery.
- AHRQ's Toolkit to Engage High-Risk Patients in Safe Transitions Across Ambulatory Settings.
- Revised AHRQ toolkit for Improving your Laboratory Testing Process.
- U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (OIG): Measuring Compliance Program Effectiveness: A Resource Guide.
- CDC/NIOSH: Free online violence prevention training for nurses.
- The CDC has released information to clarify its final guidelines on opioid prescribing dosage thresholds for patients with chronic pain.
- The Joint Commission has new requirements for maternal status assessment and documentation, effective July 1, 2018, for Joint Commission-accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals that offer obstetric services, specifically labor and delivery.
- The Joint Commission Fluoroscopy Imaging standards are to change July 2018.
- The Joint Commission has announced three revisions across the "Life Safety" and "Environment of Care" chapters that are effective March 11, 2018.
- The American Heart Association's Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI®) Program is a self-directed, simulation based performance improvement program delivering quarterly, audiovisual coaching at the point of care in order to achieve sustained mastery of high-quality CPR skills. Through RQI, health care providers improve their competence and confidence to respond with lifesaving patient care.
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Thank you for your commitment to patient safety and improving the practice of medicine. Always feel free to contact COPIC with any questions you may have about Patient Safety and Risk Management services.
Sincerely,
Laura Dixon, BS, JD, RN, CPHRM Director, Patient Safety and Risk Management, Facilities and Operations Phone: 720-858-6000//Toll Free: 800-421-1834 |
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