Never Events
Eliminate CMS Never Events With LifeWings
Patient Safety Programs
With current regulations from the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
and insurance companies, your hospital's future depends on immediate, and
drastic reductions in never events. When one incident, such as a retained
foreign, can cost your hospital as much as $50,0002, investing
today in programs that enable your hospital to avoid the potentially
catastrophic consequences of multiple events per year is necessary to long-term
sustainability.
According to a new study "one out of six claims against
healthcare facilities were related to hospital-acquired infections, injuries,
pressure ulcers and foreign objects left in the body after surgery in 2007...of
these, claims for injuries were most frequently reported of four
hospital-acquired condition categories. Pressure ulcers were the most expensive
for healthcare facilities, which cost them about $145,000 on average for
claims per incident in 2007."
(Read more)
At LifeWings, we have been teaching medical teams how to avoid never events
since 2001. Well before the CMS developed these regulations we recognized the
potential to permanently fix the systemic problems that contribute to the
estimated 600,000 never events that occur each year. By applying our
methodology, based on the same principles used in other high reliability
organizations, we have a demonstrable history of stopping the
occurrence of never events at some of the most
prestigious healthcare organizations in the U.S.
A Mission
This Critical Requires A Proven Solution: LifeWings Patient Safety
Improvement Programs Work
LifeWings programs, consisting of comprehensive on-site training and customized safety tools, work because
they change the culture of
your hospital. Every healthcare facility that applies the skills and tools
learned in the programs reduces adverse
events, improves employee satisfaction, and eliminates the chances for never
events. Our
management team and
facilitators provide our clients years of
experience teaching diverse teams how to communicate effectively to avoid
adverse events due to human error. Following are some recent results of our program for specific CMS cited
non-reimbursable events1:
These significant reductions helped save clients
millions of dollars in malpractice
claims. As importantly, the
training will continue to provide a return by saving them millions. In addition
to the financial returns of
implementing our programs, there are important and long lasting improvements that
shape the future of the organizations. Factors like improved employee
satisfaction, improved
nurse retention, increased patient satisfaction, and most
importantly, better patient safety are all possible when your hospital employs
the principles in our program.
If your hospital is serious about applying
resources to permanently change your culture and eliminate never events:
Has Your Hospital Enacted Voluntary No-payment
Policies?
In addition to the CMS list of events, your hospital may
be one in a state that has
voluntarily enacted policies to waive patient fees for
some actions determined to be never events by the
National Quality Forum
(NQF)
a non-profit healthcare agency. If your hospital has done this, you risk even
more dramatic exposure to financial losses if your staff does not have updated
training and safety tools. The NQF list includes:
-
Surgery on the wrong body part.
-
Surgery on the wrong patient.
-
Wrong surgical procedure performed on a patient.
-
Object left in patient after surgery
-
Death of patient who had been generally healthy during or immediately after
surgery for a localized problem.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of contaminated
drugs, devices or biologics.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with the misuse or malfunction
of a device.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with intravascular air
embolism.
-
Infant discharged to wrong person.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with patient disappearing for
more than four hours.
-
Patient suicide or attempted suicide resulting in serious disability.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with a medication error.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with transfusion of blood or
blood product of the wrong type.
-
Maternal death or serious disability associated with labor or delivery in a
low-risk pregnancy. P
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with the onset of
hypoglycemia, a drop in blood sugar.
-
Death or serious disability associated with failure to identify and treat hyperbilirubinemia, a blood abnormality, in newborns.
-
Severe pressure ulcers acquired in the hospital.
-
Patient death or serious disability due to spinal manipulative therapy.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with an electric shock.
-
Any incident in which a line designated for oxygen or other gas to be
delivered to a patient contains the wrong gas or is contaminated by toxic
substances.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with a burn in the hospital.
-
Patient death associated with a fall suffered in the hospital.
-
Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of restraints or
bedrails.
-
Any instance of care ordered by or provided by someone impersonating a
physician, nurse, pharmacist or other licensed healthcare provider.
-
Abduction of a patient.
-
Sexual assault on a patient.
-
Death or significant injury of a patient or staff member resulting from a
physical assault in the hospital.
-
Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm or donor egg.
For More Information On Never Events
Following are additional resources and news
articles to help you determine how your hospital can prepare to avoid never
events:
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