Volume 1

VHIG Digest: Volume 1, No. 4

Dec. 13, 2010—By Tim Lockney, VMS II In the News 1. IHI Forum Reflections: 10 ‘Aha’ Moments (12/9) A near-record number of almost 6,000 plus physicians, hospital chiefs, nursing executives and others responsible for quality and patient satisfaction attended the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 22nd annual quality forum this December, the first IHI forum to be held since the passage...

VHIG Digest: Volume 1, No. 3

Nov. 29, 2010—By Piotr Pilarski, VMS IV In the News 1. New CMS Rule Requires Hospitals to Respect Visitation and Medical Decision-Making Rights of Same-Sex Couples – 11/18/10 With approximately 7,600 “overwhelmingly favorable” comments from various health care constituents and unanimous support from hospital groups, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) passed a rule that will require...

VHIG Digest: Volume 1, No. 2

Nov. 15, 2010—By Irving Ye, MD/MBA Candidate 2012 In the News 1. VA Health System Shines in Quality-of-Care Study (11/9) A report in the November issue of the national publication Medical Care finds that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system generally outperforms the private sector in following recommended processes for patient care. The study authors,...

VHIG Digest: Volume 1, No. 1

Nov. 1, 2010—By Matt Kynes, VMS IV In the News… 1. Joint Commission Targets Patient Hand-Offs – 10/21/10 The Joint Commission released a progress report on their initiative to improve patient hand-offs. In collaboration with 10 hospital systems, they reported that hand-offs were deficient 37% of the time. Common reasons cited for defective hand-offs included “an institutional...