August 23rd, 2019
Podcast 230 — Hospital-readmissions gaming?
The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP for short) seems to be reducing 30-day readmissions — but what about revisits to facilities within those 30 days? Rishi Wadhera and his co-authors measured readmissions, plus treat-and-discharge ER visits, plus stays in observation units among some 3 million Medicare discharges of a near-4-year span. They found that broadening the […]
September 16th, 2011
Podcast 130: If you’re a clinician concerned about health costs, wash your hands — don’t just wring them
Health Affairs has a study in which a few simple, but rigorously followed patient-care procedures in a pediatric ICU dropped infection rates, mortality, lengths of hospital stay, and total costs. Sound too good to be true? Well, it wasn’t exactly easy, but the results were real and measurable. Listen in and see whether this could […]
April 9th, 2010
Podcast 82: Checklists save lives — lots of lives. Becoming a clinical automaton.
Repetitive tasks, like making sure to wash your hands after seeing each patient, may seem like drudgery, but they save patients’ lives. This week we talk with Prof. Elizabeth Robb and Sir Brian Jarman about their success at chopping hospital mortality rates with simple checklists. Sir Brian has offered to monitor your hospital’s stats for free. […]
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