Medical Record Documentation: Paint The Clinical Picture with Complete and Accurate Documentation Medical record documentation errors continue to play a significant role in medical malpractice claims. Incomplete and inaccurate documentation can lead to a variety of unintended consequences including delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis, patient harm, and death, any of which can lead to medical malpractice claims. Documentation errors encompass missing or incorrect information in charts, notes, transcriptions, and other electronic health record (EHR)-related areas. Copy/forward and drop-down menu functions, the ability to easily document on the wrong patient or in the wrong location of a chart, and late entries that may appear concurrent are all documentation issues that can cause patient injuries and/or impact the defense of a lawsuit. Certain aspects of the medical documentation process may invite behaviors that contribute to errors and inappropriate notations, increasing the likelihood of later liability. November 4, 2024 Practice Management, RCMA/CMA, Resources, Risk Management Business Partner, Medical Record Documentation, ProAssurance, RCMA, Resources, Risk Management 0 0 Comment Read More »
Vicarious Liability for Medical Assistant Negligence Medical assistants (MAs) can increase medical practice efficiency, patient satisfaction, and patient care quality. Increased satisfaction and quality can reduce malpractice liability risk. But MAs can also increase liability risk for their supervising/delegating clinicians and employers. Physician employers of MAs may be found vicariously liable for MAs’ negligent actions and may also be directly liable for negligent supervision, delegation, hiring, and/or training of MAs. Additionally, MAs who exceed their own scope of service to the degree that they are practicing medicine (or nursing), can expose the person delegating tasks to charges of aiding and abetting the unlicensed practice of medicine (nursing), which can result in board discipline and criminal prosecution. MAs who perform tasks outside of their scope can be charged with the unlicensed practice of medicine (nursing), which is a crime. This article focuses on what employers can do to reduce vicarious liability risk associated with MAs. August 30, 2024 Practice Management, RCMA/CMA, Resources, Risk Management 0 0 Comment Read More »
Workplace Bullying and Its Effect on Patient Safety and Liability Risk Exposure Bullying can decrease patient safety and increase liability risk. The stress, anger and frustration resulting from even mild incivility can interfere with working memory, which, in turn, adversely affects cognitive functions necessary for medical decision-making and procedural performance. Bullying undermines coordination, collaboration, teamwork, and communication, which are also essential to delivering safe patient care. June 3, 2024 Practice Management, RCMA/CMA, Resources, Risk Management 0 0 Comment Read More »
Treating Family: Liability, Ethics, and Professionalism A physician-patient relationship exists solely for the patient’s benefit. The very first code of medical ethics drafted by the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1847 recommended against physicians treating family members, stating, “the natural anxiety and solicitude which he [the physician] experiences at the sickness of a wife, a child . . . tend to obscure his judgment, and produce timidity and irresolution in his practice.” In addition to the current AMA code of ethics, several major medical professional associations generally discourage the provision of medical care for family members. March 12, 2024 Practice Management, RCMA, Resources, Risk Management 0 0 Comment Read More »
Is It Safe to Send That Text? The Patient Safety and Liability Risks Associated withText Messaging. Texting in a healthcare environment has risks and benefits. In the following article, Mary-Lynn Ryan, Senior Risk Management Consultant with ProAssurance shares ways to avoid risk when using text technology in your practice. November 14, 2023 Health Information Technology (HIT), Physician Wellness, Practice Management, RCMA, Resources, Risk Management , Riverside County Community Physicians, ProAssurance, RCMA, RCMA Docs, Risk Management, Texting Safety 0 0 Comment Read More »
The Impact of Unrealistic Productivity Expectations on Patient Safety Expectations to do more with less, in less time, contribute to medical errors and poor patient outcomes, which in turn increases medical liability exposure risk. Issues including poor workload planning, inadequate staffing, incentive systems, personal financial goals, and a culture that does not value safety over production can create unrealistic productivity expectations.Pressure to meet expectations can result in behaviors that impact patient safety. October 23, 2023 Physician Wellness, Practice Management, RCMA, Resources, Risk Management 0 0 Comment Read More »
2019 California Employment Law Update 2019 California Employment Law Update March 6, 2019 California Legislation, Legislation, Practice Management, Resources, Risk Management #MeToo, AB 2770, AB 3109, employee, employment, employment law, lactation accomodations, legal, minimum wage, minimum wage increase, pay equity, SB 1343 , sexual harassment, sexual harassment preventation, sexual harassment training, workplace compliance 0 0 Comment Read More »
Strategies for Increasing Patient Safety with Opioids Prescription Opioid Abuse: A Growing National Crisis April 3, 2018 Practice Management, Resources, Risk Management NORCAL, opioid, opioid abuse, risk management 0 0 Comment Read More »
On the Horizon: New Employment and Labor Laws Affecting California Employers in 2018 With the New Year upon us, we brace for the perennial tidal wave of California employment law changes of statutory tweaks, regulatory guidelines, and myriad new judicial decisions that will impact our clients. December 22, 2017 Practice Management, Resources, Risk Management 2018, Employment Law, Thakur Law Firm 0 0 Comment Read More »
3 Steps to Responding to Negative Online Comments Responding to the Challenge of Online Physician Ratings 3 Steps to Responding to Negative Online Comments July 17, 2017 Practice Management, Resources, Risk Management Reputation 0 0 Comment Read More »
