Medicare’s most indefensible fraud hotspot: Hospice care

• The number of hospices in the US increased by 43 percent between 2006 and 2016, but with the boom in end-of-life services, Medicare fraud also has risen.
• Medicare fraud and inaccurate billing costs the federal government health care program as much as $60 billion annually.
• The amount of Medicare beneficiaries receiving hospice care increased by about 53 percent between 2006 and 2016, with 1.4 million Medicare beneficiaries receiving hospice care in 2016. Spending increased by 81 percent to a level of $16.7 billion in 2016, according to a new report from the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services.

New Device Could Detect Sepsis in Minutes, Not Hours

New Device Could Detect Sepsis in Minutes, Not Hours
Sepsis causes almost 250,000 deaths in hospitals in the U.S. each year. MIT researchers have developed a device that could detect sepsis in minutes—potentially helping to save lives.

Surgical Staplers Put Patients at Risk for Bleeding, Sepsis, and Death

On March 8, 2019, the FDA sent a letter to health care providers because of concerns regarding an increasing number of adverse events associated with surgical staplers.  From January 1, 2011, to March 31, 2018, the FDA received over 41,000 individual medical device reports for these devices, including:

• 366 deaths,
• over 9,000 serious injuries,
• and over 32,000 malfunctions.

What is sepsis and how can it be treated?

Sepsis, colloquially known as blood poisoning, occurs as a result of an infection, usually from bacteria. Bacteria can enter the blood stream via an open wound, from another part of the body after a surgical procedure, or even from a urinary tract infection.

7-PART EMS SCREENING TOOL BOOSTS EARLY SEPSIS TREATMENT

Conducting a sepsis screening during emergency medical service transport to an emergency department reduces time to treatment.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Sepsis is linked to 250,000 deaths annually.

A new study found that sepsis screening during EMS transport nearly doubled adherence to the standard-of-care treatment bundle.

The EMS sepsis screening tool includes vital signs such as temperature and heart rate, onset of mental status change, and suspicion of infection.

SC patient suffocated by hospital staff had previously sued the agency to be released

COLUMBIA — A patient who suffocated in January at the bottom of an improper dogpile of S.C. Department of Mental Health hospital employees had previously sued the state agency, alleging it unnecessarily institutionalized him and other patients.

BUG ALERT Drug-resistant bug that triggers sepsis and meningitis is spreading in hospitals, experts warn

BUG ALERT 

Drug-resistant bug that triggers sepsis and meningitis is spreading in hospitals, experts warn

KILLER bugs that are "extremely" resistant to antibiotics are spreading through European hospitals, experts have warned.

They include strains of bacteria that trigger sepsis, meningitis, cellulitis and other life-threatening conditions.