Question

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), and The Joint Commission (TJC) require that health care organizations maintain risk management programs to address infection control. Detail three measures that your health care organization (or any health care organization) needs to address in the delivery of safe health care services. (Example: Placing hand washing devices at all of the public entrances of the health care facility). Support your response with a minimum of two peer-reviewed references.

Answer 1

Risk management strategies are aimed to reduce the probability of liability claims on physicians and the other medical staff and to follow the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards. The primary requirements of a successful risk management include accurate and complete documentation of the patient’s record.

The following are the risk management practices for an ambulatory care setting, which are required to deliver safe health care services:

1. Review of patient’s office records periodically
2. Maintaining confidentiality of patient information
3. Charting the patient’s data accurately and completely and updating the data as needed
4. Using appropriate abbreviations, the record must be easy to understand and legible
5. The documentation must be signed by a physician in a timely manner
6. Maintaining documented evidence to show appropriate discharge, details of follow-up (if required) and continuing care instructions.