Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1198635
32 OUTPATIENT SURGERY Surgery center nurse who switched syringes has license suspended — 7 insights By Eric Oliver A Michigan nurse had her license sus- pended aer she was found taking pain medicine syringes from a hos- pital she worked at and switching them with syringes from a surgery center she worked at. What you should know: 1. Rana Holman, RN, had her license sus- pended Sept. 11. 2. She took prefilled syringes of ketorolac from Southfield, Mich.-based Surgeons Choice Medical Center and switched them for pre- filled syringes of hydromorphone from South- field-based Fountain View Surgery Center. 3. Ms. Holman began working at the surgery center April 4, as an agency nurse. On Aug. 8, facility staff noticed Ms. Holman was present at the center on her day off, with no surgeries scheduled. 4. at incident prompted center administra- tion to review her facility access badge and then the facility's video log. On camera, Ms. Holman entered the the center's medication room on four days she was not scheduled to work. e center's camera system caught her placing a prefilled hydromorphone syringe in her purse on one occasion. 5. In each of the four instances, Ms. Holman was in and out of the center in three minutes or less, according to security footage. Center staff then inventoried its hydromorphone syringes and found 23 syringes that were tampered with. e syringes didn't match the center's lot number but did match the lot number of Surgeons Choice Medical Center. 6. Sixteen patients received medication from syringes the respondent had stolen from. Each patient complained of uncontrollable pain. 7. Ms. Holman then confessed her scheme to a coworker Aug. 9. n Where physician salaries are growing the fastest — Seattle is No. 1 By Rachel Popa D oximity released its 2019 physician compensation report comparing average salary differences between specialties, as well as how pay has changed over time. Doximity compiled the report from surveys completed by 90,000 licensed, full-time U.S. physicians who work at least 40 hours a week. Where physician salaries are growing the fastest: 1. Seattle — 15 percent 2. Hartford, Conn. — 13 percent 3. Riverside, Calif. — 12 percent 4. Cincinnati — 12 percent 5. Baltimore — 10 percent 6. Bridgeport, Conn. — 9 percent 7. Rochester, N.Y. — 9 percent 8. Ann Arbor, Mich. — 9 percent 9. Washington, D.C. — 8 percent 10. Atlanta — 8 percent n Hospital-owned physician practices charge more but don't offer more, study finds By Rachel Popa C are patients receive in physician practices owned by hospitals is more expensive but not higher quality, according to a study in the Journal of General Internal Medi- cine cited by Medscape. The study authors analyzed Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas insurance claims from 2014 through 2016. According to the study, patients pay nearly $300 more per year at hospital-owned practices than at physician-owned practices, but hospi- tal-owned practices only scored higher in one of our five quality measures compared to physician practices. The study said higher spending stems from greater healthcare use than from prices. The study authors said that with more hospitals buy- ing physician practices, higher cost without im- proved outcomes is concerning. n