Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1508822
9 PATIENT SAFETY & OUTCOMES AdventHealth hospital cited for inadequate patient complaints process By Mariah Taylor A dventHealth in Hendersonville, N.C., received a citation aer a behavioral health patient was not allowed to speak to a patient advocate, Citizen Times reported Aug. 9. In a May 12 statement of deficiencies and plan of corrections obtained by the news outlet, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and CMS said the hospital "must establish a process for prompt resolution of patient grievances and must inform each patient whom to contact to file a grievance." e plan of correction submitted by the hospital noted it would "identify policy gaps that lack specific procedural instructions for escalating patient complaints and grievances. Annual education provided to the workforce lacks content about Patient Rights, specifically related to complaint and grievance escalation." AdventHealth's corrective plan added a "patient rights violation" as an example of a grievance, created a procedure for escalating patient complaints, and developed reporting and escalation instructions and procedures for connecting patients to advocates. It also planned to hang posters in patient rooms with contact information for department leaders. e hospital re-educated employees on the process, AdventHealth spokesperson Victoria Dunkle told the news outlet. e updated policies needed approval by the state by June 6, but the Citizen Times' request for documentation was declined by the hospital and received no response from the state. Ms. Dunkle told the news outlet Aug. 8 that "AdventHealth Hendersonville took immediate action to address the request from the state survey." n CMS to reward hospitals for high-quality, equitable care By Paige Twenter C MS will increase payments to hospitals for treating homeless patients and implementing equitable quality measures aimed at reducing preventable harm, the agency said Aug. 1. The Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program will increase eligible hospitals' operating payment rates 3.1 percent for fiscal year 2024. The payment increase is part of the 2024 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule. "As part of CMS' health equity goals, we are rewarding hospitals that deliver high-quality care to underserved populations and, for the first time, also recognizing the higher costs that hospitals incur when treating people experiencing homelessness," CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a statement. Along with the financial incentive, CMS changed its severity designation for three codes related to homelessness. Three homelessness ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes — unspecified, sheltered and unsheltered — were changed from non-complication or comorbidity to complication or comorbidity because of "the higher average resource costs of cases with these diagnosis codes compared to similar cases without these codes," the agency said in a fact sheet on the new rule. n White House unveils precision surgery program By Mackenzie Bean T he White House is launching a program to help surgeons remove cancerous tumors more accurately to improve patient outcomes. The project represents the first cancer-focused initiative and second program overall launched under the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a new federal research agency dedicated to developing "breakthrough" treatments for cancer and other diseases. The Precision Surgical Interventions program will aim to create new tools to help surgeons better identify and differentiate between healthy and cancer tissue, with the goal being to successfully remove cancer in a single operation. The tools will also help surgeons identify and avoid important structures such as nerves, blood vessels and lymph nodes that can be inadvertently damaged during surgeries. The new program, announced July 27, coincides with President Joe Biden's "Cancer Moonshot." The effort aims to cut the nation's cancer death rate in half by 2047. n