The Supreme Court of Arkansas (the "Court") recently affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a discrimination complaint filed against a hospital by a former employee who was terminated for failing to comply with the hospital's influenza vaccination policy.
You may need to update your policies, processes, and procedures for the cleaning and storage of endoscopes now that the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has an updated version...
Many years ago, I was hired to perform a safety audit for a laboratory. As I walked through one department, an employee asked what I was doing. When I remarked that I was looking for safety issues to keep her safe, she asked, “What are you keeping me safe from?” It was the right question. This...
Short of terminating a physician’s employment, appraising a physician’s performance is often the responsibility that administrative and medical staff leaders hate most. For many physicians, the phrase “performance appraisals” stirs up an unsavory image of managers sitting behind large desks...
One way or another, CMS is promising states that it will enforce its recent interim final rule requiring hospital and other healthcare staff caring for COVID-19 patients to be fully vaccinated. CMS published a warning to states February 9 that if they are contracted with the federal agency to...
One of the hardest parts of being a compliance officer can be keeping track of policies, procedures, logs, maintenance, equipment checks, and other documents that can mean the difference between a successful survey and a difficult plan of correction.
Understand who is supposed to be vaccinated and when, and establish a way to securely track and update your list of vaccinated staff as you anticipate surveyors from the...
