HQAA Blog

In reviewing over 1,000 patient files in the past six years, here is a list of some of the most common patient file deficiencies I have found.

Or ... running on the treadmill and staying in the same place fast?

Reimbursements have dropped, goods cost more, employees would like a raise and as the business owner, you are barely staying in the black. You constantly make cuts to your expenses when you can, but the situation still is less than desirable.

In order to determine if a grievance or complaint needs to be recorded, you must first decide what is, and what is not, a complaint. Your team must determine the threshold that it takes for a concern or question to truly be a complaint/grievance. Not every concern expressed may be a complaint. Let’s look at two examples:

What does it mean to have my practice accredited?
To become accredited means that you have applied, implemented and adhered to a set of business practices that focus on quality and quality of care.  If you intend to submit claims to Medicare for Part B DME items, it means that you have gone through the process to adhere to the set of Quality Standards that Medicare has imposed.

Almost everywhere we look today, we see superheroes.  With Halloween nipping at our heels, the stores are advertising how we can dress up like the Hulk, or Catwoman, or Captain America.  Heroes seems to have a pretty high profile right now in movies, books, video games and marketers tell us all the time that we can be just like them. 

Who is Anti-Quality?

I would dare say that in a room of 100 people not one would raise their hand in response to that question.  We all want a “quality of life”.  As consumers we all want quality products; quality in the foods we eat, in the goods we purchase, in the cars we drive. We may not consciously think, “I want to buy a can of quality vegetables”, but we sure do all want to believe that the vegetables are of a certain quality with a certain taste and processed with a high level of sanitation and safety.  We all seek quality if not once but numerous times a day even if it isn’t a conscious thought.

The Boy Scouts' motto “Always Be Prepared” can often come in handy, especially when it comes to an emergency situation. Having working disaster and emergency preparedness plans in place before you need them, training your staff in advance and reviewing/testing the plans on an annual basis ensures you are prepared. You may never have to use either one, but if you do, you will have a more positive result in a potentially difficult time.

There are several issues to address when dealing with transporting your equipment. To meet the intent of the infection control standard properly you need to protect your patients from potential pathogens, transport oxygen properly, avoid excess dust and dirt on equipment and more.  

Follow these five rules to help you meet and exceed your standards for infection control:

When you become accredited, you agree to maintain the accreditation standards for all three years, not just the few months prior to the triennial survey. Not doing so can be costly for many reasons.

This year, many companies will be renewing their accreditation for the first time. If you’re renewing your accreditation, the last thing you want to hear come out of a surveyor’s mouth is the word “deficiencies.”

After reviewing the renewal survey information, we have found that there are a few deficiencies that seem to be cited regularly. Below we show you some of the top accreditation deficiencies and how to avoid them.