Staff News Writer

Updated statistics from the Joint Commission show 887 sentinel events were reported in 2013. The most frequently reported sentinel event in 2013 was delay in treatment, followed by wrong patient, wrong site or wrong procedure.

A new guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) clarifies that schools receiving federal Title IX funds may not discriminate against transgender and gender-nonconforming students. 

As insurers continue to shift toward narrow networks, states still are sorting out what actions will lead to appropriate access to care. Physicians are taking an active role in how their state governments handle the issue.

On the heels of massive network terminations made across the country for the 2014 health plan year that caused enormous confusion for patients and their physicians, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and many states are considering ways to ensure health plan networks provide sufficient access to care.

Adults with disabilities are three times more likely to have chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart disease than adults without disabilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Follow five steps to ensure your patients with disabilities stay healthy and lessen their chances to develop chronic diseases.

A full slate of pressing medical education issues will be discussed by the AMA Council on Medical Education at the AMA Annual Meeting in June, including maintenance of certification (MOC) and graduate medical education (GME) financing.

The latest victims of tax refund fraud include hundreds of physicians and other health care professionals, who received a rude revelation when filing their taxes this year.

Physicians are taking on the issue of mental health parity in a case against UnitedHealthcare, claiming the payer has “systematically implemented unlawful and deceptive practices.”