Government and Regulations
Dangerous Staff Shortages in the IHS
U.S. Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma said he would look further into the "penny-wise, pound-foolish" decisions that were revealed in an...
An “innovative collaboration” will bring best practices of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) to 26 emergency departments (EDs) in rural and remote Native communities. The IHS and ACEP are building on “the aggressive strategy at IHS to improve quality health care,” said IHS Principal Deputy Director Mary Smith.
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Top-level physicians and emergency medical professionals will share training resources and knowledge of telehealth and emergency care. At a work session in Winnebago, Nevada, participants covered topics, including ED leadership; responsibility, accountability, workflow, and workforce issues in rural facilities; how emergency telemedicine can help meet rural health care needs; and identifying areas for leveraging resources.
The new partnership’s plans dovetail with the Quality Framework, announced in November, which “provides a road map for quality at every level of IHS,” Smith said. The Quality Framework is the brainchild of experts from IHS, tribal partners, and HHS. Specific objectives include promoting a culture of patient safety in which all staff feel comfortable reporting medical errors, instituting processes to support learning from experiences, and reducing patient wait times for appointments.
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The Quality Framework is but one product of a year in which IHS has been collaborating with tribal leaders and local health partners on a series of actions “to aggressively confront some long-standing health care service challenges.” Other actions include awarding a contract to the Joint Commission for accreditation services, technical assistance and training, and a contract with Avera Health to expand telehealth and emergency services in the Great Plains.