Although many doctors don’t like to admit it or feel badly about doing so, many treat uninsured patients differently than they do insured patients reports an article in the Washington Post. A 2006 study of primary care physicians in the Washington D.C. area shows that in one in four instances, physicians changed their clinical management based on a patient’s insurance status. Some doctors admitted to spending less time with uninsured patients, prescribing generic medications, or scheduling their appointments later in the day, says the article. Additionally, some healthcare facilities have been said to favor the insured by relocating or opening in a wealthier area, versus a poorer area where patients are more likely to be uninsured. To read the article, click here.

Because of the strong interest in Patient Safety Organizations (PSO), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has released Interim Guidelines to help those groups interested in becoming a PSO understand the process. The Interim Guidelines apply until the Department of Health and Human Services issues a Final Rule to the Patient Safety and Quality Act of 2005. Any groups that fall under the guidelines of a PSO can become one immediately. Defined with the Interim Guidelines is Patient Safety Work Product (PSWP). This is any data submitted by a provider of care to the PSO or any data developed by the PSO. PSWP is protected and considered confidential under the Patient Safety Act. To read more, click here.

Recognizing the importance of preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAI), five of the nation’s major healthcare organizations endorsed a compendium of strategies for prevention. The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) worked together with the American Hospital Association (AHA), Association for Professionals in Infection Control (APIC) and Epidemiology, and The Joint Commission announced The Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care during a Webcast on October 8. The Compendium is intended to provide a starting point for healthcare organizations that want to take an active approach in preventing HAIs. The recommendations included within the report address the minimum basic procedures facilities should be using to prevent HAIs as well as what measures should be taken for populations on which basic strategies do not work. The report targets Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile Infection, central line-associated bloodstream infection, central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections. To read more, click here.

The Pennsylvania legislature passed a bill last week that bans mandatory overtime for nurses and other caregivers, reports The Philadelphia Daily News. Mandatory overtime has been a common practice required of nurses, often forcing them to work a double shift. The bill, which was seven years in the making, will not go into effect until July 1, 2009. This will give facilities that mandate overtime of their nurses to hire additional nurses and caregivers. A shortage of nurses and caregivers is the reason why mandatory overtime is used to begin with, says the article. Those involved in passing the bill argued that not only was it unfair to nurses and caregivers to require mandatory overtime, but the practice put patients at risk. A 2004 University of Pennsylvania study estimated that the risk of a nurse committing a medical error was three times higher when he or she worked a shift longer than 12.5 hours. To read more, click here.