Med Mal News

CA Nursing Homes Must Post Federal Rankings

In January, the State of California became the first to require nursing homes to post their ratings so that patients and their families will know the quality level of each facility. The subject grades were conferred by the Department of Public Health, beginning in 2008. The assessments, ranging from one star (the lowest rating) to five stars (the highest rating), reflect measurements of staffing levels, quality of care, and inspection findings. There are critics on both sides of the facilities-ranking divide, with patient advocates arguing that more recent quality-of-care failures are not reflected in the ratings. Nursing home care providers disagree with the legislation's mandated distribution of the star ratings: The number of facilities that could be awarded the highest rating was set at just 10% of all nursing homes, 20% were required to be given the lowest ranking and the three middle catagories were also rigidly set at a certain percentage levels. This system, they say, caused some nursing care facilities to be unfairly punished or rewarded for being near the margins of each level.

Doctor Who Challenged Whistleblowers Is Now in the Hot Seat

The Texas doctor against whom two nurses filed an anonymous complaint ' leading to their firing, prosecution and eventual exoneration ' has been formally charged with retaliation and misuse of official information. The nurses anonymously reported Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr. to the Texas Medical Board in 2009, claiming he had used a number of unsafe practices in treating patients. When Dr. Arafiles learned of the allegations, he reportedly conferred with the county sheriff, a personal friend of his. Thereafter, the sheriff confiscated the nurses' computers and found that they had transmitted patient-identifiable information in their reports to the medical board. Following this investigation, the nurses were charged with misuse of official information. Now, those accusations have come full circle: Dr. Arafiles is accused of inappropriately asking a hospital employee to give him contact information for the patients whose case numbers the nurses provided to the medical board. The charges allege that he gave that contact information to the sheriff, who used it in his investigation of the nurses ' a non-governmental purpose. The case against the nurses raised nationwide concern from nursing associations and patient advocates who feared that if the nurses were convicted, other whistleblowers would be discouraged from coming forward with information about dangerous medical providers.

No Significant Increase in Peace Of Mind Post-Tort Reform

Researchers at the University of Iowa report that physicians in states where tort reform laws limit their liability exposure are nearly as afraid of medical malpractice lawsuits as physicians in states that have not enacted tort reform legislation. Their research found that doctors in high-risk states worried only slightly more (4.3 points out of a 100-point scale) than those in low-risk states. In a release, senior study author David Katz, M.D., associate professor of medicine with University of Iowa Health Care, opined that “[o]ne likely explanation is that physicians' concerns about malpractice are driven more by their perception that the malpractice tort process is unfair and arbitrary and less by their actual risk of getting sued.” For more information, see the University of Iowa's release at: http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2010/december/121510katz_malpractice_study.html.

CA Nursing Homes Must Post Federal Rankings

In January, the State of California became the first to require nursing homes to post their ratings so that patients and their families will know the quality level of each facility. The subject grades were conferred by the Department of Public Health, beginning in 2008. The assessments, ranging from one star (the lowest rating) to five stars (the highest rating), reflect measurements of staffing levels, quality of care, and inspection findings. There are critics on both sides of the facilities-ranking divide, with patient advocates arguing that more recent quality-of-care failures are not reflected in the ratings. Nursing home care providers disagree with the legislation's mandated distribution of the star ratings: The number of facilities that could be awarded the highest rating was set at just 10% of all nursing homes, 20% were required to be given the lowest ranking and the three middle catagories were also rigidly set at a certain percentage levels. This system, they say, caused some nursing care facilities to be unfairly punished or rewarded for being near the margins of each level.

Doctor Who Challenged Whistleblowers Is Now in the Hot Seat

The Texas doctor against whom two nurses filed an anonymous complaint ' leading to their firing, prosecution and eventual exoneration ' has been formally charged with retaliation and misuse of official information. The nurses anonymously reported Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr. to the Texas Medical Board in 2009, claiming he had used a number of unsafe practices in treating patients. When Dr. Arafiles learned of the allegations, he reportedly conferred with the county sheriff, a personal friend of his. Thereafter, the sheriff confiscated the nurses' computers and found that they had transmitted patient-identifiable information in their reports to the medical board. Following this investigation, the nurses were charged with misuse of official information. Now, those accusations have come full circle: Dr. Arafiles is accused of inappropriately asking a hospital employee to give him contact information for the patients whose case numbers the nurses provided to the medical board. The charges allege that he gave that contact information to the sheriff, who used it in his investigation of the nurses ' a non-governmental purpose. The case against the nurses raised nationwide concern from nursing associations and patient advocates who feared that if the nurses were convicted, other whistleblowers would be discouraged from coming forward with information about dangerous medical providers.

No Significant Increase in Peace Of Mind Post-Tort Reform

Researchers at the University of Iowa report that physicians in states where tort reform laws limit their liability exposure are nearly as afraid of medical malpractice lawsuits as physicians in states that have not enacted tort reform legislation. Their research found that doctors in high-risk states worried only slightly more (4.3 points out of a 100-point scale) than those in low-risk states. In a release, senior study author David Katz, M.D., associate professor of medicine with University of Iowa Health Care, opined that “[o]ne likely explanation is that physicians' concerns about malpractice are driven more by their perception that the malpractice tort process is unfair and arbitrary and less by their actual risk of getting sued.” For more information, see the University of Iowa's release at: http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2010/december/121510katz_malpractice_study.html.