Risk Management And Medical Liability

Outlines the attitudes, knowledge and skills important to medical care risk management and liability. Provides recommendations that indicate ways to help reduce the incidence of malpractice claims. Addresses the patient-provider relationship, legal definitions, patients rights issues, informed consent, documenting and protecting medical records, issues of physician competence, the most frequent allegations found in IHS/tribal malpractice claims, the Fed. Tort Claims Act and claims processing, malpractice reporting agencies, and malpractice suits against individuals. Includes sample affidavits, and a list of risk mgmt. do's and don'ts.

The completely revised and updated Third Edition of Risk Management in Health Care Institutions: Limiting Liability and Enhancing Care covers the basic concepts of risk management, employment practices, and general risk management strategies, as well as specific risk areas, including medical malpractice, strategies to reduce liability, managing positions, and litigation alternatives. This edition also emphasizes outpatient medicine and the risks associated with electronic medical records. Risk Management in Health Care Institutions: Limiting Liability and Enhancing Care, Third Edition offers readers the opportunity to organize and devise a successful risk management program, and is the perfect resource for governing boards, CEOs, administrators, risk management professionals, and health profession students.

This book identifies changes in the industry and describes how these changes have influenced the functions of risk management in all aspects of healthcare. The book is divided into four sections. The first section describes the current state of the healthcare industry and looks at the importance of risk management and the emergence of patient safety. It also explores the importance of working with other sectors of the health care industry such as the pharmaceutical and device manufacturers. The last three sections focus on the three main components of the risk managers responsibility: claims management, risk financing and proactive loss control. The final section touches on solutions for seamless integration between risk management and patient safety functions. Using an integrative approach this book offers a comprehensive review of the current issues which formulate the basis of a risk management program and provide the knowledge that a risk manager would be expected to have.

This book fulfills its promise as a peerless tool for physicians wanting to make good decisions about the risks they face.

The first edition of this manual in 1996 reported the IHS experience with medical malpractice tort claims over a ten year period, and gave recommendations on risk management practices. Now, ten years later, many things have changed. The number of claims filed against IHS and Tribal facilities has increased and the processes by which claims are reviewed have also evolved. More recently, the IHS has become a reporting entity to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), which has brought a whole new dimension to the Agency's Risk Management Program. This revision of the Manual delineates the process changes that have taken place, updates data on tort claims, describes the IHS role in NPDB reporting, and provides additional risk management guidance for local programs and health care professionals.