The Danger of Unregulated Medications from Overseas Pharmacies

The high expense of drugs in the US has motivated some professionals, and patients, to seek more affordable foreign supplies. This might appear helpful to patients who are unable to pay for their medicines; yet, the FDA does not control drugs from abroad. Doctors and patients cannot be sure these drugs meet FDA standards for security, purity, and potency. A few of these drugs are counterfeit, putting patients in great medical danger and putting physicians in danger of malpractice.

Doctors who buy drugs to dispense should check the wholesaler's license, and check that the drug maker approves the distributor as an accredited wholesale distributor. When a patient is buying drugs online or abroad, the doctor should educate and help those patients investigate alternatives including patient support systems and generic drugs.

Unapproved drugs sometimes don't include the active ingredients; could be contaminated with alternative substances, or heavy metals; they also may have been improperly stored. There aren't any promises for Americans who are searching for prescription drug bargains. Even 'Canadian online pharmacies' are frequently only shipping companies for drugs obtained throughout the world and aren't controlled regulated.  The only safe policy is strict adherence to all legal guidelines in place to protect American consumers.

Contact Us Today!

Can a Doctor Be Held Liable for a Patient's Unhealthy Conduct?

Family, friends, and caregivers frequently give priceless advice to a physician that can significantly help in diagnosis. How does this information affect possible lawsuits down the road? For example, what if the doctor doesn't use this advice? Can a doctor use this information in the defense of a liability claim and can a jury use it in their deliberations? 

In one case in 2014, a doctor wasn't held liable because the physician was told by buddies of the patient several weeks after the incident, that cocaine was often used by the patient. The physician had been sued for liability because the doctor had made no attempt to recognize the cause of a cyst before draining it. During that procedure the patient went into cardiac arrest. The outcome was in favor of the physician as the jury determined that the cardiac arrest was caused by the patient's unhealthy behavior. Another case in Florida allowed that the physician might still have some liability even in the event the patient's unhealthy behavior contributed to the outcome. Even in the event the patient's behavior was likewise contributory, it is possible that the doctor is also partially negligent.

The best advice is for physicians to check health information provided by family and friends. This advice also has to be documented completely in the patient's chart as well as the attempts made to check the info. If the physician faces a challenge in court, this documented and verified advice will likely be accepted as a legal defense against liability.

We'd love to speak with you, contact us!

Too Much Paperwork?

Patients vs. Paperwork: Are the Many New Regulations Being Put on Doctors Detrimental to Medicine?

For starters, Medicaid compensation will be rolled back to 2012 levels, a cut of around 40%. For doctors who see lots of Medicaid patients, this may be a significant decline in their income. The other whammy that physicians face is payment reductions due to quality control measures and Medicare cost-cutting that are kicking in this year- measures that could cut Medicare compensation by 13%. These three measures are Meaningful Use regulations, the Value-Based Modifier Program, and the Physician Quality Reporting System.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced recently that 257,000 healthcare providers (about 50%) had been discovered to be in breach of the "meaningful use" requirement and would have their reimbursement cut by 1%. Physician resistance to participating in CMS's quality control programs might be more about anxiety about change- and also about fear of not being able to satisfy the quality standards- than about an excessive amount of paperwork.
The American Medical Association (AMA) complains that this heavy burden of regulations is stifling investment in health IT and infrastructure, and is also changing patient care. The AMA says that health care providers are excessively busy attempting to figure out what the regulations mean and how exactly to meet them to focus on their real job, that of taking good care of patients.

To learn more see us at http://www.mediprosolutions.com/

What Are the Chances of Dying From a Hospitalization? Infections Are Down Dramatically

While hospitals are places for treatment and healing, they’re also places where people can potentially acquire fatal infections or suffer from medical mistakes. But, there is good news! The chances of dying just because you go to the hospital are down dramatically, according to a new government report.

The analysis from the Department of Health and Human Services finds 1.3 million fewer instances of harm to hospital patients between 2010 and 2014 – a 17 percent decrease in that three-year period. That translates into an estimated 50,000 more patients being alive today.

The report says the precise causes for the decline in hospital-acquired conditions is not known. The report notes that time period studied in the report coincides with a span of time when there were greater hospital efforts to increase safety and cut down on adverse events.

These efforts are driven in part by changes to Medicare that incentivize hospitals to do better. Starting in the 2015 fiscal year, hospitals ranked in the bottom 25 percent for hospital-acquired infections will see their Medicare payments cut by 1 percent.

A preliminary government analysis released in April found that 761 hospitals would be subject to the penalty. But that total could be much higher when the list gets finalized. The government will be looking at hospital performance over a longer time period, Kaiser Health News reports. These hospital sanctions will cost an estimated $330 million over the course of a year.

Another area where hospitals improved in patient safety is cutting down on instances where patients are given the wrong drugs, which can lead to an allergic reaction or some other adverse event. The report found that certain hospitals reduced these drug mistakes by 40 percent.

This documentation of improved patient safety comes with a beneficial side effect – reduced health care costs. The federal report finds that cutting down on medical mistakes saved $12 billion in the three-year period of the study. Despite the progress, government officials acknowledge there’s still room for improvement.

“These data represent the significant progress in improving the quality of care that patients receive while spending our health care dollars more wisely,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell says. “HHS will work with partners across the country to continue to build on this progress.”

We’d love to hear from you, so contact us.