Elsevier

Geriatric Nursing

Volume 34, Issue 1, January–February 2013, Pages 68-71
Geriatric Nursing

Department
Assisted Living Column
What we need to report and to whom…

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2012.12.006Get rights and content

Section snippets

Elder abuse

Each one of us has a responsibility to keep vulnerable elders safe from harm. With this in mind it's not surprising that the reporting requirements of elder abuse are not just for physicians but other health care providers as well. The laws in most states require health care professionals on the front lines – such as physicians and home health providers – to report suspected abuse or neglect. These professionals are called mandated reporters. Under the laws of eight states, “any person” is

Adverse events

Reporting of medication issues to the Food and drug administration (FDA) occurs through the MedWatch website. This site provides for voluntarily reporting of serious adverse event, product quality problem or product use error that you suspect is associated with the use of an FDA-regulated drug, biologic, medical device or dietary supplement.

In order to keep effective drugs and devices available on the market for use by you and your patients, the FDA relies on the voluntary reporting of these

Infectious diseases

Reporting of cases of communicable disease is important in the planning and evaluation of disease prevention and control programs, in the assurance of appropriate medical therapy, and in the detection of common-source outbreaks. In the United States, the authority to require notification of cases of disease resides in the respective state legislatures.

Reporting of cases of infectious diseases and related conditions has been and remains a vital step in controlling and preventing the spread of

Risk of injury to self and others

Many health care providers are under ethical and legal obligations to prevent their patients from physically harming themselves or others. If a health care provider believes a client is puts others at risk of harm, they must use reasonable and conscientious effort in taking decisive actions to both protect and warn the potential victim of their patient's violence. The protective health care provider privilege ends where public peril begins. If you break the privilege of confidentiality in an

Driving

Another potential to harm oneself and others can come from hazardous driving. Limitations in auditory, visual, cognitive and motor abilities can significantly impair a resident's driving abilities. These present an important safety concern for health providers.

Virtually all states have established policies for the identification of drivers with physical or mental impairments. The majority of states provide only for voluntary physician reporting. A few states have mandatory reporting laws. For

Medicare fraud

With Medicare seeking additional funds one constant outcry has been to reduce fraud.2 It is estimated that Medicare fraud costs the federal government billions of dollars each year. Because of this strong focus health care providers with knowledge of fraud need to report these issues immediately to the appropriate parties. Medicare fraud issues typically fall under one of the following categories:

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    Services not rendered.

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    Upcoding schemes and unbundling.

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    Kickbacks and self referrals.

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    Falsely

Reporting

Assisted living nursing staff must understand well the reporting requirements governing their profession in the state they are practicing (Table 1). In addition, they will need to know the facility's own reporting requirements. Lastly they will serve their residents well if they understand the broader scope of reporting issues.

The bottom line is like homeland security has been saying – “If you see something say something.” Of course this requires nurses to recognize what they are seeing and

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References (2)

  • http://vaers.hhs.gov/index/about/index; Accessed...
  • http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/downloads/Fraud_and_Abuse.pdf;...

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