Blog

By Linda Ash-Jackson, MD
In the SEC³URE Ethos community, we strive to make quality healthcare as accessible as a good cup of coffee by creating an environment of trusted encounters between all participants in the healthcare journey. We focus on enabling frictionless encounters for that provider-patient-location of care interaction to improve clinical and quality outcomes at an optimized cost.
In the middle of that equation, no individual is more important than the patient and their family support system.

Fast credentialing became especially important in 2020 with the emergence of COVID-19 and the need for healthcare facilities to enforce COVID-related compliance policies and procedures. The nature of such policies changed rapidly in the early days of the pandemic, and continue to evolve in response to vaccination efforts and the national prevalence of the delta variant. Recent enhancements to our SEC³URE Ethos platform now allow healthcare facilities the ability to configure their COVID-19 policies based on the dosing,

More than ever, hospitals and healthcare systems are focused on managing their costs while maintaining the highest quality of care.  By leveraging healthcare scheduling, hospitals, and healthcare systems can have the right people, in the right places at the right time thereby reducing costs and improving positive outcomes.
Finding Inefficiencies in Healthcare Scheduling
By looking at trends in your hospital’s data, are there opportunities to leverage scheduling to improve vendor management, operating room time, operating room usage,

The emergence and rapid spread of the COVID-19 delta variant have led to a dramatic rise in hospitalizations across the United States. According to the CDC, delta is twice as contagious as previous variants and appears to cause more serious symptoms in unvaccinated patients. Rates of hospitalization are now similar to those seen prior to vaccination efforts.
In response, states like Texas are implementing a series of actions to mitigate rising COVID-19 rates, including seeking out-of-state medical professionals to support overwhelmed hospitals.

The Joint Commission (TJC) announced that, beginning March 15, it would be returning to its usual procedures prior to the pandemic and conduct onsite, unannounced accreditation surveys.
Healthcare facilities will no longer receive a phone call or email when it has been determined the area is at low enough risk for an accreditation survey team to visit. Facilities are also encouraged to monitor the Notification of Scheduled Events section of their TJC extranet page for notification on the first day of an unannounced survey.

In December 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services launched Healthy People 2020, which set forth an annual target goal of 90 percent for influenza vaccinations among health care personnel (HCP) by 2020. Now we’re on the home stretch to hit that goal. With the 2019-2020 flu season upon us, it’s time to look for ways to make more significant strides towards the finish line.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is already significant flu activity in 24 states across the country and flu seasons often see spikes between December and February.

Physician burnout is real … and costly.
Aside from negative clinical outcomes, it’s costing the U.S. healthcare industry roughly $4.6 billion a year, according to a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. At an organizational level, the annual cost associated with burnout is approximately $7,600 per employed physician each year.
One culprit to the burnout: paperwork.
Why is it Paperwork?
The study cites a mounting load of paperwork, in addition to bureaucratic demands,

The number of reported measles cases in the U.S. have reached their highest level since the disease was domestically eradicated in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Prevent Infection
CDC estimates that there are more than 1 billion visits to hospitals and physician offices each year. So, what can a healthcare facility do to protect patients and staff, given the volume of visitors and interactions? Requiring vaccinations for staff, vendors and volunteers is a good place to start.