This section includes information from the non medical aspects of emergency practice including billing, management, recruiting, liability insurance, contracting, group governance, quality improvement, work environment and workforce issues.
TCEP Article
In the midst of your busy Friday night shift, EMS brings you a gun shot victim. As you stabilize his injuries, the charge nurse hands you several positive Chlamydia cultures that have printed out from the lab. While you are contacting the surgeon to deal with the GSW victim’s liver injury, another nurse informs you that the lab just called to say that the spinal fluid from the lumbar puncture you did in room 10 is abnormal. In fact, the results are consistent with meningococcal meningitis. As you are providing the best of emergency care for all your patients, you recall that Texas law requires the reporting of certain illnesses and medical conditions. But what are they and where can you find them?
Dr Weltge has obtained a list of all reportable conditions for Texas physicians. We have placed an extensive list on the TCEP website for your reference. Some of these conditions must be reported immediately whereas others must be reported within a week of diagnosis. It is important to be aware of the system at your facility regarding reporting of conditions especially for those diseases that have delayed reporting such as gonorrhea and Chlamydia. Failure to report is a class C misdemeanor.
When reporting, it is helpful to give the following information: name of patient, address, city, zip
code, telephone number, date of birth, age, sex, race/ethnicity, disease diagnosis, type of lab
confirmation (including lab report/admit and discharge diagnosis), date of acute onset, physician,
symptoms and source of infection.
We hope you will find this a helpful adjunct in your daily practice and use it to become aware of
your legal reporting obligation. Patty Short and Arlo Weltge
List of Reportable Illnesses, Injuries, and
Events for Texas Physicians
SeveralTexas laws (Health & Safety Code, Chapters 81, 84 and 87) require specific information regarding notifiable conditions be provided to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Health care providers, hospitals, laboratories, schools, and others are required to report patients who are suspected of having a notifiable condition (Chapter 97, Title 25, Texas Administrative Code). To view the report CLICK HERE
Famous Quotes
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Is it not also true that no physician, in so far as he is a physician, considers or enjoins what is for the physician's interest, but that all seek the good of their patients? For we have agreed that a physician strictly so called, is a ruler of bodies, and not a maker of money, have we not? PLATO(BC 427-BC 347) Greek philosopher.
