retaliation for report regarding patient safety

by Ms. Carlie Steuber PhD 9 min read

Reporting Patient Safety Events | PSNet

31 hours ago  · The language in the provision, as you can see, sweeps very broadly to make sure that an employee making a report, or even participating in an investigation regarding patient safety, is not subjected to any type of retaliation against him or her from an employer for engaging in whistleblower activity. >> Go To The Portal


The law also prohibits workplace retaliation for these reports. Employees or agents of state licensed health care facilities or services must make an oral or written report to the facility or service if they know or have reasonable cause to believe that a patient’s quality of care, safety or the facility or service’s safety is in jeopardy.

If you report an issue that in any way deals with a patient's safety or fraud, and your employer retaliates against you, you are protected by the Patient Safety Act.Jun 22, 2021

Full Answer

What is the difference between patient safety event reporting and incident reporting?

Patient safety event reporting systems are ubiquitous in hospitals and are a mainstay of efforts to detect patient safety events and quality problems. Incident reporting is frequently used as a general term for all voluntary patient safety event reporting systems, which rely on those involved in events to provide detailed information.

What is the patient safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2009?

At the national level, regulations implementing the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act became effective on January 19, 2009. The legislation provides confidentiality and privilege protections for patient safety information when health care providers work with new expert entities known as Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs).

What are the barriers to event reporting in healthcare?

Failure to receive feedback after reporting an event is a commonly cited barrier to event reporting by both physicians and allied health professionals. While event reports may highlight specific concerns that are worthy of attention, they do not provide insights into the epidemiology of safety problems.

Can health care providers aggregate patient safety event data?

However, health care providers and PSOs may aggregate patient safety event information on a voluntary basis, and AHRQ will establish a network of patient safety databases that can receive and aggregate nonidentifiable data that are submitted voluntarily.

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What are some examples of retaliation?

Some examples of retaliation would be a termination or failure to hire, a demotion, a decrease in pay, a decrease in the number of hours that you've worked. The cause will be obvious things such as a reprimand, a warning or lowering of your evaluation scores.

What is healthcare retaliation?

What Does It Mean to Retaliate? Retaliation occurs when an employer punishes an employee for engaging in an activity protected by the law. This can include raising concerns about discrimination or harassment. In the healthcare industry, this often involves false claims or efforts to protect patients.

What does OSHA consider retaliation?

Each statute has a different time frame in which a complaint can be filed. What Is Retaliation? Employees who believe that their employers retaliated against them because they engaged in protected activity should contact OSHA as soon as possible because they must file any complaint within the legal time limits.

Which law protects reporters from retaliation?

California Labor Code Section 1102.5 prohibits retaliation against employees for disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency where the employee has cause to belief that the information discloses violation of state or federal law.

How do you document retaliation at work?

In order for you to gather credible evidence for a strong workplace retaliation argument, you should follow these tips :Record How You Recorded the Incident. ... Prove That Your Boss Was Aware. ... Keep a Paper Trail. ... Contact a Retaliation Attorney Today.

What is retaliation in the workplace?

In the employment context, taking adverse action against an employee because they engaged in certain activity protected by law. Conduct constituting protected activity varies by statute. Some examples include: Lodging an internal complaint alleging unlawful discrimination or harassment by the employer.

What makes a strong retaliation case?

In order to prove retaliation, you will need evidence to show all of the following: You experienced or witnessed illegal discrimination or harassment. You engaged in a protected activity. Your employer took an adverse action against you in response.

Does OSHA protect from retaliation?

The whistleblower laws that OSHA enforces prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for engaging in activities protected under those laws.

Which OSHA regulation protects from retaliation?

Introduction & Instructions. OSHA administers more than twenty whistleblower protection laws, including Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, which prohibits retaliation against employees who complain about unsafe or unhealthful conditions or exercise other rights under the Act.

What are the three elements of retaliation?

Per federal case law and regulatory agency guidance, there are three essential elements in a claim of retaliation:Protected activity.Adverse action.Causal connection.

How do you protect whistleblowers from retaliation?

4 Ways to Protect Whistleblowers from RetaliationRetaliation is a true fear for many who just want to speak-up about wrongdoing. ... Implement a Hotline. ... Proper Training. ... Strong Policies with Consequences. ... Workplace Culture.

What are the 3 factors required to establish a prima facie case for retaliation?

State and federal law require employees to prove the same three elements to establish a prima facie case of retaliation: (1) the employee engaged in statutorily-protected activity; (2) the employee suffered an adverse employment action; and (3) there was a causal relationship between the two.

What is the number to call 911?

If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Online: Submit a new patient safety event or concern. Online: Submit an update to your incident (You must have your incident number)

Can the Joint Commission accept medical records?

By policy, The Joint Commission cannot accept copies of medical records, photos or billing invoices and other related personal information. These documents will be shredded upon receipt. Download the form for reporting a patient safety concern by mail.

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Background

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Patient safety event reporting systems are ubiquitous in hospitals and are a mainstay of efforts to detect patient safety events and quality problems. Incident reporting is frequently used as a general term for all voluntary patient safety event reporting systems, which rely on those involved in events to provide detailed infor…
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Characteristics of Incident Reporting Systems

  • An effective event reporting system should have four key attributes: While traditional event reporting systems have been paper based, technological enhancements have allowed the development of Web-based systems and systems that can receive information from electronic medical records. Specialized systems have also been developed for specific settings, such as th…
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Limitations of Event Reporting

  • The limitations of voluntary event reporting systems have been well documented. Event reports are subject to selection bias due to their voluntary nature. Compared with medical record review and direct observation, event reports capture only a fraction of events and may not reliably identify serious events. The spectrum of reported events is limited, in part due to the fact that ph…
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Using Event Reports to Improve Safety

  • A 2016 article contrasted event reporting in health care with event reporting in other high-risk industries (such as aviation), pointing out that event reporting systems in health care have placed too much emphasis on collecting reports instead of learning from the events that have been reported. Event reporting systems are best used as a way of identifying issues that require furth…
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Current Context

  • At the national level, regulations implementing the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act became effective on January 19, 2009. The legislation provides confidentiality and privilege protections for patient safety information when health care providers work with new expert entities known as Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs). Health care providers may choose to wo…
See more on psnet.ahrq.gov