National Guideline Clearinghouse
The National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) is a comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NGC was originally created by AHRQ in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans. The NGC mission is to provide health care professionals an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation, and use.
HIPAA
This web site offers a summary of the key elements of the HIPAA privacy rule including who is covered, what information is protected, and uses and disclosures of protected health information. Because it is an overview, it does not address every detail of each provision, but does contain links to the detailed guidance. View TMLT's Business Associate Agreement
Texas Medical Disclosure Panel
In Texas, informed consent is governed by statute and is overseen by the Texas Medical Disclosure Panel (TMDP). The panel includes six physicians and three attorneys who review
all treatments and procedures to determine which procedures require informed consent and which do not. Procedures and treatments are then assigned to a list. Those requiring disclosure of risks and benefits are put
on List A. Those that do not require disclosure of specific risks are
identified in List B.
The panel periodically examines new treatments or procedures and assigns them to one of the lists.
The lists, TMDP rules, and forms can be viewed at Title 25, Texas Administrative Code, Part 7.
Texas Medical Board
As a regulatory agency, the Texas Medical Board licenses, investigates, and disciplines physicians in Texas. Download a complete listing of the current Texas Medical Board rules.
Texas Department of State Health Services
Find specific information about notifiable conditions that must be reported to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
FDA's MedWatch
The Food and Drug Administration's MedWatch web site provides information about medical product safety alerts, recalls, withdrawals, and labeling changes involving prescription and over-the-counter drugs, biologics, medical and radiation-emitting devices, and special nutritional products (medical foods, dietary supplements and infant formulas). Health care professionals are encouraged to join the MedWatch E-list, which delivers medical product safety alerts via email.
Health Care Notification Network
The Health Care Notification Network's (HCNN) mission is to improve patient safety and protect the interests of consumers and health care professionals. The HCNN will pursue its mission by delivering important patient safety alerts to providers securely online, in a manner that is faster, more efficient and more reliable than the current paper-based systems that typically use the U.S. mail. Physicians can sign up to receive drug safety alerts from the FDA and drug manufacturers via email. The online service is free to physicians.
The Joint Commission
(formerly known as The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or JCAHO)
The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.
The Joint Commission has developed program-specific goals for all accreditation programs. The 2008 Patient Safety Goals are available on the web site, along with information other patient safety initiatives and resources.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This web site provides information on quality and patient safety, evidence-based outcomes, technology assessment, and patient safety research for health care professionals.
The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF)
The National Patient Safety Foundation provides an array of resources to support health care professionals in creating and maintaining a safe health care environment. The NPSF's Stand Up for Patient Safety Program offers tools to launch, sustain, and advance patient safety initiatives. The foundation also provides research grants, a discussion forum, publications, and other resources to improve patient safety.
Institute for Safe Medication Practices
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices is an organization devoted entirely to medication error prevention and safe medication use. The web site contains several medication safety tools including a high-alert medication list, confused drug names list, error-prone abbreviation list, white papers, and reports. Health care professionals can also report medication errors to the USP-ISMP Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP), a confidential national voluntary reporting program that provides expert analysis of the system causes of medication errors and disseminates recommendations for prevention.
