TOM MORTON Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Friday, January 13, 2006 12:00 am
The Wyoming Medical Center installed cameras in its operating room to reduce the time between surgeries, according to the Natrona County Commission's answer to a question submitted last month at a health care forum.
The question was one of three submitted to Natrona County commissioners as part of the county-sponsored health-care forum.
Cameras in operating rooms allow scheduling staff members, and only them, to monitor the surgery's progress and help them determine when to schedule the next operation, according to the commissioners.
About 80 people who attended the forum in Casper City Council chambers spoke mostly about the dispute between Central Wyoming Neurosurgery and the hospital. Wyoming Medical Center refused to renew the contract with the operating room team of the neurosurgeons, and the neurosurgeons resigned their privileges to practice at the hospital.
The commissioners only listened to participants and did not offer opinions or answer questions during the forum, but they invited written questions to be answered at a later date.
The question from an anonymous writer asked: "How can you legally have cameras in the operating room?"
The answer, with advice from WMC's attorney Dick Williams, stated the scheduling purposes fall under federal standards that allow an individual to share protected health information if it aids health care practices, including coordinating care.
The other major question, submitted by Brian Lindgren, dealt with physician peer review.
Peer review provides a hospital and physicians with a way to evaluate patient care and police themselves, the commissioners wrote, with advice from Williams.
"Wyoming Medical Center would not be allowed to renew its hospital license without first providing a form of peer review," the commissioners responded.
A hospital's governing board determines whether peer review should be conducted by a state, local specialty medical society or other lawfully created group of physicians.
The Wyoming Medical Center conducts its peer review through the medical staff, which establishes standards which will trigger an initial review by a nurse auditor, and that review proceeds through a medical department.
If the department chairman determines the physician's performance fell short, the chairman will forward the information to the peer review committee.
The committee then reviews the information and patient chart and gives the physician recommendations to improve care or the medical environment.
If the process confirms a significant error or breach in care standards, the physician's privileges may become an issue. At this point, the physician's due process rights commence and a new set of rules and higher standards are applied, according to the answer.
NEWS TRACKER
Last we knew: Natrona County commissioners sponsored a health care forum Dec. 15, heard from citizens and received written questions.
The latest: Commissioners released answers to the four questions that were submitted.
What's next: Commissioners will continue reviewing the county's relationship to the nonprofit Wyoming Medical Center Inc.
Reporter Tom Morton can be reached at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net.