The department focuses on identification and prevention of risk exposures within the
organization that could:
Cause injury to patients, visitors, and employees
Jeopardize the safety and security of the environment
Result in costly claims and lawsuits with subsequent financial loss to the
organization
II. Organization
The Risk Management Program is a component of Hospital Administration. The Chief
Operating Officer and Director of Risk Management are responsible for the
implementation and operation of the Risk Management Program.
III. Program Components
Loss control prevention, which consists of identifying potentially compensable
events, medical malpractice claims, risk assessments, occurrence reporting and
management of the Administrative policy and procedure manual.
Facilitation of Root Cause Analysis.
Facilitation of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis.
Appropriate education programs, hospital wide or department-specific, will be
developed as needed. These programs will be suggested as a result of tracking and
trending.
Hospital event and incident reporting (Department of Health, Office of Mental
Health, JCAHO—Sentinel Event, and Office of Professional Discipline).
Support Clinical Quality Improvement Committee.
IV. Activities
Loss Control and Prevention
Potentially Compensable Events (PCEs) - are identified through various
mechanisms including, but not limited to notices of intention, claims,
quality reviews, risk assessments, incident reports and survey findings.
Claims - Risk conducts a quality investigation on all Claims and provides
essential Case information to in-house counsel and the Attorney Generals
office. Information includes, but is not limited to related policies and
procedures. All Claims are presented at the Clinical Quality Improvement
committee (CQI), as informational.
Occurrence Reporting - Occurrences are recorded, quantified, and trended.
Trending is submitted quarterly to leadership and annually to Quality
Counsel and Patient Safety Committee (QC&PSC).
Risk Assessment - A variety of sources are utilized to assess Risks
inherent in the environment. Sources include, but are not limited to,
occurrence reports, potentially compensable events, medical malpractice
claims and management of Administrative policy process. The QC & PSC
are notified of any/all-identified risks.
Administrative Policy Manual - The Department of Risk Management is
responsible to ensure Administrative policies adhere to the organizations
development, revision, review and approval process guidelines. Risk
coordinates the Administrative policy approval process and maintains
current policies on the organizations intranet. Archival of the
Administrative Policy Manual is the responsibility of the Risk
Management Department.
Root Cause Analysis
Risk Management is responsible to facilitate a credible and thorough
RCA, as defined by the New York State Department of Health, on any/all
events where a suspected deviation from a known standard of care or an
internal/external policy (i.e., JCAHO), may have been deviated from
during the delivery of care. The Department of Risk Management works in
collaboration with the appropriate hospital personnel to complete the RCA
process required by the New York State Department of Health. See policy
I-03, S-06.
Risk Management is responsible to facilitate at least once annually a highrisk
process to target for Failure Mode & Effects Analysis in an effort to
proactively address patient safety, risk reduction, and loss prevention. See
policy F-08/JCAHO Standard PI.3.20.
Education Program
Risk Management conducts Resident orientation education that includes
an overview of liability coverage, risk services and regulatory
requirements within an Article 28, Title 10 facility.
Hospital Event and Incident Reporting to the Department of Health
New York State Patient Occurrence Reporting and Tracking System
(NYPORTS): NYPORTS is an adverse event reporting system implemented
pursuant to New York State Public Health Law Section 2805-I, Incident
Reporting. The Department of Risk Management is responsible for reporting
adverse incidents, as required by law. The Department of Risk Management in
collaboration with the appropriate hospital personnel work in collaboration to
complete the New York State Department of Health, Root Cause Analysis process
for submission into the NYPORTS system as outlined in NYS Public Health Law
Section 2805-I. See policy I-03, S-06.
Office of Mental Health—Risk Management is a participant in the review process
for all occurrences meeting reporting requirements pursuant to Code 405, Part 524
regulations entitled “Incident Reporting and Investigations 14 NYCRR, New
York State Office of Mental Health. Risk is responsible for reporting the incident
to the Office of Mental Health. See policy PSYI-01.
JCAHO/Sentinel Events—Risk Management is responsible to ensure that the
processes for identifying and managing sentinel events are defined and
implemented to prevent the recurrence of similar events. See policy S-06/JCAHO
Standards PI.1.10, PI.2.20, PI.2.30, and PI.3.10.
Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) - Risk Management provides
management staff assistance with interpreting reporting requirements and
facilitates the flow of necessary documents to OPD when requested. See Policy
P-13.
Clinical Quality Improvement Committee
The Risk Management Department prepares all Case investigations for
review at CQI.
ANNUAL RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN EVALUATION
The Risk Management Plan evaluation will be reported annually to the Quality
Council and Patient Safety Committee.