Ms. Tomar made a far-reaching suggestion in her Oct. 23, 2008, letter to CMS: “We believe that CMS could serve a useful role in providing a clearinghouse of these orders in order to assist other hospitals in reviewing the clinical literature and developing their own protocols.” This centralized, archived, searchable database could fill an important function by ensuring consistent standards in patient care, and eliminate marginal practices, thereby better safeguarding patient care across the board.

Read the guidance memo at www.cms.hhs.gov and search for “S&C-09-10.”