Monday, September 10, 2001
Tobacco Foundation Board Moving on Grant-Application RFP, Counter-Marketing
In a meeting last week, the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation Board compromised on language for the grant application request for proposals (RFP) regarding past involvement of applicants with tobacco companies. Organizations applying for funds from Ohio’s share of the National Tobacco Settlement will be ineligible if they have accepted in-kind or monetary support from major tobacco companies from Nov. 23, 1998, the date of the Master Settlement with major tobacco companies, to present. Full disclosure will be required and a waiver can be considered under special circumstances.

A consultant managing the counter-marketing campaign in Ohio presented the timeline for posting the RFP for firms interested in bidding on Ohio’s $40 million media contract. The board will meet Sept. 21 to approve the final language and will post the RFP on the board’s new Web site, www.tupcf.org, once the site is available. The contract is expected to be awarded by the end of November with the initial airing of ads in January 2002.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com.

Legislation proposed to benefit hospitals
Dayton Daily News
Monday, September 10, 2001
Montgomery County’s hospitals will receive about $4 million less per year in federal reimbursements for charity care by 2004 unless Congress overturns part of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.

Nursing homes may be required to add workers
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Saturday, September 8, 2001
For the first time in 27 years, Ohio lawmakers say they're ready to approve new rules aimed at improving nursing home care.

Fairfield Med, OSU join for heart surgery alliance
Columbus Business First
Monday, September 10, 2001
Small-town Fairfield Medical Center will vault into the open-heart surgery arena Oct. 1 with help from a big-city partner, Ohio State University Medical Center.  

Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Ohio Hospitals Should Prepare for Victims From Terrorist Attack
Ohio hospitals are beginning to feel the ripple effect from today’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C.

OHA has been advised by the state's Emergency Management Agency (EMA) in Columbus that hospitals in Ohio could be asked to help care for victims of the attacks but that causalities may not arrive in Ohio for 24 to 72 hours from the time of the attacks. Emergency personnel will be working through existing disaster preparedness communications channels. Hospitals’ emergency department directors are part of that network and will likely be the first to be contacted for assistance.

EMA also reports that federal officials have requested all deliveries of pharmaceuticals from drug manufacturers be diverted to New York to help treat victims of the attacks. Hospitals experiencing shortages of critical drugs should contact OHA so that we can keep state officials advised and help respond accordingly.

Blood supplies are also being diverted to New York, and hospitals throughout the country are being asked to help send additional donations of blood to aid in caring for the attack victims.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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The availability of StateHealthClips.com was uncertain at the time of publication. Please check back later for today’s clips.

Wednesday, September 12, 2001
CDC Asks Hospitals to Look Out for Unusual Disease
Ohio Hospitals, and hospitals throughout the nation, are still feeling the impact of yesterday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late yesterday issued an alert to state health departments advising hospitals across the nation to look for unusual disease occurrence or increased numbers of illness, including chemical and biological agents. The alerts comes as a prudent cautionary measure but not based on any specific cause for alarm. Ohio regulations require physicians to report unusual disease patterns to the Ohio Department of Health. Hospitals that do find unusual disease occurrences should also contact the CDC 24-hour emergency phone number at 770-488-7100.

Medical Volunteers Asked to Wait; Mortuary Help Needed
Because of the overwhelming response to the call for medical volunteers after the terrorist attack in New York yesterday, physicians and other health care professionals are asked to refrain from calling the medical assistance number operated by the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS). Medical personnel now on site are reported to be adequate. Needed instead are forensic teams to assist in tagging, logging in, preparing and identifying bodies. Hospitals with an available team should call HANYS at (518) 431-7600. The association reports the hotline implemented yesterday received more than 8,000 calls from hospitals, physicians, nurses and other health care practitioners all over the country.

Hospitals Should Encourage Delayed Blood Donation
The increased need for blood in New York and Washington D.C. after the terrorist attacks in those cities continues to impact hospitals in Ohio, especially as those who wish to donate are flooding to blood donation centers. Because of special handling and storage required for blood products, hospitals should encourage the media to disseminate the message that those who wish to donate blood should make plans to do so in the coming weeks, as the need continues, rather than inundating blood centers with too many donors in the next few days. Hospitals should emphasize that individuals can donate only every 56 days, and those who rush to donate now will not be able to donate for another eight weeks. (Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com.

Hospitals, volunteers ready to help
Dayton Business Journal
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
The Ohio Hospital Association is advising hospitals locally and statewide to ready themselves to help treat victims of today's massive attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Hospitals tally beds in case they're needed
Cincinnati Business Courier
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Tri-State hospitals are conducting bed counts and stepping up security in light of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Columbus hospitals ready to help attack victims
Columbus Business First
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Columbus hospitals went on alert Tuesday in response to the apparent terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

Thursday, September 13, 2001
Hospitals and Their Employees Urged to Combine Relief Contributions
How can we help?

That question has been asked repeatedly this week as Americans everywhere search for ways to respond to Tuesday’s coordinated catastrophes in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania.

OHA is encouraging Ohio’s hospital family to contribute to a fund established by the United Way of New York and the New York Community Trust.  The September 11^th Fund will provide immediate support to established emergency assistance agencies such as the American Red Cross but will also benefit other nonprofit health and human service agencies. The United Way and the New York Community Trust are underwriting all administrative costs to ensure 100 percent of the contributions received will go to aid victims and their families.

Tax-deductible contributions may be made payable either directly to the September 11^th Fund or to the fund in care of the Foundation for Healthy Communities. All contributions should be sent to OHA, 155 E. Broad St., Floor 15, Columbus, OH, 43215-3620, and will be individually acknowledged. OHA will be collecting donations throughout the month of September and forwarding them to the September 11^th Fund. Additional information is available at http://www.uwnyc.org/640/index.html.

Hospitals may, if they prefer, collect contributions from their employees and forward them to OHA, along with a list of contributors and amounts given so that their generosity can be recognized.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com.

Blood supply replenished; but donations needed later
Canton Repository
Thursday, September 13, 2001
The American Red Cross is in critical need of O negative blood.
But the Ohio Hospital Association is recommending that hospitals slow down the rush of blood donations now so they can stretch needed supplies into the weeks and months ahead.

Local Shriners Hospital pledges help to burn victims
Cincinnati Business Courier
Thursday, September 13, 2001
Cincinnati's Shriners Hospital will be one of four hospitals in the Shriners Network that will, if needed, provide emergency burn treatment for those injured in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Mercy Health Partners eliminates 325 positions
Cincinnati Enquirer
Thursday, September 13, 2001
Mercy Health Partners on Wednesday announced it has eliminated 325 jobs, about 6 percent of its work force, in the final step of a $50 million turnaround plan.  

Friday, September 14, 2001
Nursing Home Staffing Rules Pass JCARR
A controversial nursing home staffing proposal this week passed the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. Proposed by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), the proposed staffing rules would require Ohio nursing homes to provide a minimum daily average of 2.75 hours of direct care and services per patient per day. The proposed rules now go to the Public Health Council Oct. 4, where final approval is virtually automatic. If approved, the rules will probably become effective in mid-October. The proposed rules, which originally proposed four hours of direct care per patient per day before being withdrawn and reintroduced, would replace the current rules, which require 1.6 hours of direct care per patient per day.

While OHA traditionally opposes staffing ratio mandates, OHA did not oppose the ODH proposal because the new minimum requirement is based on a federal study showing adverse patient outcomes associated with staffing below the minimum. ODH estimates less that 10 percent of nursing homes will be affected by the new minimum, and none are believed to be affiliated with hospitals. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

OHA Begins Grassroots Campaign on Medicaid DSH 
As part of OHA’s grassroots campaign supporting the Medicaid Safety Net Hospital Continued Preservation Act, H.R. 854, hospitals will receive in the next two weeks a packet of materials including sample letters, a list of sponsors and a bill summary. The bill would protect Medicaid disproportionate share hospital allotments from falling in 2003 by continuing the current funding levels and rate increases after fiscal year 2002. Hospitals are encouraged to write Congress and President George W. Bush in support of the bill, and to forward copies to Jonathan Archey at OHA. OHA’s goal is for hospitals to send 1,000 letters to Congress and the president by the end of October.

Two Ohio members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. David L. Hobson (R-Lancaster) and Rep. Rob Portman (R-Batavia) are among the latest to sign on to the bill. Rep. Marcy Kapter (D-Toledo) has also indicated she will support the legislation, although she is not officially signed on. Earlier supporters from Ohio are Reps. Sherrod Brown (D-Elyria), Paul Gillmor (R-Port Clinton), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Shaker Heights), Tom Sawyer (D-Akron) and Ted Strickland (D-Portsmouth). (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com.

U.S. blood supply reaches full capacity — for now
Canton Repository
Friday, September 14, 2001
The country’s immediate blood needs have been met, according to the American Red Cross, and the blood programs at area hospitals are taking blood only from those who make appointments.

Flight ban may have delayed transport
Lorain Morning Journal
Friday, September 14, 2001
NEW LONDON -- A 21-year-old man injured in a car accident was taken to a Norwalk hospital because the need for federal approval for air flights delayed a medical helicopter from Toledo from getting to him yesterday morning, according to Dan Bailey, Firelands Ambulance Service coordinator.

House calls
Columbus Dispatch
Friday, September 14, 2001
After three years in seclusion, the front porch seemed miles away.