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Monday, November 5, 2001
AHA Assess Hospital Disaster Readiness Needs
The American Hospital Association (AHA) has developed an overview of the needs of the nation's hospitals related to future mass casualty events. AHA estimates the nations 4,900 acute care hospitals would need approximately $11.3 billion worth of equipment, services and training to respond at the highest level to mass casualty nuclear, biological or chemical terrorist attacks. The assessment is based on what hospitals would need for a 24-48 hour period to treat up to 1,000 casualties, prior to federal or state intervention. The assessment addresses eight key areas of hospital disaster readiness: communication and notification; disease surveillance, reporting and identification; personal protective equipment; facility enhancements; decontamination upgrades; medical supplies; training and drills; and mental health resources.

AHA advocates that the funding should come in the form of grants to individual hospitals, and AHA will look to have its assessment converted into a Congressional bill or as an amendment to pending legislation. For the full report, go to www.aha.org/Emergency/Readiness/ReadyAssessmentB1101.asp.

OHA is sponsoring an educational program on terrorism Nov. 20 in Columbus at the Villa Milano. “Bioterrorism: Are Hospitals Prepared?” will focus on state resources, surveillance and response. It will feature an expert from the University of Findlay Center for Terrorism Preparedness, four representatives of the Ohio Department of Health and hospital-based speakers on hospitals’ role in bioterrorism incidents. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Nursing shortage leads UH, Clinic to overseas recruiting
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Monday, November 5, 2001
With fewer home-grown nurses entering the work force, two of Cleveland's major medical centers are looking overseas to help fill scores of staff openings.

Health ratings for Tristate improve little
Cincinnati Enquirer
Monday, November 5, 2001
Continued high rates of smoking and heart disease have prevented Ohio and Kentucky from keeping up with public health improvements reported by most other states.

Mount Carmel, Lancaster doctors headed for court
Cincinnati Business Courier
Monday, November 5, 2001
Barring an 11th hour lawsuit settlement, Mount Carmel Health System and six Lancaster physicians are headed for a Nov. 26 showdown in Fairfield County Common Pleas Court.

Tuesday, November 6, 2001
New Rule Shrinks OPPS Pass-Through Payments to Hospitals
Medicare payments to hospitals for “pass-through” devices, drugs and biological products under the outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) will be cut Jan. 1 per a final rule released Nov. 2 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Costs for these high-tech preventive devices were not included in the initial ambulatory payment classifications (APCs) and Congress temporarily required CMS to make such payments.

The final fiscal year 2002 OPPS rule just released is only half of what was expected. CMS states its release of specific APC payment rates will be delayed until Dec. 1, at best. The new rule folds in a large portion of the costs of pass-through devices into specific APCs and could result in a potential shortfall of $1.4 billion in payments to hospitals. Which APCs, and subsequently, which hospitals, will suffer most is not yet known given the abbreviated final rule. The new rule also set more rigid criteria for new pass-through device categories, which is aimed at reducing CMS' obligation for future payments. OHA and the American Hospital Association are opposed to the cuts. OHA will soon release an analysis of the rule. For more information, visit www.hcfa.gov/whatsnew/ or www.aha.org/opps/whatsnew.asp. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org)

Help Celebrate Dedicated Health Care Workers
Three health care disciplines are this week celebrated as national observance weeks. November 4-10 is Health Information and Technology Week, which celebrates the important contributions of health information management professionals. Contact the American Health Information Management Association at 312/233-1100 or info@ahima.org or visit www.ahima.org for more information. Also this week is National Osteopathic Medicine Week, designed to make the public aware of the role osteopathic doctors play in health care. Contact the American Osteopathic Association at 800/621-1773 or rdrew@aoa-net.org or visit www.aoa-net.org for more information. Additionally, this week is National Radiologic Technology Week. Coinciding with the discovery of the X-ray on Nov. 8, 1895, the observance week celebrates the contributions of radiologic technologists. Contact the American Society of Radiologic Technologists at 800/444-2778 or marketing@asrt.org or visit www.asrt.org for more information.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Cleveland epidemiologists help CDC in assessing bioterrorism
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tuesday, November 6, 2001
An international group that includes a team of epidemiologists from Cleveland will be helping public health authorities battle bioterrorism.

Hospitals get checkups
Akron Beacon Journal
Tuesday, November 6, 2001
NEW YORK: Amid the horror of the Sept. 11 attacks, Dr. Dan Wiener had an even more horrifying thought.

South Side: Group submits only bid to buy equipment from failed hospital
Columbus Dispatch
Tuesday, November 6, 2001
Efforts to re-establish some services at Columbus Community Hospital got a shot in the arm yesterday when a nonprofit organization submitted the only bid for the hospital's medical equipment.

Wednesday, November 7, 2001
JCAHO Places Moratorium on Sentinel Event Scoring
Effective immediately, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has placed a moratorium on the scoring of health care organization compliance with Sentinel Event Alert recommendations. Prior to the moratorium, organizations were required to review the monthly Sentinel Event Alert recommendations, determine the applicability of the recommendations and implement them or reasonable alternatives within 90 days.

Although Sentinel Event Alert implementation will not be scored during the moratorium, surveyors will still assess, for consultative purposes, the organization’s knowledge of Sentinel Event Alert recommendations and how they plan to implement the recommendations. JCAHO is now developing a revised approach to the publication and survey of the recommendations to address concerns regarding the frequency and content of the alerts, in addition to the number of alert recommendations subject to survey each year. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Smoking foes rip plans to tap tobacco money
Columbus Dispatch
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Anti-smoking programs for children, minorities and pregnant women are being siphoned to balance the state budget, public-health groups say.

Reading prescribed for smallest patients
Cincinnati Enquirer
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Several dozen doctors and nurses were on their knees, pawing through hundreds of new children's and infants' books. Every once in a while, one would stop and read — Dr. Seuss' works were among the favorites.

OPINION: 'Hospital has changed for the better'
Middletown Journal
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
I've read and heard so much bad press about the hospital over the years that I couldn't help writing today.

Thursday, November 8, 2001
Nationwide to Withdraw from Medicare
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company has notified the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) it is withdrawing from the Medicare program as a claims processing contractor. Nationwide processes Part B Medicare claims, including claims for medical services furnished by physicians and suppliers, for the states of Ohio and West Virginia.

Nationwide serves 39,000 physicians and licensed providers and 1,900 suppliers in Ohio and West Virginia. The company processed 35.6 million Part B claims in fiscal year 2000 and paid out $2.1 billion for Medicare fee-for-service claims.

CMS will competitively procure a replacement contractor for the Part B service area of Ohio and West Virginia. An announcement of the replacement contractor will be made in December 2001. The transition is expected to begin in December and will be completed by the end of June. Nationwide will continue to process claims until the transition is completed. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Willard hospital receives money from tobacco suit
Norwalk Reflector
Thursday, November 8, 2001
WILLARD -- Mercy Hospital of Willard recently received money from the state's tobacco settlement for pulmonary rehabilitation. Mercy Hospital, one of thirty Ohio hospitals chosen, received $14,933 from a total of $372,058 allocated for pulmonary rehabilitation.

Bio scare lesson leads MCO students to quit asking ‘when,’ ‘why’
Toledo Blade
Thursday, November 8, 2001
The age-old student complaint of "when am I ever going to need to know about" - fill in the blank, algebra, history, etc. - has long been echoed by medical students when it comes to anthrax, smallpox, and a host of other dangerous diseases.

Voters finally pass health levy
Madison (County) Press
Thursday, November 8, 2001
LONDON -- Finally! Finally enough county voters saw the need to fund health care in Madison County. After five failures the health levy passed on the sixth try Tuesday evening. The levy passed by a margin of 475 votes, 3,831 to 3,356 (53 percent to 47 percent).

Friday, November 9, 2001
Mandatory Overtime Bill Introduced In Congress
Federal legislation was introduced this week to prohibit the use of mandatory overtime for nurses by hospitals. The union-backed bill, HR 3238, was introduced by Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and co-sponsored by Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) from Painesville. It would allow mandatory overtime to be used only during an official federal, state or local emergency and would incorporate the restriction into Medicare provider agreements for enforcement by the Department of Health and Human Services. Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and John Kerry (D-MA) plan to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

At the state level, Rep. Ann Womer Benjamin (R-Aurora) last week introduced a substitute version of her nurse staffing legislation, House Bill 78. The sub bill does not include specific staffing plans as did the original version. Instead it focuses on mandatory overtime. Hearings on the sub bill have not yet begun.

Both OHA and the American Hospital Association oppose legislation prohibiting the use of mandatory overtime. Hospitals do not routinely use the practice to staff patient beds, however sometimes it is a necessary tool of last resort for hospitals to meet the needs of patients. Imposing a restriction during one of our worst nursing shortages in history may hinder access to health care for patients. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org; Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org)

Nurse Shortage Bills Move on Capitol Hill
The issue of the nationwide nursing shortage is still on the radar on Capitol Hill. The latest in a fairly lengthy list of bills were introduced last week in the Senate and some legislation moved quickly through committee to the Senate floor.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) introduced S.1585, which calls for establishing grant and scholarship programs to enable hospitals to retain and further educate their nursing staffs, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) introduced S.1594 to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide programs improving nurse retention, the nursing workplace and the quality of care. Both of these bills were incorporated into S.1597, which was introduced by Sen. John Kerry and passed the Senate health committee Nov. 1.

While S.1597 focuses on retention, another bill, S.721, sponsored by Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), focuses on attracting more people to the field of nursing. The bill, which also passed the Senate health committee Nov. 1, would amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a Nurse Corps and increase scholarships and grants for nurse education.

OHA supports these and earlier efforts by Congress to alleviate the shortage through recruitment and retention initiatives and has urged members of the Ohio delegation to sign on in support. Updates on key federal legislation are available from the OHA Advocacy Center at www.ohanet/government. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Nationwide drops Medicare contract
Columbus Dispatch
Friday, November 9, 2001
Nationwide no longer will process Medicare claims for the federal government, but it appears 510 workers in Grove City who handled the claims won't lose their jobs.

Oberlin hospital turns finances around
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Friday, November 9, 2001
Oberlin - The Oberlin Medical Center, nearly forced out of business last year, is almost debt-free today.

The crusade is on to get Ohioans in better health
East Liverpool Review
Friday, November 9, 2001
EAST LIVERPOOL -- Spurred on by statistics which place Ohio among the bottom-feeders in national health indicators, a former senator who is an original member of the Cleveland Browns is traveling the Buckeye State with a message for Ohioans to get out and exercise, eat better, smoke one less cigarette and take several other small steps which will result in big strides toward better health.
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