Monday, January 21, 2002
MedPAC to Recommend Eliminating Inpatient Payment Differential
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) last week voted to recommend that Congress gradually eliminate the differential in Medicare inpatient payment rates between large urban hospitals and other hospitals. MedPAC will recommend that Congress in fiscal year 2003, starting Oct. 1, 2002, set the base inpatient rate for large urban hospitals at market basket, or inflation, minus 0.55 percent, while setting the base rate for all other hospitals at the market basket rate. The commission also will recommend that the outpatient rate increase for FY 2003 for all hospitals be the hospital market basket increase. MedPAC will make its recommendations in its formal report to Congress in March.

OHA and the American Hospital Association are pleased that MedPAC agreed to recommend increasing payments at the rate of inflation, but are concerned that equal increases were not made for large urban hospitals. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org)

Hospitals Encouraged to Celebrate Nurse Anesthetists Week
Hospitals are invited to honor nurse anesthetists during National Nurse Anesthetist Week, scheduled for Jan. 20-26. The weeklong celebration recognizes the nation’s 28,000 certified registered nurse anesthetists who administer more than 65 percent of the anesthesia in the United States each year. For more information, call 847/692-7050 or visit www.aana.com.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Charity opening health centers on West Side
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Sunday, January 20, 2002
St. Vincent Charity Hospital hopes to build some bridges to Cleveland's growing Hispanic community by opening two family health centers on the near West Side.

Why many hospitals in Toledo are making healthy profits
Toledo Blade
Sunday, January 20, 2002
They’re all nonprofit hospitals, but many Toledo-area hospitals have some pretty healthy bottom lines.

Hospital warning issued
Findlay Courier
Saturday, January 19, 2002
Hospitals are not ready for the hundreds of anthrax, smallpox or plague victims they could get following a bioterrorism incident, an expert told local doctors and nurses Friday.

Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Medicare Managed Care Plan Expands in Ohio  
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have approved a request by United HealthCare Insurance Co. to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in Cleveland and Akron, OH. Minneapolis-based United can begin on Feb. 1 to serve beneficiaries throughout Cuyahoga County, including Cleveland, and Summit County, which includes Akron. The plan, which operates as EverCare, began to serve beneficiaries in Franklin and Hamilton counties, including the cities of Columbus and Cincinnati, in June 2001. Two Medicare managed care plans, Kaiser Permanente and Anthem Senior Advantage, now operate in both counties. QualChoice Medicare Prime and United Healthcare Medicare Complete are in Cuyahoga County, while SummaCare Secure and HomeTown SecureCare operate plans in Summit County. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org)

Hospital Representatives Appointed to OBN, Workforce Board Two health care workers from Ohio hospitals have been appointed to serve on statewide health care boards.

Gov. Bob Taft appointed Lisa Klenke, director of nursing at Mercer County Community Hospital, to the Ohio Board of Nursing (OBN). Klenke replaces Barbara J. Stamp and will represent registered nurses on the board for a term ending Dec. 31, 2005. Klenke, who was recommended for the appointment by OHA, is also chair of the Ohio Organization of Nurse Executives legislative and practice committee. Additional appointments to the OBN include Kathleen M. Driscoll, professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing, and T. Diann Caudill, staff/triage nurse at Newark Family Physicians.

Debra P. Moore, senior vice president of human resources for OhioHealth, was appointed to the Governor’s Workforce Policy Board. Moore replaces Jeffrey P. Dunlap. The board assists the governor in building a workforce development system, ensuring Ohio employers’ and workers’ economic competitiveness. (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’ profits lift hope to aid uninsured
Toledo Blade
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
City officials backing a plan to extend primary health care to uninsured Toledoans were bolstered yesterday by news that two major hospitals in Toledo pulled in nearly $70 million in profits in one year.

Hospital upgrades to combine two departments
Sandusky Register
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
A nearly 10,000-square-foot renovation and expansion in progress at Port Clinton's Magruder Hospital will combine the hospital's physical therapy and sports medicine departments.

OPINION: Health-care system is sicker than ever
Canton Repository
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Once we were free to choose, it was all supposed to work. And so we chose, and this is what has happened:  

Wednesday, January 23, 2002
JCAHO Seeking Applicants for Codman Award
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is accepting applications for the sixth annual Ernest A. Codman Award, which recognizes achievement by organizations and individuals in the use of process and outcomes measures to improve organization performance and quality of health care.

Ambulatory care, assisted living, behavioral health care, home care, hospital, laboratory and long term care organizations as well as networks are eligible to apply for the award. In addition, a new award category has been created this year for multiple organization teams. The deadline to apply is Monday, April 8. A printable application form and additional information are available online at www.jcaho.org/news_frm.html.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Some residents oppose construction of suburban hospital
Canton Repository
Wednesday, January 23, 2002
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Middletown Regional Hospital officials say the hospital could be more useful to more people if it relocated into the burgeoning area between Cincinnati and Dayton.

New Warren hospital proponents push ahead
Cincinnati Enquirer
Wednesday, January 23, 2002
TURTLECREEK TOWNSHIP — Middletown Regional Hospital's proposed move to fast-growing Warren County is pitting some residents' health-care needs against others' quiet country lifestyle.

A recipe for saving nutrition program
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Wednesday, January 23, 2002
The "Have a Heart" bake sale was cooked up by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur after the Ohio Department of Health announced it didn't have the money to participate in a federal program that provides coupons to women and children for fresh fruit and vegetables at farmers markets.

Thursday, January 24, 2002
Peer Review Protection Bill Receives Proponent Testimony
On behalf of OHA and the Ohio State Medical Association, Catherine Ballard, an attorney with Bricker & Eckler, yesterday testified in support of legislation that would improve peer review protections for Ohio health care practitioners.

Senate Bill 179 is intended to modernize Ohio’s peer review statute, which was originally enacted in 1967. Ballard pointed out significant changes have occurred in health care delivery since then and told the committee the statute was not designed to accommodate this evolution.

SB 179 recognizes changes such as the use of integrated delivery systems, and also addresses the issue of negligent credentialing. The legislation would provide that a hospital is immune to a claim of negligently credentialing a physician as long it has been accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the American Osteopathic Association or the National Committee for Quality Assurance and it has met accreditation standards in any disputed case. The purpose of this is to prevent hospitals from being dragged into malpractice lawsuits against physicians when the hospital cannot defend itself without revealing peer review information. The bill also specifies that incident and risk management reports are considered peer review documents and are protected as such.

SB 179 was introduced by Sen. Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon) on behalf of OHA and is also supported by the Ohio Health Care Association. The bill is currently in the Senate health committee. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

CEO says Southwest General doesn't need UH merger
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Thursday, January 24, 2002
As the deadline nears for a decision on whether Southwest General Health Center should merge with University Hospitals Health System, Southwest administrators are searching for a good reason why they should.

Hospitals' doctors lower costs, raise efficiency, study contends
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Thursday, January 24, 2002
Efficiency goes up, costs go down and quality of care doesn't suffer when in-house doctors care for hospitalized patients instead of the patients' own family physicians, according to a report in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Hospital system expands
Mentor-Willoughby News-Herald
Thursday, January 24, 2002
For the first time in its 100-year existence, Lake Hospital System is expanding outside Lake County.

Friday, January 25, 2002
Medication Safety Materials on the Way to Hospitals
Hospitals will be receiving a large packet of materials developed to improve medication use safety. The packet will include 100 copies of a safe medication use brochure designed for patients along with a computer disk to allow hospitals to put their own name and logo on the brochures and reproduce them as needed. The packet also includes ideas for disseminating the brochures, such as partnering with pharmacists to hold a brown bag checkup where patients can bring all medications, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs as well as herbal remedies, to ensure none are expired and to assess drug interaction. The packets are being addressed to hospital public relations directors.

The Ohio Patient Safety Institute, created by OHA and other provider organizations, is distributing the materials to hospitals and will issue a statewide news release Feb. 1 to announce the availability of safe medication information. The release is timed to coincide with National Patient Recognition Week.  For more information and ideas on patient recognition events in your hospital, see an article by the person responsible for promoting this national observance, John O’Malley, president and founder of Strategic Visions, Inc. www.strategicvisionsinc.com/nprwinfo.htm. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)

Clarification
Yesterday’s issue of Health e-News Plus mischaracterized provisions of Senate Bill 179, the peer review legislation currently pending in the Ohio General Assembly’s Senate health committee. The bill offers not absolute but limited immunity from negligent credentialing claims against hospitals accredited by one of three organizations. The bill provides that if a hospital is accredited by one of the three organizations, there is a presumption that they were not negligent. However, the legislation allows for the rebuttal of this assumption if a hospital knew or should have known that a practitioner was not competent. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Hospital questions proposed tax hike
Cincinnati Enquirer
Friday, January 25, 2002
FORT THOMAS — St. Luke Hospital employees account for about one-third of the total payroll tax collected by Fort Thomas.

Numbering system crucial for fast emergency response
Norwalk Reflector
Friday, January 25, 2002
NORWALK -- County and EMS officials are reminding residents of steps they can take to ensure safety and response time.