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Monday, April 15, 2002
Nurse Loan Repayment Program Accepting Applications
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will begin accepting applications on Wednesday for its Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program (NELRP). The program is designed to assist in the recruitment and retention of registered nurses to underserved populations by helping to repay their school loans in exchange for service in eligible health professional shortage areas. Participants in the program agree to provide full-time employment in an approved health facility for 2 or 3 years and in return, NELRP will pay 60 percent of the participant’s loans for a 2-year commitment and 85 percent for a 3-year commitment.

Applicants are encouraged to apply online and may register at bhpr.hrsa.gov/nursing/loanrepay.htm, or they may request application materials by calling toll free 1.866.813.3753. All applications must be postmarked by June 14. A complete list of eligible health facilities will soon be posted to HRSA’s Web site at bhpr.hrsa.gov/nursing/loanrepay.htm. A list of scholarships, reimbursement programs and other financial assistance offered by various hospitals around the state and other organizations is available on OHA’s Workforce Forum under Best Practices at www.ohanet.org/workforce/. Please contact OHA if you have information to add about a scholarship at your hospital. (Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org)

Honor Patient Advocates; Oncology Nurses
Start thinking about how to recognize your hospital’s patient advocates and oncology nurses this week.

Patient Advocacy Week runs April 14-20 and honors the contributions of patient advocates who work to ensure that patients and consumers receive the highest quality health care. For more information, visit www.scha-aha.org or call 312.422.4572.

Oncology Nursing Day is scheduled for April 18 to recognize oncology nurses, educate the public about oncology nursing, and to celebrate the accomplishments of oncology nurses. For more information, visit ons.org or call 412.921.7373.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

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

Doctors Hospital becomes classroom for medical students
Massillon Independent
Saturday, April 13, 2002
More than 100 medical students from around the country were treated to a day of medical seminars and a tour of Perry Township’s Doctors Hospital Thursday.

Nurses train as crime examiners
Sandusky Register
Saturday, April 13, 2002
In a rape trial in Erie County earlier this month, a nurse testified for the prosecution.

Hospital helping workers buy homes
Cincinnati Enquirer
Saturday, April 13, 2002
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is offering its 7,300 employees free money if they buy a home in any of six neighborhoods, some of them distressed, near the hospital.

Tuesday, April 16, 2002
Medicaid Cards Get a Makeover
Ohio’s Medicaid card, issued by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, will soon have a new look. The card, also known as a medical card, will be reduced in size from the size of a standard piece of paper to about the size of a driver’s license. They will look more like cards issued by private insurance companies and will include a list of every person in a Medicaid assistance group or case. The use of the cards and the services covered by Medicaid remain the same. Providers can continue to submit claims using the Medicaid billing number appearing on the cards. All Medicaid consumers will have received their new card by the fall, with some receiving them beginning late spring or early summer. An example of the new card and additional information are available at www.state.oh.us/odjfs/ohp/card.stm. (Berna Bell, bernab@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com at www.statehealthclips.com/2002/OHA/20020416_OHA.htm.

(Editor’s note: StateHealthClips.com has gone to a subscription service. Please note that the link to access clips will change daily. If you visit www.statehealthclips.com, you will be required to enter a subscriber password. No password is required for the link published in HEALTH e-NEWS Plus.)

Heart-care workers offered big bonuses
Cincinnati Enquirer
Tuesday, April 16, 2002
The Tristate's largest hospital group announced what it claims to be the nation's largest sign-on bonus — $30,000 — for nurses and technicians who commit to work at least three years in special cardiac-care units.

State applies for $34 million in federal bioterrorism money
Canton Repository
Tuesday, April 16, 2002
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state on Monday applied for more than $34 million in federal money to help Ohio prepare for bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.

Blood bank reduces hospital shipments as supplies fall short
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tuesday, April 16, 2002
A community blood bank serving local hospitals, including the University Hospitals Health System and Cleveland Clinic, had to reduce the amount of blood it ships to the hospitals yesterday because of dwindling supplies.

Wednesday, April 17, 2002
Clough Testifies Before Congress on HIPAA Privacy Reforms
John Clough, M.D., Director of Health Affairs for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and a member of OHA’s Board of Trustees, testified before a U.S. Senate committee yesterday on proposed changes to the medical privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). During a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, chairperson Ted Kennedy (D-MA), asserted that removal of written patient consent provisions would "recede privacy protections" and that consent could be narrowly tailored to remove barriers to care. Clough called Kennedy's suggestion "unworkable" and maintained that the rule changes recently proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) strike the appropriate balance between patient privacy and access to care.

The agency’s proposals were released last month in response to pressure from Congress and advocates throughout the health care community. HHS has encouraged public comment before it issues final changes to the privacy rules. While many of the proposed rule changes are supported by hospitals, significant hurdles to health care research remain, such as restrictions on the exchange of key health information for quality improvement studies. An updated template comment letter highlighting hospitals’ concerns is available to OHA members at www.ohanet.org/government/federal_correspondence.asp. Additional information on HIPAA is available on the HHS Web site, hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa, and on a joint Web site of OHA, the Ohio State Medical Association and Columbus law firm Bricker & Eckler, www.bricker.com/hipaa/. OHA member hospitals are urged to submit their comments before the April 26 deadline. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com at http://www.statehealthclips.com/2002/OHA/20020417_blizzard55.htm

Official won't release money for Hardin County hospital
Columbus Dispatch
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
KENTON, Ohio -- Hardin Memorial Hospital officials have met with architects and say they are nearly ready to order new mammography, ultrasound and scanning equipment, the first phase of a three-part remodeling project.

Hospital support modified
Middletown Journal
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
Warren County school superintendents do not endorse any location for a newly built Middletown Regional Hospital, said a letter released earlier this week over the name of Warren County Educational Services Center Superintendent John Lazares.

OPINION: Health-care meltdown: National crisis brewing
Columbus Dispatch
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
From a board room in Sacramento to the Capitol and White House in Washington comes a warning that cannot be ignored: The health- care system is in crisis.

Thursday, April 18, 2002
Model HIPAA Transactions Compliance Plan Available
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week posted instructions for, and a model of, a compliance plan that covered entities may use to request an extension to the Oct. 16 compliance deadline for standards for electronic transactions and code sets. Covered entities may submit this form to request an extension electronically via the CMS Web site, or a paper copy through the mail by Oct. 15. Covered entities may also submit their own versions of a compliance plan as long as it contains an analysis of reasons for non-compliance, a work plan and implementation strategy for compliance, a decision regarding whether a contractor or vendor may be used to help achieve compliance, and a testing time frame that begins before April 16, 2003. The notice is available in the Federal Register at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/fr-cont.html and the model plan and instructions are available on the CMS Web site at www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/ascaform.asp. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

ODH Refining Birthing Center Rules
At OHA’s request, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has agreed to withdraw and re-file proposed rules that license ambulatory surgical facilities and freestanding health care facilities, including dialysis centers, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and diagnostic imaging centers.

OHA and ODH are working together to remedy a small but difficult issue revolving around the exemption in the rules for birthing centers that serve exclusively Amish and Mennonite women. OHA was concerned that if these facilities were exempt from regulation and licensure requirements, the exemption would potentially reduce the quality of maternity services provided to residents in these communities. However, the birthing centers should not be regulated too stringently without the risk that these women might seek services elsewhere leading to unsatisfactory quality outcomes. ODH will refine the rules to address OHA’s concerns. OHA supports the proposed changes in the other rules that apply to ambulatory surgical centers, dialysis centers, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and diagnostic imaging centers. (Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org, Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com at http://www.statehealthclips.com/2002/OHA/20020418_scanner45.htm.

(Editor's note: StateHealthClips.com has gone to a subscription service. Please note that the link to access clips will change daily. If you go to www.statehealthclips.com, you will be required to enter a subscriber password to view the "Ohio Edition.” No password will be required for the link published in HEALTH e-NEWS Plus.)

Nurses look askance at bonuses
Cincinnati Enquirer
Thursday, April 18, 2002
A three-year, $30,000 bonus offered by the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati to attract staff for its specialty cardiac-care services drew criticism Wednesday from the Ohio Nurses Association.

Doctors fear 'brain drain' hurting health-care quality
Cincinnati Enquirer
Thursday, April 18, 2002
Fears that years of lower-than-average pay will lead to a “brain drain” among Greater Cincinnati doctors have started coming true, say doctors and hospital officials.

Victim of rape suing hospital
Dayton Daily News
Thursday, April 18, 2002
GREENVILLE | A former physical therapist at Wayne Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation Center in Greenville filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday charging the center should have known the danger posed by a co-worker who kidnapped and raped her.

Friday, April 12, 2002
Hospitals Receive Over $50,000 in Grants
The Foundation for Healthy Communities, sponsored by OHA, has awarded a combined total of $52,611 to five hospitals for grants promoting healthy lifestyles, with a special emphasis on those reducing the incidence of substance abuse and low-birth-weight babies and increasing the number of Ohioans engaged in regular physical activity. They are:

Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati received $10,000 for a three-year neighborhood partnership work group to reduce low-birth-weight babies in at-risk neighborhoods among African-American women.
Adena Health System in Chillicothe was awarded $10,493 for Exercising for Life, a program promoting healthy lifestyles though exercise for low-income individuals suffering with obesity or cardiac disease.
The Children’s Medical Center in Dayton was awarded $8,460 for the Body Shop Program, a physician-prescribed nutrition, and exercise and support program for low-income children in 20 counties.
Henry County Hospital in Napoleon received $8,712 for Y.E.S., Youth Enjoying Sobriety, a prevention and intervention program for identified youths with documented substance abuse incidences and their families.
Children’s Hospital, Disability Services, in Cincinnati received $14,946 for a health and fitness program targeted to disabled students with significant disabilities who are usually prevented from engaging in regular physical activity.

More information is available at www.ohanet.org/healthycommunities/newsreleases/041902general.htm. (Lynne Ayres, lynnea@ohanet.org)

Foundation Awards $240,000 in Tobacco Grants
The Foundation for Healthy Communities awarded a total of $240,000 in grants to 16 hospitals for pulmonary rehabilitation programs. The hospitals are each receiving $15,000. They are: Holzer Hospital Foundation, Gallipolis; Mount Carmel Foundation, Columbus; Wood County Hospital, Bowling Green; Hillcrest Hospital, Mayfield Heights; Defiance Hospital; Harrison Community Hospital, Cadiz; Kettering Medical Center; Dayton; St. Charles Mercy Hospital, Oregon; Humility of Mary Healthy Partners, Youngstown; Southwest General Health Center, Middleburg Heights; The MetroHealth Foundation, Cleveland; Drake Center Inc., Cincinnati; St. John West Shore Hospital, Westlake; Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospital Foundation, Columbus; MedCentral Health System, Mansfield; and Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center, Cambridge. For more, go to www.ohanet.org/healthycommunities/newsreleases/041902tobacco.htm. (Lynne Ayres, lynnea@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com at www.statehealthclips.com/2002/oha/20020419_pc25.htm

Panel listens to health-care woes
Cincinnati Enquirer
Friday, April 19, 2002
Years of cost-cutting have so deeply reduced capacity in Greater Cincinnati's health care system that emergency officials now doubt whether Tristate hospitals can adequately handle a disaster — be it natural or man-made.

Health officials bid adieu to another mild flu season in Ohio
Columbus Dispatch
Friday, April 19, 2002
If you haven't had the flu this year, you probably won't. The virus peaked in late February, has been relatively merciful and is on its way out. This all comes despite manufacturing delays that forced those who chose to be vaccinated against influenza to wait longer than in years past.

2 CWRU departments to be at MetroHealth
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Friday, April 19, 2002
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's newest departments will be based at MetroHealth Medical Center.