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/20020429_monitor20.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.)  

Hospital's $64 million project will be completed in three years
Alliance Review
Monday, April 29, 2002
Alliance Community Hospital ushered in a new era on Wednesday when seven shiny shovels turned the first dirt in a $64 million project.

University Hospitals trying to revive heart transplants
Canton Repository
Monday, April 29, 2002
CLEVELAND (AP) - University Hospitals wants to restart its heart transplant program this week after suspending it because of a string of patient deaths, The Plain Dealer reported Sunday.

Hardin Memorial Hospital staffing variance approved
Findlay Courier
Monday, April 29, 2002
KENTON -- To help financially troubled Hardin Memorial Hospital in Kenton keep its obstetrics unit open, the state has lightened its staffing requirements.  

Tuesday, April 30, 2002
AHA Challenges CMS' Positive Portrait of Hospital Finances
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday issued a report on the financial status of America’s hospitals. The report claims that while cuts to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements in the late 1990s destabilized many hospitals, remedial legislation in 1999 and 2000 has spurred a recovery. CMS adds that non-profit public hospitals’ operating margins are near the historical average, despite facing an increasingly complex bond market.

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/20020430_cell91.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.)  

Hospital offers quick service - or lunch
Cincinnati Enquirer
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
In a city where many people wait hours for hospital emergency care, one hospital is promising to buy lunch for patients who wait longer than 20 minutes.

Hardin Hospital staff limit may keep birth unit open
Toledo Blade
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
KENTON, Ohio - Hardin Memorial Hospital has received state approval to limit its obstetrics staff at times when there are no patients - a move hospital officials say could help keep the unit open.

Hospital cuts sitter service
Akron Beacon Journal
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
Some patients at Akron General Medical Center who are confused or just lonely soon will need to hire a private sitter if they want someone to keep them company around the clock.

Thursday, May 2, 2002
Phone Scam Still Targeting Hospitals
Hospitals in Ohio and Pennsylvania have reported being targets of an international phone scam that allegedly first hit hospitals in other states in October of 2001. The hospitals’ switchboards have received phones calls from individuals who claimed to be hospital-employed physicians, who then asked for an outside phone line. While this type of scam is not new for hospitals, what is new is that the calls have been placed to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Yemen. The hospitals have reported the calls to the FBI. To avoid the scam, hospitals are encouraged to block outgoing international calls and should call their local FBI field office or report incidents online at www.ifccfbi.gov if they receive similar calls. Hospitals may wish to alert telecommunications, security and other pertinent staff of the scam. Ohio hospitals are encouraged to contact Carol Jacobson at OHA at 614.221-7614 or carolj@ohanet.org if they receive these calls. More information about this and other telephone scams is available at www.att.com/features/0398/90pound.html or www.att.com/fraud/index.html. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)

Salary Surveys Out Soon
OHA is in the process of updating a list of contacts for the Annual Salary Survey. Current contacts will this week receive an update form and are asked to provide OHA with the name of the person responsible for completing the survey. The forms, and additional questions, should be sent to Brenda Slagle by e-mail at brendas@ohanet.org. The 2002 Salary Survey will be mailed to hospitals this month and results will be available in late August or early September. (Brenda Slagle, brendas@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/20020502_blue27.htm.

Hospital conversion under way
Cincinnati Enquirer
Thursday, May 02, 2002
About five months after agreeing to buy the former Bethesda Oak Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has started converting parts of the Avondale campus into a research facility.

Midwife admits she was wrong to administer prescription drugs
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Thursday, May 02, 2002
A Holmes County midwife yesterday admitted she was wrong to inject prescription drugs into a woman in her care, ending a case that some say defines firm ground rules for her profession in Ohio.

Newborns to get hearing tests
Dayton Daily News
Thursday, May 02, 2002
COLUMBUS | Newborns in Ohio hospitals will be required to have their hearing tested, under a bill Gov. Bob Taft signed Wednesday.

Friday, May 3, 2002
Quality Rules Still Under Review
OHA this week testified on proposed revisions to the Senate Bill 50 quality rules, promulgated after the bill’s passage in the mid-1990s, during a hearing with the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). Prior to the hearing, ODH had been responsive to OHA’s concerns and requests regarding the rules, which are intended to promote quality care in services involving solid organ transplant, bone marrow transplantation, adult cardiac catheterization, open heart surgery, obstetrics/newborn care, pediatric intensive care, radiation therapy, pediatric cardiac catheterization, and pediatric cardiovascular procedures.

OHA testified that it supports ODH’s role in regulating these services, but questioned whether the highly prescriptive approach in the present rules is the best way to promote quality of care and patient safety. Instead, OHA recommended creation of an advisory council to identify less prescriptive strategies such as monitoring patient outcomes.  OHA generally supported the proposed rule changes, but asked for additional changes. OHA specifically recommended that testing protocol for tuberculosis be correlated with the incidence of the disease, that beds in bone marrow transplant units be available for patients with certain other conditions, and that data collection requirements for cardiac catheterizations services align with the quality of care and safety measures established in published medical literature. OHA also supported elimination from the rules of the requirement that a Level I obstetric service have a nurse on duty 24 hours a day in units with no patients, and the deletion of the requirement that a nurse manager in Level I obstetric services have a bachelor’s degree. These two issues also received opposing testimony. The rules are expected to be re-filed and revised, and will take effect this summer. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

Mark Your Calendar Now to Honor Ohio’s Caregivers!
As part of the 2002 OHA Annual Meeting June 3 and 4, a recognition dinner to honor some of Ohio’s 200,000 dynamic caregivers is planned for Monday, June 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Awards presented include: Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year; Meritorious Service; Distinguished Service; Don Newkirk; Hospital Safety; John Chapman, recognizing environmental excellence; and Consumer Advocacy. Those planning to attend must register. Registration information is available at www.ohanet.org/education/2002annualmtg.htm.