Search:

Monday, May 6, 2002
Tobacco Foundation Requesting Proposals Soon
The Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation (TUPCF) last week approved its request for proposals (RPF) to allocate $9 million in the first round of tobacco grants. Funding for cessation or prevention programs in areas serving at least 50,000, or a school or 7,500, will range from $50,000 to $1 million. A 10 percent in-kind or cash match is required. Funding is for a three-year period with years two and three contingent upon the outcomes from the previous years. Capacity-building grants, those building the infrastructure or preparing for eligibility to conduct programs, are one-year grants of up to $50,000. No match is required. The RPF for both categories will be released May 14 and will be available from TUPCF’s Web site, www.tupcf.org.

Grants must additionally meet at least three of the six strategic goals of TUPCF: prevent tobacco use initiation, reduce youth tobacco use, reduce adult tobacco use, reduce tobacco use by pregnant women, reduce tobacco use by minorities and underserved populations, and reduce exposure to second-hand smoke.

Organizations eligible to apply for grants are tax-exempt non-profit organizations, tobacco prevention and control coalitions, minority-based community organizations, and all state, county or city public agencies. Grant proposals will be judged by outside organizations from August through October. An informational meeting on the RFP will be held in Columbus June 4. Letters of intent are due June 17 and proposals are due July 31. Grants are scheduled to be announced in October. OHA’s Foundation for Healthy Communities encourages hospitals seeking grants to form or join regional or community coalitions to increase their chances for participation in a program. (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/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.)

Doctor suspended from UH fights back
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Saturday, May 04, 2002
A lung transplant surgeon suspended from University Hospitals a week ago was in court yesterday to fight for his job, arguing his absence puts his patients' health at risk.

OPINION: Friends of Children's
Akron Beacon Journal
Monday, May 06, 2002
Excellent service, they say, is its own reward because it pays off in loyal clients. What proof of that point Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron can offer.

OPINION: Access and quality, not profits, should drive our health care
Columbus Dispatch
Saturday, May 04, 2002
For more than a century, central Ohio's full-service hospitals have provided world-class care and the latest medical treatments and technologies to all in our community, regardless of their ability to pay, in the finest tradition of the healing profession.

Tuesday, May 7, 2002
APN Authority to Order Restraints Challenged
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently stated that Ohio’s law governing the scope of practice of advance practice nurses (APN) does not grant APNs authority to prescribe seclusion and restraints because the law does not meet federal certification requirements. This interpretation comes about one year after APNs were informed that ordering restraints was within their scope of practice. The new analysis came about after CMS re-evaluated Ohio’s law at the request of the Ohio Department of Health.

Hospitals should consider requiring APNs to stop ordering restraints until the issue is resolved. Hospitals allowing APNs to prescribe restraints in the interim could put their Medicare certification in jeopardy. APNs still have the authority to prescribe certain therapeutic devices and medications, provided they are not used as chemical restraints, which must be prescribed by a physician or licensed independent practitioner with authority to order restraints. OHA is working with the Ohio Board of Nursing (OBN) on this issue and is asking OBN to write rules granting APNs the authority to prescribe restraints and make assessments for restraints. OHA will keep members apprised of developments on this issue. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org; Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org)

Miracles Happen Every Day in Hospitals
Hospitals in Ohio and across the nation are getting ramped up to celebrate National Hospital Week. With the theme, “Where Miracles Happen Every Day,” this year’s hospital week is scheduled from May 12-18 to recognize health care workers, volunteers and other health professionals dedicated to making hospitals and health systems open to their communities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Helping to illustrate the value of hospitals to their communities, Christopher M. Dadlez, President and CEO of Mercy Medical Center in Canton, is meeting with congressional leaders in Washington D.C. at the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) National Hospital Week Reception May 14 to share how a collaborative project of the hospital and local city schools has positively impacted the community. The hospital received a 2001 Nova Award from AHA for Project C.A.R.E., a Creative Approach to Resident Empowerment, which focuses on improving health and safety for more than 800 residents living in a subsidized housing community. More information about Project C.A.R.E. is available at www.cantonmercy.com/cgi-win/mercyweb.exe/nova_award.htm.

A hospital week planning guide and ideas for celebrating the wonderful work of health care centers and the people behind them is available at www.imprintmall.com/hospitals/images/planning.pdf.

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/20020507_file29.htm.

C-sections only route for some rural moms
Columbus Dispatch
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
Mary Totten is five months into her third pregnancy and wants to avoid a Caesarean section.

Doctors fight rising rates
Mentor-Willoughby News-Herald
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
Taking the advice of U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Madison Village, the doctors of Lake Hospital System have organized themselves.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002
Health Advocates Rally in Support of Raising State's Cigarette Tax
Supporters of raising the state's cigarette tax by 50 cents per pack held a rally this afternoon at the Ohio Statehouse. Following the rally, members of the Senate Finance Committee continued hearings on Senate Bill 261, which would raise the tax as one way to fix the state's current budget deficit. Two anti-smoking teenagers, 18-year-old Kelly Park from Columbus and 14-year-old Kyra Healy from Lakewood, spoke in favor of the tax increase to help discourage teenagers from lighting their first cigarette. Also speaking was Sen. Jim Carnes (R-St. Clairsville), sponsor of SB 261, who said that the legislature must get the bill to Gov. Taft by June 1 if state coffers were going to benefit from the tax this fiscal year. It is estimated the tax would generate $26 million in new revenue in Fiscal Year 2002, which ends June 30, and $379 million in FY 2003. The administration's budget office estimates deficits of $500 million in FY 02 and $750 million in FY 03.

At its April meeting, the OHA Board of Trustees approved supporting a cigarette tax increase, if it was at least 50 cents per pack, to encourage Ohioans to live healthier lifestyles and give up the habit. It still remains uncertain whether there is enough support in either chamber of the legislature to pass a tax before the November elections. OHA last week urged hospital grassroots advocates to contact their hospital's state senator and voice support for the 50-cents-per-pack increase. See the May 3 OHA Advocacy Report at www.ohanet.org/government/advocacy_report.asp for additional details. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

JCAHO Mailing Core Measure Participation Forms
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is in the process of mailing to all accredited hospitals the core measure participation forms that are due to JCAHO by June 30. All hospitals are required to identify the measures, either core measures or non-core measures (ORYX), that they will begin collecting with July 1, 2002 discharges.

Hospitals will not receive confirmation from JCAHO that their form(s) have been received. The forms will be available next week on the JCAHO Web site at www.jcaho.org. They are currently available on the CARE system Web page at http://caresystem.ohanet.org under “What’s New.” (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@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/20020508_castle66.htm.

Hospital food overcomes its bad reputation
Canton Repository
Wednesday, May 08, 2002
Over the decades, their somewhat captive audiences have complained mightily about mushy meals and mystery meat, dubbing most dishes inedible and indigestible, overcooked and underseasoned. (On the plus side, the food provided much fodder for stand-up comedians.)

Sick Sam a most patient patient
Toledo Blade
Wednesday, May 08, 2002
Sam Owens goes the extra mile for nursing students at Owens Community College.

Thursday, May 9, 2002
Provisional Trauma Status Still in Flux
OHA continues to work towards a mechanism to prevent hospitals seeking verification as a trauma center from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) from being shut out of the process if the hospital is not verified by November 2002, when Ohio’s new trauma law takes effect. State Senator Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, has invited OHA to participate in a stakeholders meeting May 14 to try to resolve the issue.

Proposals under consideration include development of a provisional designation system, as supported by the OHA Board of Trustees, or allowing those hospitals already in the verification pipeline to continue in that process even if it is not complete by November.

Other issues of concern to the OHA Board include: Helping hospitals that have lost ACS verification to continue providing service on a provisional basis until recertification can take place; allowing a mechanism for new hospitals to become certified as Level I, II or III trauma centers after November 2002; and addressing the issue of diversion and conditions under which Level I hospitals could divert patients.

OHA will continue working with legislators and state agencies, including the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Department of Public Safety, to address hospitals’ concerns as the trauma law nears implementation. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@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/20020509_clutch89.htm.

Owners propose housing, retail, health care at former St. Luke's
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Thursday, May 09, 2002
The owners of the closed St. Luke's Medical Center are proposing a $70 million project that would transform the 28-acre campus into a community of up to 100 new townhouses and single-family homes, retail space and a health-care center.

UC wins share of $5 million health research grant
Cincinnati Enquirer
Thursday, May 09, 2002
The University of Cincinnati has been awarded the largest share of a five-year $5 million grant that may someday lead to better chemical sensors to fight bioterrorism, new types of fuel cells and improved treatments for several diseases.

Friday, May 10, 2002
CMS Proposes Inpatient PPS Rule
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week proposed a new rule for fiscal year 2003 to include a 2.75 percent payment increase in the inpatient prospective payment system (PPS). The 2003 inpatient PPS begins Oct. 1. The 2.75 percent increase reflects the hospital market basket, 3.3 percent, minus 0.55 percent, as mandated by Congress. The updated rule also includes improvements in hospital guidelines under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, designed to ensure that patients with possible emergency conditions receive appropriate care. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register May 9 at www.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html. Comments will be accepted until July 8 and a final rule will be published later this year. More information is available in a CMS press release at www.cms.gov/media/press/current_pr.asp. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org)

Don’t Limit Yourself…
Register for the OHA annual meeting, themed “Limitless Vision. Boundless Opportunities.” This year’s keynote speakers are Joe Flower, a nationally recognized authority on issues of change, technology and community health; and David Classen, M.D., who works extensively on patient safety matters. Both speakers will examine the ever-changing world of health care and how hospitals can adapt and effect positive change in this environment. More information and registration information is available on OHA’s Web site at www.ohanet.org/education/2002annualmtg.htm.

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/20020510_control00.htm.

Ohio women can get Medicaid for cancer
Cincinnati Enquirer
Friday, May 10, 2002
WASHINGTON - Ohio women without insurance who have breast or cervical cancer soon will be eligible for extended Medicaid benefits to cover their treatment, the Bush administration said Thursday.

Budget-balancing bill may include drug discount program
Columbus Dispatch
Friday, May 10, 2002
Top state officials are attempting to jump-start a prescription drug discount program -- sought for months by Gov. Bob Taft -- by plugging it into the newest budget-balancing bill.

Hospital, YMCA share facility in Boardman
Warren Tribune-Chronicle
Friday, May 10, 2002
YOUNGSTOWN - Mahoning County Commissioners on Thursday took action that clears the way for a YMCA branch in Boardman, giving county YMCA members a second location to exercise and hold meetings.