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Monday, October 14, 2002
Instrument
Evaluates Hospital Domestic Violence Programs
A new Web-based instrument that hospitals can use to
evaluate the quality and effectiveness of their domestic violence
programs is now available. The instrument asks 38 questions to assess
how well hospital-based programs train employees to recognize domestic
violence, screen patients for risks of domestic violence and future
injury, and provide intervention such as medical treatment, victim
advocacy services and follow-up. The instrument can be used for a
variety of purposes including benchmarking, baseline assessment prior to
program improvement, and evaluation of long-term effectiveness of
domestic violence treatments.
Provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the instrument and instructions can be downloaded at http://www.ahrq.gov/research/domesticviol/. Visit http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2002/domvpr.htm for a press release on the new evaluation instrument.
Bricker & Eckler Offers HIPAA
Seminar
The law firm of Bricker & Eckler will host a
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) central Ohio
regional meeting on Oct. 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Columbus.
The agenda includes a presentation by Gretchen McBeath, a partner with
Bricker & Eckler, on the final privacy rule and an explanation of
the Ohio HIPAA Implementation Organization for Electronic Data
Interchange (O.H.I.O. for EDI). Participants will also discuss future
central Ohio HIPAA meeting plans and network with other involved in, or
affected by, HIPAA implementation. Lunch will be provided to
participants free of charge by Bricker & Eckler. Please RSVP to
Stacey Walton at 614.221.7614 or staceyw@ohanet.org
by Oct. 17. For directions, visit www.bricker.com/firminfo/directions/.
DAILY NEWS CLIPS
(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.)
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
State
Sets Guidelines on Bioterrorism Response
The State of Ohio Security Task Force recently approved
state guidelines for hospitals dealing with a threat of bioterrorism.
Guidelines for Threatened Human Biological Incident provides guidance
and requirements for hospitals on assisting local officials in the event
of a human biological incident and gives a brief overview of patient
symptoms, communicability of agents and basic decontamination processes.
It also stipulates that the Incident Command System should be used to
manage all incidents and that all hospitals must report suspected
terrorism events to local or state public health, local or state EMA,
the Ohio Highway patrol or the FBI.
The guidelines also outline the necessary actions hospitals and responders must take following a biological incident. Any organization reporting an exposure must complete a Patient Data Collection Form for Suspected Biological Exposure, and must comply with the guidelines of the “Bioterrorism Readiness Plan: A Template for Healthcare Facilities” available at www.apic.org or www.cdc.gov. For more information, OHA members can look for an upcoming bulletin at www.ohanet.org/bulletins/. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)
DAILY NEWS CLIPS
(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.)
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
VBAC Rate on Decline
OHA
studied trends in uterine rupture and vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)
in 116 Ohio acute care hospitals, finding that the rate of both declined
from 1997 to 2001. The reduction in the number of ruptures could be the
result of a reduction in overall VBAC, a decline in the use of drugs
used to induce labor or possible differences in hospital coding
practices.
The study showed VBAC rates peaked in 1998 and have since declined 32 percent and uterine rupture rates, peaking in 1999 at 7.8 per 1,000 deliveries, decreased to 5.4 in 2001. The overall decrease in VBAC reflected similar reductions in all hospitals studied, regardless of the size of the facility or number of deliveries performed.
OHA’s study responded to questions generated by recent recommendations from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) regarding VBAC. ACOG found that inducing labor in VBAC resulted in the highest risk of rupture. For more information on the study, contact David Engler at davide@ohanet.org or 614.221.7614.
Hospitals
Lead the
Way
Ohio hospitals continue
to receive recognition for quality in a variety of areas, including
community leadership, technology, innovative programs and consumer
satisfaction.
Four leaders in Ohio health care were recognized as leaders in their community in “Power: Dayton’s Most Influential People,” a list published by the Dayton Business Journal. They are:
- Laurence Harkness, president and CEO, The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton
- Doug Deck, president and CEO, Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Center
- Tom Breitenbach, president and CEO, Premier Health Partners
- Frank Perez, president, Kettering Medical Center
The Ohio State University Health System, Columbus, was named one of the country’s 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems by Hospitals & Health Networks for improving its services through information technology. It also received an innovator award for its wireless clinical reporting system that enables staff to retrieve images and medical records via the Web. Aultman Hospital, Canton, was also recognized as one of the ten most improved facilities in the field of technology.
Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, and Akron General Medical Center were awarded Consumer Choice Awards by National Research Corp. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute also recently awarded funding to Toledo Hospital to improve the cardiovascular health of those in its area at increased risk for heart disease and stroke. (Mary Yost, maryy@ohanet.org)
DAILY NEWS CLIPS
(Editor’s note: The news clips are being password-protected on the OHA Web site. OHA members will be notified separately of the password. HEALTH e-NEWS Plus subscribers can still access news clips through the daily e-mail without a password.)
Thursday, October 17, 2002
Congressman
Strickland Supports Hospital Relief
U.S.
Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Lucasville) this week delivered a statement
calling for congressional action on hospital reimbursements and payments
under Medicare and Medicaid. He focused on the need to provide all
citizens with access to quality hospital care, emphasizing the need to
pass provider reimbursement legislation.
Strickland urged his fellow House members to reverse cuts to the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital program that, through Ohio's Hospital Care Assurance Program, reimburses hospitals for a percentage of the uncompensated care they provide. He also encouraged his colleagues to aid hospitals in rural and small communities by supporting funding for these hospitals, allowing more hospitals to qualify for critical access hospital status and eliminating the rural/urban distinction in the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System to create equal payment levels at the "large urban" rate. In closing, Strickland congratulated Congress for passing the Nurse Reinvestment Act and called for full funding for the new law in response to the nursing workforce shortage.
Congress will recess this week to prepare for the November midterm elections, and will return after Thanksgiving to complete its legislative session. OHA member hospitals are encouraged to contact their members of Congress during the next few weeks to urge enactment of hospital relief this year. The full text of Strickland’s statement will be available at http://thomas.loc.gov/r107/r107.html. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)
CMS Rolls Out Nursing Home Quality Initiative
The
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week announced
the national rollout of the Nursing Home Quality Initiative, a program
designed to provide consumers detailed information and quality measures
on the nation’s Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes. Ohio
was one of six states that piloted the program using the minimal data
set.
Under the program, hospitals with nursing homes and hospital-based skilled nursing facilities have until Oct. 22 to review data collected by CMS, detect errors and notify CMS before the data is released to the public in mid-November. At that time, quality measurement scores will be published online at Nursing Home Compare, www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/home.asp, and scores for the largest 50 nursing homes in each state will be published in at least one newspaper in the state.
To avoid technical difficulties, CMS asks that each facility assign the duty of assessing the data to the individual staff member who typically deals with the Quality Improvement and Evaluation System. This should reduce the likelihood of being locked out of the system, which occurs after three failed attempts to log in. A CMS help line is available at 888.676.0724. More information is available at www.cms.gov/providers/nursinghomes/nhi/default.asp. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)
DAILY NEWS CLIPS
(Editor’s note: The news clips are being password-protected on the OHA Web site. OHA members will be notified separately of the password. HEALTH e-NEWS Plus subscribers can still access news clips through the daily e-mail without a password.)
Friday, October 18, 2002
Calling All Doctors:
Med Mal Rally Planned
Working to get the word out that soaring medical
malpractice costs are threatening access to care for all Ohioans, the
Ohio State Medical Association is hosting a statewide rally for all
physicians, staff and patients Oct. 30 at 10 a.m. on the West Lawn at
the Statehouse in Columbus. Hospitals are encouraged to support
physicians wishing to attend the rally in support of pending tort reform
legislation and to stress the importance of the Supreme Court elections
on Nov. 5. The three pending bills are Senate Bill 120, which would make
liability proportional to a defendant’s degree of fault or
responsibility, S.B. 179, which would modernize peer review law, and S.B.
281, which would, among other things, limit contingency fees for
personal injury lawyers and cap non-economic damages for pain and
suffering in malpractice lawsuits at $300,000. More information about
the rally is available at www.osma.org.
The Ohio Supreme Court has three times in three decades voided the legislature’s efforts to enact tort reform. Friends of Ohio Hospitals, the political action committee of OHA, has endorsed Justice Evelyn Stratton and Maureen O’Connor in this year’s court races as candidates who could return fairness and stability to the court. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)
Foundation Accepting Proposals for Tobacco Grants
The Foundation for Healthy Communities is accepting applications for
grants funded by national tobacco settlement dollars for health care
services for uninsured pregnant women and children. Grants awarded will
range from $25,000 to $50,000 for an 18-month grant period from January
2003 through June 2004. Hospitals that received tobacco dollars for
services to uninsured pregnant women and children in the fall of 2001
are eligible for renewal provided all grant dollars will be fully spent
by June 2003. All new or renewal proposals must be postmarked by Friday,
Nov. 22 and grants will be awarded in January 2003.
Criteria to receive a grant has been expanded to provide more flexibility in the use of these funds, such as the inclusion of non-medical services. Find a fact sheet, application form, proposal checklist and other pertinent information online at www.ohanet.org/HealthyCommunities/tobacco/default.htm. (Lynne Ayres, lynnea@ohanet.org)
OHA Welcomes New Foundation Assistant
OHA congratulates Carla Peery, who was recently named
assistant to the director of the Foundation for Healthy Communities, a
newly created position to support the organization’s grants management
and administration. Carla has been a member of the OHA team for 14 years
and was most recently assistant to the president. Learn more about the
Foundation for Healthy Communities at www.ohanet.org/healthycommunities
and learn more about the OHA staff at www.ohanet.org/about_oha/.
DAILY NEWS CLIPS
(Editor’s note: The news clips are being password-protected on the OHA Web site. OHA members will be notified separately of the password. HEALTH e-NEWS Plus subscribers can still access news clips through the daily e-mail without a password.)