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Monday, November 25, 2002
The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association (GDAHA) was honored for its efforts to enhance quality of care for patients, receiving a 2002 Ernest A. Codman Award from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). JCAHO will present the official awards on Dec. 11 in Chicago during its National Conference on Quality and Safety in Health Care.
GDAHA was one of six recipients of a Codman award, selected by a panel of national experts in quality measurement and improvement. The organization reduced mortality rates by 36 percent over three years by establishing measures by which to compare cost, quality and patient satisfaction. The resulting data was used to improve the health care provided to its community. The group’s efforts targeted heart attacks and saved an estimated 150 lives in member hospitals. Participants in the project included Good Samaritan Hospital, Grandview Hospital, Kettering Medical Center and Miami Valley Hospital, and Dayton Heart Hospital joined the initiative in 2002.
For more information on the Codman award recipients, visit www.jcaho.org. (David Engler, davide@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.)
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Hospital Cooperation Needed on Smallpox Immunization
As part of a long-term, national plan to prepare for the possibility of a smallpox bioterrorism event, hospitals are being asked to help identify volunteer health care workers who, when necessary, would receive smallpox immunization. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that in the first phase of a pre-event smallpox vaccination program, each acute care hospital identify a group of volunteer health care workers who would be vaccinated and trained to provide in-room medical care for the first few smallpox patients requiring hospital admission and to evaluate and manage patients who present in the emergency department with suspected smallpox. The second phase would be voluntary smallpox immunization to first responders, EMS, and additional health care workers, with the third phase being voluntary immunization to the general public. All first round immunizations will be given at local health departments, not hospitals.
OHA is working with the Ohio Department of Health, local departments of health and the regional allied hospital associations to develop a plan to select first phase volunteers. Hospitals will soon receive a short survey and be asked to help estimate how many individuals from each hospital would be vaccinated in the first phase. Hospitals will be asked to return the surveys no later than Dec. 4 to either OHA or their regional allied associations. The Ohio Department of Health must submit a completed plan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Dec. 9.
OHA will update member hospitals on the preparation plan as more details become available. (Carol Jacobson, mailto:carolj@ohanet.org; Rick Sites, mailto:ricks@ohanet.org)
Med Mal Cap Bill on
the Move
The House Civil and Commercial Law Committee today elected Senate Bill
281 as the vehicle to possibly enact legislation to cap non-economic
damages in medical malpractice liability lawsuits. Converging SB 281
with elements of the recently introduced House Bill 665, a substitute
version of SB 281 will be unveiled early next week. The substitute bill
is likely to include a $1 million cap on non-economic, catastrophic
damages and may eliminate language to limit the contingency fees of
personal injury attorneys. Upon review of the House version of the bill,
OHA will ask member hospitals to contact their legislators either in
support of the bill, or to request changes to the legislation. (Bridget
Gargan, mailto:bridgetg@ohanet.org)
Med Mal Liability
Bill Passes Committee
Legislation to link medical malpractice liability to actual
responsibility today passed the House Civil and Commercial Law committee
on a party-line vote with Republicans supporting Senate Bill 120.
Language was added to the bill to address product liability in the case
of defective products, which could potentially jeopardize support for
the bill within the business community. Though the amendment would not
directly impact hospitals, OHA will work with legislators and affected
parties to work out potential differences. SB 120 now heads to the House
floor. (Bridget Gargan, mailto:bridgetg@ohanet.org)
Additional
Cleveland HMO Closes Shop
The Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) this week announced plans to
revoke the business license of Peoples Health Plan of Ohio, Inc., making
it the forth Medicaid HMO to be shut down in the Cleveland area in the
past five years. ODI alleged the plan made false representations
regarding its assets as part of its certificate of authority application
to meet capital and surplus requirements, misrepresented cash infusions
made to lift supervision, failed to notify ODI that contracts a major
provider and its claims processing subcontractor were terminated, and
failed to properly notify the department of these terminations and other
material changes to the plan’s operation.
ODI placed Peoples into supervision in March, after the organization did not meet minimum net worth requirements to conduct business as an HMO in Ohio. A hearing has been set for Jan. 6, 2003, to allow the company to respond to 11 alleged violations of state insurance laws and regulations. The Ohio Department of Family Services terminated its contract with Peoples in November, and Peoples’ 8,747 Medicaid enrollees will be moved to CareSource Health Plan effective Jan. 1, 2003. For more information, see ODI’s press release at http://www.ohioinsurance.gov/Newsroom/scripts/Release.asp?ReleaseID=1083. (Mary Gallagher, mailto:maryg@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, November 27 2002
Hospitals Lead the Way
Ohio’s hospitals continue to receive local and national recognition
for providing top-notch quality health care to their communities.
Seven Ohio hospitals were named in a listing of the 100 top cardiovascular hospitals for 2002 published by Modern Healthcare magazine.
- Cleveland Clinic Foundation
- Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Center
Four of these facilities, Good Samaritan Hospital, University Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Deaconess Hospital, also appeared on a similar list of 100 exemplary cardiovascular hospitals produced by Solucient.
Fit Pregnancy magazine honored University Hospitals of Cleveland MacDonald Women’s Hospital as one of the “Top 10 Hospitals in the U.S. to Have a Baby,” also naming Nancy Judge, M.D., an ob/gyn at MacDonald, as one of the five most beloved obstetricians.
In other public rankings, Grandview Hospital, Dayton, received a five-star rating for excellency in pulmonary care from HealthGrades. HealthGrades rated the hospital as the best provider of pulmonary care in the central Dayton area and among the top 15 percent in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, community acquired pneumonia and aspiration pneumonia. The National Research Corporation awarded The Toledo Hospital a 2002 Consumer Choice award and Parma Hospital’s Behavioral Center for Older Adults was selected as the National Clinical Program of the Year by Horizon Mental Health Management. Holzer Medical Center, Gallipolis, was named 2002 Jackson County Southeast Ohio Regional Council Business of the Year after growing from 68 employees to nearly 200 employees since it opened in 2000, expanding its urgent care service and adding Dental Health Partners of Holzer Medical Center. (Mary Yost, maryy@ohanet.org)
September 11 Fund Reports Results
A national group that collected more than $503 million
for victims of the September 11 attacks has developed a report detailing
how the millions were spent. The $503 million includes nearly $200,000
in contributions from Ohio hospitals employees, which were sent directly
or through OHA’s Foundation for Healthy Communities to the New York
Community Trust and United Way of New York City. More than two million
individuals, 30,000 foundations or non-profit organizations, and 35,000
businesses and their workers donated more than $503 million. Total
contributions to September 11 related charitable organizations were $2.5
billion worldwide.
The September 11th Fund disbursed its donations to assist more than 100,000 people with the following services: cash assistance to victims and families, totaling about $244 million or 77 percent of the funds; specialized mental health counseling and referrals; training and job counseling for displaced workers and those who lost jobs; meals and support for Ground Zero rescue teams and recovery volunteers; free legal advice and representation; and small business grants for rebuilding businesses. For details from the report, contact Foundation for Healthy Communities Director Lynne Ayres at lynnea@ohanet.org or 614.221.7614.
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.)