The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires providers and insurers to adopt a single national health care claim and transaction data set effective Oct 16. Both the American Hospital Association and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Exchange have warned CMS that many providers and payers will not be ready, and that strict enforcement of the standards will disrupt current claims submission and payment cycles that will take months and many dollars to correct.

Insisting it lacks the authority to delay the October start, CMS states it will focus on voluntary compliance with enforcement only on the basis of a complaint from a covered entity that its operations are being hampered by the non-compliance of a trading partner. When a complaint is received, CMS will notify the provider or insurer that is the subject and give it an opportunity to show it is acting in good faith, with a plan to reach compliance as soon as possible. Additional information and a complaint form are available at www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org)

This provision in House Bill 95, the 2004-2005 state budget bill, means there will be no more penalties for late filing with the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). However, while the notice of intent requirement has been removed, the department still must be notified prior to initiating a "Senate Bill 50" service for adult and pediatric cardiac catheterization, open heart surgery, pediatric cardiovascular surgery, pediatric intensive care, solid organ transplantation and bone marrow/stem cell transplantation services.

Information reported in the “notices of intent” will no longer be readily available on the ODH Web site; however, some information will still be available through the annual hospital planning and registration reports and freestanding facility reports filed with ODH. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

The institute will consist of three day-and-a-half meetings over the course of four months. The sessions are scheduled for Sept. 9-10, Nov. 6-7, and Dec. 3-4. All sessions will be held at The Quest Business Center in Columbus.

All nurse managers, nursing directors and emerging nursing leaders are invited to attend. Registration forms are available on the OHA Web site at www.ohanet.org/education/education_programs.asp and must be completed before Aug. 15. Please direct any questions and completed registration forms to Denise Smith, VHA Central, desmith@vha.com.

GAO found that multiple factors, including falling investment income and rising reinsurance costs, have contributed to recent increases in premium rates. But the primary cause of increased rates in the long run appears to be losses on medical malpractice claims - the largest part of insurers’ costs.

Charged with identifying changes to improve the medical malpractice market, GAO does not recommend executive action, but rather continued evaluation of the market and data collection through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and state insurance regulators.

The full GAO report is available online at www.gao.gov/new.items/d03702.pdf. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

Nurses at OhioHealth in Columbus are encouraging elementary school students that “You can be a nurse, too” through a coloring book the nurses developed just for kids. Created to recognize nurses and the nursing profession during National Nurses Week, the coloring book shows students the variety of nursing opportunities available. Creation of the book has also been a morale-booster for the nurses.

Committed to promoting worker safety, Medina General Hospital has developed a program called “Safety Works” to enhance the safety of all hospital employees through education and incentives for good safety measures. Education efforts include a poster program and special features in the internal hospital newsletter. The hospital has also created special rewards for departments with no work-related injuries and other safety successes.

For more about these programs and others like them, visit OHA’s Hospital Workforce Forum Best Practices at www.ohanet.org/workforce/practices/. OHA continues to collect best practices for recruitment and retention. Visit OHA’s Web site or contact Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org, for more information.

All staff members from ODH-funded clinics and projects, including WIC, Family Planning, Dental, CFHS, BCMH, and STDs, are invited to attend. All other health care professionals may attend if space is available. Registration is available online at www.odh.state.oh.us/ODHPrograms/ProgList/odhprog.asp. Registration deadlines begin Aug. 29 for the first session.