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Monday,
December 1, 2003
Deaconess Hospital, Cleveland, unexpectedly closed its doors last week after filing for bankruptcy Nov. 21. Two days before closing, a bankruptcy judge had approved a temporary financing agreement for the hospital to remain open through at least late December. Deaconess transferred all of its patients to other local facilities the day of closure. The 81-year-old hospital had filed bankruptcy twice in the last four years. Deaconess was not a member of OHA.
Another Cleveland-area hospital, UHHS Saint Michael Hospital, is set to close on Dec. 19. Most employees are being absorbed into other University Hospitals Health Systems facilities. No other Ohio hospitals have closed this year. A complete list of other hospital closures since 1980 is online at www.ohanet.org/media/closures.htm.
Medicare+Choice Plans Make Changes
Medicare+Choice plans Sterling 1 and Health Assurance will discontinue
or reduce operations in Ohio, causing 667 Ohio consumers to find a new
Medicare health care plan by the end of the year. Sterling Option 1 is
withdrawing from 46 Ohio counties and Health Assurance, which operated
in Belmont, Columbiana, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Mahoning, and
Trumbull Counties, is leaving the state. Anthem Senior Advantage is
expanding its current Medicare HMO into Stark County.
Medicare beneficiaries affected by these changes should have received termination letters by Oct. 2, 2003. Those losing coverage have the option to choose another Medicare+Choice plan (HMO, PPO or private fee-for-service plans) if other are available in their service area, or they may return to original Medicare with or without purchasing Medicare supplemental coverage. Ohio Medicare+Choice plan information by county and other help in choosing a new plan is available from the Ohio Department of Insurance at www.ohioinsurance.gov or 1.800.686.1578. Beneficiaries whose plans withdraw will be automatically in original Medicare on Jan. 1 if no alternative plan is selected. (Berna Bell, bernab@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, December 2, 2003
In an effort to study the pattern of influenza-associated encephalopathy in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requests hospital information on patients with acute encephalopathy who meet certain other criteria. The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is working with the CDC on this study and strongly encourages Ohio hospitals to participate.
Please supply information on any patient with acute encephalopathy who meets the following criteria:
Report suspected cases to the Ohio local health jurisdiction in which the patient resides and it will contact the ODH Immunization Program. CDC would also like to receive reports about any deaths in patients under 18 years old with evidence of influenza virus infection.
Current data indicates that the U.S. is experiencing an early and severe influenza season and the CDC continues to encourage immunization for people at risk of complications of influenza and health care workers. ODH recommends influenza and pneumonia vaccination of appropriate patients prior to discharge from the hospital. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)
Wednesday,
December 3, 2003
CMS’ Scully Resigns
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Tom
Scully announced today he will resign effective Dec. 15, following his
three years at CMS. Scully became the ninth administrator of the agency
March 22, 2001. Scully has not identified future plans. An acting
administrator will be named prior to Dec. 15. For more, see a CMS news
release at
www.cms.gov/media/press/release.asp?Counter=917.
Hospitals Lead the Way
Hospitals are making their way as leaders on local, state and even
national fronts through their innovative programs and quality care.
Winning national acclaim, the Cleveland Clinic Health System received the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization’s Ernest A. Codman Award for the network category. The honor awards excellence in the use of outcomes measurement to achieve improvements in the quality and safety of health care. The Clinic is also fighting tobacco use by funding a 30-second public service announcement to be shown in movie theaters showing screenwriter Joe Eszterhas warning audiences “not to get suckered into smoking by Hollywood.”
Tri-Health was named the Business Courier’s Cincinnati’s Best Place to Work for giant companies in 2003 for its benefits, support programs and fun activities. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center was named a 2003 finalist in Cincinnati’s Best Place to Work for its concierge program that aids employees with everyday tasks such as picking up dry cleaning or washing cars.
Premier Health Partners and Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton have joined forces with officials from the City of Dayton and CityWide Development Corporation to invest millions of dollars for redevelopment in local neighborhoods in an initiative called Phoenix Project. Also in Dayton, the staff of CareFlight Air and Mobile, affiliated with Miami Valley Hospital, was recently named the 2003 Program of the Year by the Association of Air Medical Services.
To reduce the wait in waiting rooms, St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima deployed secure instant messaging software to quickly alert admitting staff of a patient’s arrival. The program was profiled in Health Data Management magazine. Across the city, the Society of Chest Pain Centers has granted the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center to Lima Memorial Hospital, making it the 9th in the nation to be accredited.
Licking Memorial Hospital, Newark, has received the first-ever TETHIE Award, presented by The Emerging Technologies & Healthcare Innovations Congress in Washington, D.C., for the "most innovative facility that uses technology to reduce medical errors" for its new house-wide medication bar-coding system and electronic medication administration record that has reduced medication errors by 45 percent.
Cindy Gatens, a clinical nurse specialist at the Ohio State University Medical Center, was awarded the Educator Award from the National Association of Rehabilitation Nurses. (Mary Yost, maryy@ohanet.org)
Thursday,
December 4, 2003
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will make three supplemental Hospital Care Assurance Program (HCAP) payments to eligible hospitals over the next few weeks. These supplemental payments are a result of overpayments to hospitals in the 2000, 2001, and 2002 programs. $436,000 will be distributed on Dec. 9, $1.56 million on Dec. 16, and $1.03 million on Dec. 23. Hospitals with electronic transfer accounts will receive supplemental payments by transfer, while remaining hospitals will receive payments by mail. Hospitals that received the maximum amounts allowable in any of the three programs are not eligible for the supplemental payment from that program. (Ryan Biles, ryanb@ohanet.org)
Patient Safety Site Launched
OHA and Ohio KePRO will offer an online introduction of the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Web M&M site, the nation’s first
patient safety site designed for physicians, on Jan. 7 and 8, 2004. The
site,
www.webmm.ahrq.gov, presents five interesting cases of medical
errors in various specialties each month and offers free continuing
medical education for physicians successfully completing an interactive
spotlight case. It also contains downloadable PowerPoint cases that may
be used for patient safety education and provides a users’ forum for
physicians to post and react to comments regarding medical errors.
Those interested can register until noon on Jan. 6, 2004, and may choose one of the two available tours: Jan. 7 from noon to 1 p.m. EST or Jan. 8 from 1-2 p.m. EST. For registration, log on to https://ifmcevents.webex.com. The statewide introduction will be presented as a free Web-Ex Conference Call. Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, director of AHRQ, and Lucian Leape, MD, adjunct professor of health policy, Harvard School of Public Health, will give opening remarks. For those who are unable to participate in the conference call, the presentation will be available at www.ohiokepro.com after Jan. 19. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)
Friday,
December 5, 2003
Each year many organizations recognize hospitals and health care workers for outstanding performance in areas ranging from technology to patient safety to marketing. The Ohio Award for Excellence (OAE) is one such program, recognizing Ohio-based organizations that practice measurable continuous improvement and utilize processes to achieve customer-focused performance excellence. Hospitals and other organizations can participate in the application process and individuals can complete examiner training to aid in the selection of OAE designees. Patterned after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, OAE examiners evaluate organizations based on standards including leadership, strategic planning, customer and patient focus, information and analysis, process management and organization performance results.
OHA works to support hospitals taking part in the OAE application process, as it follows OHA quality and workforce objectives. Rosalie Weakland, OHA’s Director of Quality Improvement, recently completed examiners training and will lead an evaluation team over the next several months. For more information on OAE, visit www.oae.org or contact Rosalie Weakland at 614.221.7614 or rosaliew@ohanet.org.
Web Site Matches Job Seekers, Employers
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services recently launched a new
computer system to match Ohio employers and job seekers. Through Sharing
Career Opportunities and Training Information (SCOTI), viewers can
explore job openings, register for job matching assistance and access
other career resources. Employers can list job openings, view
information about applicants and link to other business-related
resources. SCOTI also will include labor market information including
average wages by occupation and location and will enable Ohio to
accurately report labor exchange performance to the federal government.
Visit
www.scoti.ohio.gov to review the new public system funded through
the federal Workforce Investment Act. (Jean Scholz,
jeans@ohanet.org)