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Monday,
September 27, 2004
MedCentral Health System’s Crestline Hospital closed last week, after the local county court of common pleas denied a temporary injunction to keep the full-service hospital open. With Crestline’s elimination of emergency and inpatient care, patients are being referred to MedCentral’s Mansfield Hospital or Shelby Hospital, or Galion Community Hospital.
Renamed the MedCentral/Crestline Health Center, the facility will continue to offer blood draws and general X-ray services and will provide outpatient services for a six-month trial period. Based on services rendered during these six months, MedCentral will continue to work with physicians and community members to determine which services the health center will offer.
Most Crestline Hospital employees relocated to other positions within MedCentral and some will staff the outpatient services at the Crestline Health Center. For more information, a press release is available online at www.medcentral.org/news/rel_crestline3.htm. A complete list of hospital closures since 1980 is available at www.ohanet.org/media/closures.htm.
Hospital Receives Critical Access Designation
Galion Community Hospital
has been granted Critical Access Hospital (CAH) designation, effective
Oct. 1. The federal CAH program entitles select small, rural hospitals
to Medicare cost-based reimbursement. To become a CAH, hospitals must
provide 24-hour emergency services along with inpatient care, laboratory
and radiology services, and meet other specific criteria.
Galion Community Hospital is the 26th Ohio hospital given the designation. For a complete list of Ohio CAHs, go to www.ohanet.org/about_oha/cah.asp. (David Hendershot, davidh@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Ohio County Profiles, produced by the Ohio Hospital Association, now offer county-specific information on who pays for health care, leading causes of death, the economic impact of hospitals on the communities in which they reside, and the frequency of hospital use by county residents.
Health care is funded through a variety of private payers and public programs. A graph illustrates the proportion of county residents covered by state and federal funding programs, employment-based and individually purchased health insurance and those who are uninsured. The overall trends indicate a decline in employment-based insurance, with increasing incidence of uninsured and reliance on government programs.
The profiles also include a list of the leading causes of death, based on actual deaths, not age-adjusted rates, and the local impact of hospitals on their communities. As one of the largest industries in the economy, hospitals generate significant tax revenues to state, local, and federal governments in addition to employee compensation. The final category -- patient volume -- tracks the health of a population and suggests opportunities for interventions to reduce avoidable hospitalizations and increase access to primary care. For more information or to view the County Profiles, visit www.ohanet.org/publications/special/county_profiles.asp. (Berna Bell, bernab@ohanet.org)
HCAP Payments Delayed
The second and final round of this year's HCAP payments to hospitals
will be delayed at least five days. The payments were scheduled to be
released to eligible hospitals Wednesday, September 29th. An error has
been identified in the database utilized by the Ohio Department of Job
and Family Services (ODJFS) to calculate payment amounts, so all
payments will be withheld until the error is corrected. OHA staff will
be working with ODJFS to correct the error and to keep hospitals
informed of the new payment date and any adjustments in the payments. A
new final HCAP model will be posted to
www.ohanet.org/hcap/ as soon as it is available. (Ryan Biles,
ryanb@ohanet.org)
Wednesday,
September 29, 2004
Legislation introduced last week would create a refundable tax credit for nurses who teach nursing at postsecondary educational institutions. Senate Bill 268, sponsored by Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), is just one effort underway to increase the number of health care faculty in Ohio and ease the shortage of nurses and other key positions.
In addition to legislative remedies, Ohio’s hospitals and schools continue working to bolster programs for key health care workers. Many hospitals support staff members interested in teaching, loaning qualified employees to local universities. Other hospitals offer financial support, funding faculty salaries to allow schools to hire additional staff.
With a shortage of nurses and other key health care workers in the state, students and those interested in changing careers are being encouraged to consider a health care career. But with current faculty constraints, many programs are unable to expand fast enough to meet the growing demand. The Ohio Board of Nursing surveyed schools of nursing and found 24 faculty members left their positions at the end of the academic year in June 2003 and 151 additional faculty members are expected to retire within five years. Hospitals, schools, the legislature and other key groups all play roles in easing the shortage of health care faculty and ultimately filling the openings for nurses and others in Ohio’s hospitals. (Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org)
HHS Pilot Liability Program Promotes Settlements
Attempting to ease the medical liability insurance crisis, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week announced a new
pilot program to provide certain patients a way to settle medical injury
claims without resorting to litigation. The “Early Offers” program
encourages settlements, rather than litigation, for patients claiming
they were injured by medical mistakes. The voluntary program, which
began Sept. 21, applies to claims made against HHS by patients treated
at federally funded community health centers or through Indian Health
Services programs.
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson looks to the pilot program as a national model for resolving medical liability cases in a more efficient manner, saving both time and money. For more information about the pilot program, view an HHS news release at www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040921b.html. To learn how the medical malpractice insurance crisis affects health care in Ohio, visit www.AskYourDoctorOhio.com. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)
Thursday,
September 30, 2004
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 4571, known as the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2004, in a 229-174 vote. Introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the bill is the House’s latest attempt to reduce “frivolous” lawsuits.
Although the bill was not passed specifically to address medical liability insurance problems, proponents say it would emphasize attorney accountability by suspending attorneys’ licenses for filing three or more frivolous lawsuits in the same federal court. In addition, the bill would also prevent “forum shopping,” when lawsuits are filed in places other than where the plaintiff lives or was injured, or where the defendant’s principal place of business is located.
The liability reform battle now turns to the U.S. Senate once more, where it is unlikely that the bill’s proponents, including Sens. Mike Dewine (R-OH) and George Voinovich (R-OH), can gather the necessary 60 votes to break a probable Senate filibuster. Similar measures have been passed in Ohio, but the Ohio Supreme Court has struck down tort reform measures that legislators have passed three times in the past three decades. To learn more about Ohio’s medial liability insurance crisis and its connection to the Ohio Supreme Court, go to www.AskYourDoctorOhio.com. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)
ISMP Extends Deadline for Hospital Self Assessment
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has extended to Oct.
29 the deadline for submitting data to its 2004 Medication Safety Self
Assessment for hospitals, and is encouraging hospitals that have not yet
completed the online survey to do so. OHA endorsed the survey, which
will gather information necessary to help hospitals make medication
delivery safer for patients by measuring hospitals’ progress since the
2000 survey and allowing them to compare their systems and practices to
those of other hospitals nationwide. ISMP estimates the preliminary
aggregate national data will be released in late 2004.
The survey was mailed to hospital pharmacy directors, and should be completed by a multidisciplinary team that could include the hospital's CEO, administrators, pharmacists, risk managers, nurses, physicians, patient safety officers and information services staff. For more information or to complete the survey, visit www.ismp.org/Survey/Hospital/Intro.htm or contact selfassess@ismp.org. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)
Friday,
October 1, 2004
Ohio’s hospitals continue to serve their communities as model employers committed to the quality of services they provide.
Working Mother Magazine recently named TriHealth, Cincinnati, as one of the nation’s 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004. The list honors organizations that foster health and wellbeing for working parents.
Setting a high standard, the following hospitals were named among the 99 Best Places to Work in Northeast Ohio by NorthCoast 99: EMH Regional Healthcare System, Elyria; Euclid Hospital; Lake Hospital System, Painesville; Akron General Medical Center; Lutheran Hospital, Cleveland; Robinson Memorial Hospital, Ravenna; South Pointe Hospital, Warrensville; Southwest General Health Center, Middleburg Heights; The Center for Health Affairs, Cleveland; The MetroHealth System, Cleveland; University Hospitals Health System, Cleveland; Ashtabula County Medical Center; Barberton Citizens Hospital; Fairview Hospital, Cleveland; Hillcrest Hospital, Mayfield Heights; Lakewood Hospital; Marymount Hospital, Garfield Heights; Summa Health System, Akron; and The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
The Ohio Award for Excellence program also recognized several Ohio hospitals were recognized for their commitment to quality improvement. Aultman Hospital, Canton, and Hillcrest Hospital, Mayfield Heights, received Achievement of Excellence designations; Grant Medical Center, Columbus, and Pomerene Hospital, Millersburg, received Commitment to Excellence designations; and Flower Hospital, Sylvania, and Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati received Pledge to Excellence designations.
Middletown Regional Hospital earned certification by the International Organization for Standardization, an international quality benchmark, and National Research Corporation recognized a number of Ohio hospitals with Consumer Choice Awards, identifying those facilities health care consumers chose as having the highest quality and image in their markets. The following hospitals received this award (some in multiple markets): Akron General Medical Center (Akron), The Cleveland Clinic (Akron, Cleveland, Youngstown), Aultman Hospital (Canton), The Christ Hospital (Cincinnati), Riverside Methodist Hospital (Columbus), Miami Valley Hospital (Dayton) and The Toledo Hospital (Toledo).
New technology also helps Ohio’s hospitals provide this high level of service to their patients. The Ohio State University Medical Center is the first system in the country using laser-guided robots to transport heavy materials throughout the complex. The robots free up staff to work with patients and others, and deliver supplies more efficiently. (Mary Sterenberg, marys@ohanet.org)
Register to Vote
Oct. 4 is the last day to register to vote
for the elections Nov. 2. Stay tuned to learn about voting by
absentee ballot if you can’t make it to the polls Nov. 2.