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Monday, July 4, 2005
OHA offices are closed in celebration of Independence Day.

Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Quality Measure Reports Temporarily Suspended
Due to concerns over antibiotic selection guidelines, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) have temporarily suspended public reporting of hospital performance on SIP-2 (appropriate antibiotic selection for surgical prophylaxis), as a measure of hospital quality.

CMS and JCAHO cited three reasons for the suspension of SIP-2: the increasing prevalence of healthcare-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and community-acquired MRSA; the national shortages of antibiotics recommended for prophylaxis for patients undergoing general abdominal colorectal surgery; and conflicting antibiotic recommendations from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association for prevention of endocarditis.

While the quality measure is suspended, CMS and JCAHO will continue to collect data on antibiotic selection and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee will revisit the issue of appropriate use and selection of antibiotics for prophylaxis. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)

Potential Scams Strike Ohio Hospital

Hospitals should be on the lookout for two potential related scams that hit at least one Ohio hospital last week. In the first scam, individuals claiming to be physicians at the hospital called the facility and asked several questions about shift changes and requested lists of department managers. The individuals were neither employed or affiliated with the hospital.

In a second possible scam at the same hospital, a female with a foreign accent called the hospital several time asking for doctors to be paged. However, none of the individuals named were employed or affiliated with the hospital.

OHA became aware of the potential scams late last week. If your hospital experiences a similar situation, please contact OHA at 614.221.7614. OHA will keep members apprised if more information becomes available.

Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Legislature Wraps Up for Summer
The state legislature has adjourned for the summer, completing a biennial budget bill but leaving many other pieces of legislation for further consideration. Following is the status of several bills that impact Ohio’s hospitals:

HB 196, Rep. Merle Kearns (R-Springfield) This bill would allow hospitals to grant admitting privileges to advanced practice nurses (APNs). OHA’s Quality Committee considered the bill and seeks additional information on the training and education of APNs. The committee will reconsider HB 196 in September.
SB 154, Sen. Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon) This bill would require physician assistants to obtain master’s degrees and would grant them additional authority, including limited prescriptive authority. Similar legislation introduced last session was supported by OHA’s Small & Rural Committee and was not opposed by OHA’s Quality Committee. Both will consider the new legislation at their next meetings.
SB 39, Sen. David Goodman (R-Columbus) This legislation would expand existing statutes regarding defrauding the state of money to allow individuals to bring suit against a provider and receive up to 30 percent of any awards or settlements. OHA opposes this legislation and will work with the bill's sponsor as well as Attorney General Jim Petro, who supports the bill, on potential solutions to hospital concerns.
SB 5, Sen. Jay Hottinger (R-Newark)/HB 5, Rep. Jim Raussen (R-Springdale) In an attempt to encourage more small employers to provide insurance coverage to their employees, this bill would permit small employers to offer health care plans without benefits otherwise required by statute, and would provide for the operation of high-deductible health savings accounts. OHA will discuss this bill in August with the OHA Finance Committee.
HB 197, Rep. Jim Raussen (R-Springdale) This legislation would require hospitals to submit additional patient billing data to the Ohio Department of Health to be made available to the public on a Web site. Hearings on the bill were suspended at least until next fall to give interested parties an opportunity to discuss the issue further. Though OHA supports educated consumers, it opposes the bill in its current form based on the lack of reliable data that would be provided to consumers and the expense of the proposed requirements.

For more information on all legislation currently tracked by OHA, visit www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/resources/Status126.doc. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org; Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

CMS Goes Forward With “75% Rule”

Despite concerns voiced by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will proceed with implementing the “75% Rule” for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRF) adopted last spring. The rule requires facilities to treat a certain percentage of patients for one of 13 qualifying conditions to qualify as an IRF under Medicare. This percentage will reach 75 percent when the rule is fully implemented in 2007.

Based on an analysis showing the rule will restrict care for far more patients than predicted by CMS, AHA had urged significant changes to the rule to protect access to care for patients requiring intensive rehabilitation. The CMS notice appeared in the June 24 Federal Register. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org)

Thursday, July 7, 2005
Hospitals Awarded for Efforts to Keep Patients, Employees Safe
For more than 50 years, the OHA Statewide Hospital Safety Campaign has recognized hospitals with the most successful safety programs and superior employee safety records, and this year 28 Ohio hospitals were recognized for their efforts.

This year’s 92 participating hospitals were divided into nine groups based on the number of employees. The hospital with the lowest injury rate in each group was honored at the OHA Recognition Dinner June 20 at the Hilton Columbus at Easton. Also honored were 18 hospitals ranking in the top 20 percent overall and Trinity Medical Center East, Steubenville, as the facility with the most outstanding progress in safety rates from last year to this year.

The campaign was created in 1953 by OHA and the Industrial Commission of Ohio to promote workplace safety. To participate, hospitals submitted information on workplace safety based on the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, which government hospitals maintain for the Ohio Department of Commerce. A press release will be issued by OHA with additional information, and for a complete list of award recipients, visit www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/Awards/recipients/safety_awards.htm. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

Health Care Quality Bill Introduced to Senate

The U.S. Senate recently saw the introduction of a bill that would provide financial incentives to health care providers for reporting quality data and achieving quality improvement goals. The Medicare Value Purchasing Act, S. 1356, was initiated by Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Max Baucus (D-MT), who were commended by the American Hospital Association (AHA) for their work to reward health care providers for delivering high quality care. The act builds on existing rules tying annual Medicare provider payment updates to quality data reporting, and would allow Medicare to reward providers for achieving certain improvement thresholds.

AHA also expressed concerns with the financing mechanism for the bill and warned the Senate committee not to supplant ongoing hospital quality efforts such as the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA). AHA Executive Vice President Rick Pollack emphasized the importance of legislation that does not create separate, duplicate mechanisms for quality measurement and reporting. According to AHA, about 99 percent of eligible hospitals already share information on their performance with consumers and payers through HQA.

For more information, visit www.aha.org/aha/press_room-info/jsp/releasedisplay.jsp?dcrpath=AHA/Press_Release/data/PR_050630_Payforperformance&domain=AHA, or www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)

Friday, July 8, 2005
Nonprofit Panel Issues Final Report
A panel of nonprofit leaders charged with considering reforms for the nonprofit sector recently issued its final report, which recommends more than 120 steps for nonprofit organizations, Congress and the Internal Revenue Service to improve the governance, transparency and accountability of charitable organizations and private foundations. The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector’s report calls on charitable organizations to strengthen oversights and reporting of their activities and finances. The final report is available at www.nonprofitpanel.org.

The American Hospital Association did have an opportunity to provide input to improve the panel’s recommendations. The panel was convened last October at the request of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), based on their continued concerns about practices of the nonprofit sector. The issue of hospitals’ billing and collection practices, along with challenges to their tax-exempt status, continues to receive state and national attention through hearings in the House Ways and Means and House Energy and Commerce Committees on the national level, and a state level fact-finding hearing held last month. OHA will keep members apprised as the situation develops. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)

Hospitals Lead the Way
Ohio hospitals and health care workers continue to draw recognition for their efforts to improve the health of their communities.

Several hospitals stood out for their achievements over the past year. Galion Community Hospital was awarded the 2004 Service Business of the Year by the Galion Chamber of Commerce and voted “Best of the Best” area hospital by tri-county voters. UHHS Memorial Hospital, Geneva, was awarded the 2005 State Rural Health Conference Outstanding Rural Health Program for its Friendly Neighbor Program, and Fairfield Medical Center, Lancaster, was a finalist in the 2005 HealthLeaders Top Leadership Teams in Healthcare for Large Hospitals/Health Systems.

David Blom, president and CEO of OhioHealth, was nominated as one of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine. Defiance Regional Medical Center’s CEO, John Horns, was presented with an Outstanding Rural Administrator Award. Dr. Ralph Hicks of Children’s Medical Center of Dayton, received the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.

Winners of the American Hospital Association’s NOVA Award for improving community health include Mercy Health Partners, ProMedica Health Systems, Medical University of Ohio at Toledo, and St. Luke’s Hospital, Maumee. These hospitals were honored for reaching out to low-income and uninsured Americans, the chronically ill, and racial and ethnic minorities.

Mount Carmel Health System was selected by IDG’s Computerworld as one of the top workplaces for information technology professionals because of its commitment to and investment in employees.

Tod Children’s Hospital, Youngstown, received national accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories in the area of pediatric transthoracic echocardiography. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Cleveland Health System recently launched an internship program that will provide 46 high school students with the opportunity to study science and conduct research at The Cleveland Clinic and other Cleveland Health System locations. (Mary Sterenberg, marys@ohanet.org)