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Monday, July 18,
2005 OHA is working with its Foundation for Healthy Communities to collect information on member hospitals’ policies on tobacco-free campuses. Several member hospitals have recently implemented tobacco-free campuses, prohibiting use of any tobacco product by employees, patients and visitors on any of the grounds of the hospital facility, and many others have contacted OHA as they consider adopting such policies. A survey was sent last week to member-hospital public relations representatives, who were asked to complete the online questionnaire by Monday, Aug. 1. Hospital CEOs also received a notice of the survey from Foundation Director Lynne Ayres. In a related matter, the OHA Board of Trustees voted in May to support the SmokeFreeOhio initiative, which would implement a statewide smoke-free indoor air standard and could be before Ohio voters in November 2006. Late this year, OHA will ask hospitals to become involved in the initiative by helping gather signatures, passing resolutions in support of the initiative and educating employees and others on the health benefits of clean indoor air. More information on the smoke-free indoor air standard can be found at www.SmokefreeOhio.org. (Lynne Ayres, lynnea@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 Early in the process, bi-partisan federal legislation to improve health care safety passed the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee this week. H.R. 3205 would encourage voluntary reporting of events that adversely affect patients by creating legal and confidentiality protections for patient safety information that providers share for educational purposes, and create patient safety organizations to promote information sharing. The bill was introduced by Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) and is co-sponsored by several other representatives, including Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
The legislation
mirrors similar bills that passed both the House and Senate last
year, but failed to make it to conference committee for
reconciliation. Both OHA and the American Hospital Association
support the legislation, which could be considered by the full House
Energy and Commerce Committee as early as next week. To learn about
Ohio patient safety initiatives, visit the Ohio Patient Safety
Institute online at
www.ohiopatientsafety.org/.
(Jonathan Archey,
jonathana@ohanet.org)
Wednesday,
July 20, 2005 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed rule for the 2006 Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system this week, and included a 3.2 percent inflation-based update in payment rates. CMS will also continue to lower the coinsurance rates Medicare patients pay for outpatient services. CMS states the proposed rule will continue the Medicare program’s support for prevention and early detection of diseases by increasing payment rates to hospitals for most screening examinations that are covered by Medicare. CMS is also proposing to pay for most Part B drugs, biologicals, and radiopharmaceuticals administered in hospital outpatient departments based on competitive market prices. The changes to the payment rates and a predicted increase in the volume of services hospitals provide to Medicare beneficiaries are expected by CMS to increase overall payments to more than 4,200 hospitals for outpatient services by 5.4 percent throughout 2005. The proposed rule will be published in the July 25 Federal Register. Comments will be accepted until Friday, Sept. 16, 2005, and a final rule is scheduled to be published by Nov. 1, 2005. OHA will have a complete report on the proposed rule in its July 25 ABC Bulletin. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org) Thursday, July 21, 2005 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released recommendations this week for flu vaccine administration from its expert panel on immunization practices. The 2005 recommendations include changes or updates regarding the vaccination of health care workers and people prone to respiratory complications. The new recommendations also include the use of the live, attenuated vaccine (LAIV) in vaccine shortage situations, and use of antiviral drugs for flu treatment. The CDC panel is urging all health care workers to be vaccinated annually, and health care facilities should maximize vaccination rates by offering free, on-site flu vaccination to all employees in the fall. The panel also encourages health care facilities to focus on those who care for patients at high risk for complications from the flu.
Healthy health care workers under 50 years of age are encouraged to opt for the LAIV, a live vaccine delivered as a nasal spray. However, the LAIV is recommended only if the inactivated vaccine is in short supply and if the worker can avoid contact with severely immuno-suppressed patients for at least seven days.
Later this year
the panel will publish additional guidelines for prioritizing use of
the inactivated vaccine in case of a shortage. For more information,
visit
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr54e713a1.htm. (Rick Sites,
ricks@ohanet.org)
Friday,
July 22, 2005 Valet parking, gourmet meals, room service and a personal masseuse may sound like a four-star vacation, but many hospitals in Ohio and around the country offer similar services to patients. According to the latest Harris Interactive Poll, eight in 10 Americans believe hospitals are doing a good job of serving consumers and this number has been rising steadily for the past eight years. It is becoming increasingly clear that patients respond well and recover faster when they are given well-prepared food and quiet rooms in which to rest, among other amenities. Just a few examples of customer perks offered by Ohio hospitals include room service with a wide selection of gourmet meals, restaurant-style cafeterias, attractively decorated delivery rooms, and therapeutic massage and hydrotherapy treatments for new mothers.
Hospitals across Ohio provide services that focus on improving overall customer satisfaction for all patients. View the complete July Healthbeat article at www.ohanet.org/healthbeat/2005/0705.htm to learn more about the many services, innovations and improvements provided by Ohio hospitals, or visit www.ohanet.org to browse hospital profiles. © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
