|
||
Monday, August 1,
2005
New Law Promotes Patient Safety President George W. Bush last week signed into law Senate Bill 544, which will create a national database on medical errors, designate individual reports as confidential and shield participating providers from liability. Under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will designate private patient safety organizations that will contract with providers to identify trends and develop proposals to prevent future medical errors. The data will not identify specific patients, providers or individuals who report the medical errors, and patients can not use the data as evidence in medical malpractice lawsuits and other litigation. In addition, the data can not be used in disciplinary action by accrediting bodies or regulators. After multiple attempts at similar legislation over the past several years, the legislation now has found the support of both chambers. Dick Davidson, president of the American Hospital Association, lauded the measure, saying “A key step in improving patient safety is to ensure that nurses and physicians share information when mistakes happen to help learn from them and prevent them. Through this legislation, data will be gathered, and important lessons learned and shared.” (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)
Learn About Budget Essentials
Time is running
out to register for Budget Essentials for Hospital Non-Financial
Managers, scheduled for this
Friday, Aug. 5, in
Hilliard. In the current hospital environment, all successful
managers need to have an understanding of hospital financial
performance ratios and reimbursement methods that affect management
decisions related to patient service, capital equipment and
staffing. Learn more or register online at
www.ohanet.org/education/education_programs.asp.
Tuesday, August 2, 2005 On the heels of a statewide media spotlight on Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) payments to hospitals, the bureau today at a stakeholders meeting unveiled a proposed plan to slash payments to hospitals for the second time this year. The proposed short-term plan would pay 55 percent of charges for inpatient services, a 21 percent cut, and 50 percent of charges for outpatient services, a 17 percent cut, beginning Oct. 1, 2005, and ending Dec. 31, 2006. Payments to hospitals were already cut by 7 percent for inpatient and 8 percent for outpatient services on Jan. 1, 2005. BWC will continue to investigate other payment plan options for the long-term. Currently hospitals are reimbursed at 70 percent of inpatient and 60 percent of outpatient charges, with a plan to install inflationary caps on Jan. 1, 2006. The caps are also included in the now proposed plan to reduce payments as of Oct. 1. BWC and OHA had spent considerable time negotiating the current payment plan, which is part of BWC’s managed care plan, the Health Partnership Program.
BWC will seek input from interested parties, including OHA, and final approval from Gov. Bob Taft before implementing its proposed plan. OHA will meet this week with the OHA Finance Committee to formulate an official position on the proposed plan and will respond to BWC by next week at the earliest. OHA’s initial concern is that hospitals cannot withstand payments below cost from a third government payer, BWC, in addition to Medicaid and Medicare, which already pay hospitals below the cost to provide care.
BWC’s proposal follows criticism from the Service Employees International Union District 1199 alleging hospitals are being unfairly overpaid by BWC, initially reported in a series of Columbus Dispatch articles and subsequent statewide media outlets last month.
Resources for hospitals on this issue, including key messages, are available online at www.ohanet.org/pr/. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org; Tiffany Himmelreich, tiffanyh@ohanet.org)
New Partnership Joins Existing Quality Improvement Efforts The American Hospital Association (AHA) last week announced the launch of a national partnership with leading public and private health care organizations to reduce surgical complications by 25 percent by the year 2010. AHA encouraged hospitals to join the partnership, the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP), which will provide hospitals and caregivers with strategies proven to reduce blood clots, perioperative heart attack and ventilator-associated pneumonia.
SCIP is the first national quality improvement initiative to unite national hospital, physician and nursing organizations, the federal government, and private sector experts in quality improvement. It is also consistent with other hospital care improvement initiatives, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ 8th Scope of Work, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization’s core measures and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 100,000 Live campaign.
For more information on SCIP, visit www.medqic.org/scip, or e-mail SCIPpartnership@okqic.sdpd.org. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)
Wednesday,
August 3, 2005 In the 2006 Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) will implement a key recommendations of its Report to Congress regarding limited-service, physician-owned hospitals: to revise cardiac diagnosis related groups (DRG). The rule will revise cardiac DRGs to better reflect the severity of the patient’s illness and permit more accurate payment for the care these patients. CMS conducted a review of the cardiovascular DRGs and identified conditions that would lead to a more complicated patient stay requiring greater resource use. Based on these findings, CMS will revise nine cardiovascular DRGs that account for nearly 700,000 cases, and will replace those DRGs commonly billed by specialty hospitals with 12 DRGs that better recognize severity of illness. Over the next year, CMS will continue to examine the recommendations set forth to Congress on limited-service, physician-owned facilities and it expects to further revise the DRG program. To view a fact sheet with more information, visit www.cms.hhs.gov/media/press/release.asp?Counter=1526.
CMS is also currently conducting a review of its standards for approval for participation and payment to determine whether additional or different standards should apply to specialty hospital based on the focused services they provide. CMS will seek input from the public in an Open Door Forum in September. Details on the forum will soon be available online at www.cms.hhs.gov/opendoor. (Reed Fraley, reedf@ohanet.org)
Helping Hospital PR Staffs Shine Outstanding communications staffs at nonprofit hospitals can seek recognition for their exemplary efforts in PR News’ first ever Nonprofit PR Awards program. Communications/marketing teams at any nonprofit organization, association, government agency, NGO or educational institution are eligible to enter any campaign or initiative that took place in part or in full between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2004. A panel of non-profit and academic executives along with the staff of PR News will evaluate entries based on creativity, innovation, sound planning and implementation. Winners will be recognized at an awards event Nov. 1 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in PR News and on prnewsonline.com.
The deadline
to apply for the award is Aug. 9 and late entries will be
accepted until Aug. 23. For more information, a list of award
categories or to download registration materials, visit
www.prandmarketing.com/awards/nonprofit/.
Thursday, August 4, 2005
OHA will use
input from the Finance Committee and all member hospitals to
formally outline hospitals’ concerns for BWC early next week.
Hospitals are encouraged to share comments and concerns on the
impact of the cuts with Charles Cataline,
charlesc@ohanet.org, as OHA finalizes its response. (Charles
Cataline,
charlesc@ohanet.org; Tiffany Himmelreich,
tiffanyh@ohanet.org)
ODI Program
Helping Seniors Understand Medicare
Hospitals are encouraged to share a new resource of the Ohio
Department of Insurance (ODI) with seniors navigating the
Medicare program, particularly the program’s new Medicare
prescription drug coverage.
ODI
works directly with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
through its Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP)
to assist people on Medicare with questions about the new
Medicare prescription drug coverage and the associated deadlines
and enrollment processes.
OSHIIP answers questions from Medicare beneficiaries through its
more than 1,100 volunteers located in all 88 counties; a toll
free hotline, 1-800-686-1578; and through e-mails sent via ODI’s
Web site, www.ohioinsurance.gov. OSHIIP offers individual
counseling and helps explain the new benefit's cost, savings,
important deadlines, and available financial assistance to Ohio
beneficiaries.
More
information on the new Medicare prescription drug program is
available on the ODI Web site at
www.ohioinsurance.gov/prescriptiondrugs/index.asp, along
with frequently asked questions, an Ohio prescription drug
comparison chart, important dates and more.
Health Care
Administration Scholarship Available
The
Ohio Society of Healthcare Administrative Professionals (OSHAP)
is taking applications for a scholarship for the 2005-06
academic year to support the continuing education of individuals
actively seeking a degree in health care office administration.
OSHAP will award two scholarships, up to $500 each, to qualified
undergraduate students attending a school located in central,
northeast, southeast, northwest or southwest Ohio.
Applicants must have completed high school, have an accumulative
grade point average of 3.0 or higher, have been accepted into a
study program at the school of their choice, and be at the
undergraduate level. Applicants must also complete and send the
application and two letters of recommendation by Aug. 31.
Application forms and additional information are available at
www.ohanet.org/societies/oshap/default.htm. For other
questions, contact Paula Almendinger at OHA at 614.221.7614.
Friday,
August 4, 2005 Columbus State Community College will offer a new online Health Care Manager Certificate program beginning this fall, making it accessible to those beyond the Columbus area for the first time. Another first for the program is that participants will be able to complete the certificate in four quarters. The program is an opportunity for health care workers currently serving as managers, and those preparing for entry level management positions, to update their skills or prepare for new positions. Courses include legal aspects of health care management, risk management, management training for supervisors, human resource management and more.
The fall quarter begins Sept. 21 and registration is already in progress. For more information, contact Peggy Mayo, Columbus State Community College’s Health Care Manager Program coordinator, at pmayo@cscc.edu, or 614.287.2608. © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
