|
||
Monday, August 8,
2005 The American Hospital Association (AHA) released a Quality Advisory last week describing contractual modifications that the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has agreed to accept after AHA, JCAHO and state hospital associations met to discuss ways to alleviate hospital concerns with the 2006 Accreditation Survey Contract and Business Associate Agreement Addendum. JCAHO agreed to consider requests, submitted by individual accredited organizations, to amend certain provisions in the 2006 Accreditation Contract.
The Quality Advisory will also address ways hospitals can incorporate appropriate amendments into their JCAHO agreements. While JCAHO agreed to accept certain amendments, it remains firm that indemnification, limitation of liability and governing law are not open for further negotiation or amendment.
The deadline for incorporating contractual amendments and executing a final signed agreement with JCAHO is Oct. 1, and every hospital wishing to include a modification its contracts should contract their account representative at JCAHO directly. For more information on the JCAHO contract amendment process, contact AHA Senior Vice President for Quality Don Nielson at 312.422.2708, or AHA Regulatory Counsel Lawrence Hughes at 202.626.2346. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, August 9, 2005 The staffing program of OHA Solutions, an OHA resource created to address hospitals’ distinct business needs, is now offering online staffing solutions for all clinical specialties, including respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapists, pharmacy technicians and others. OHA Solutions’ Staffing Program first began filling vacancies in the nursing and radiology departments in February. The 73 participating hospitals have already filled nearly 4,000 vacancies using the 88 preferred vendor agencies throughout Ohio and across the country that serve local per diem orders as well as long-term assignments. The second phase has been established with hospitals filling needs in the allied health care departments. The program will soon be rolling out its third level of service to Ohio hospitals. Utilizing the same online application for requesting supplemental staff, hospitals can offer open shifts to internal staff, PRN staff and internal resource pools. Bidding on shifts can reduce the amount of agency usage, gives employees flexibility to manage their schedules and pick up shifts, and allows the employing hospital assurance of continued quality patient care. Visit www.ohasolutions.com/ or contact Nancy Melcher-Webb at nwebb@ohanet.org or 614-221-7614 ext. 172 for more information.
Wednesday,
August 10, 2005 OHA told Tina Kielmeyer, BWC administrator and CEO, the BWC plan would pay dozens of hospitals below their cost to treat injured workers. If the proposed plan is implemented, OHA cautioned BWC that hospitals may be forced to pull out of the Health Partnership Program, BWC’s managed care plan, because payments are too low. Until a long-term system can be implemented, OHA recommends continuing the current hospital payment plan agreed upon earlier this year, a freeze on the 2005 rates and hospital-specific, inflation-based payment caps for 2006. OHA’s letter to BWC is available online at www.ohanet.org/pr/resources/BWC_letter_BWC_081005.pdf.
OHA also sent the letter to statewide media today. Hospitals should be prepared for possible media inquiries. Resources on this issue, including key messages, are available online at www.ohanet.org/pr/. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org; Tiffany Himmelreich, tiffanyh@ohanet.org)
CMS Finalizes IPPS Rule The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last week released the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule for fiscal year 2006.
Highlights include:
In addition, the rule reduces the outlier threshold from its current level of $25,800 to $23,600, adjust 10 percent of the wage index for the occupational mix of employees, and will decrease labor share of the standardized amount from 71.1 percent to 69.7 percent.
The rule, available at
www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/hipps/cms-1500f.pdf,
is expected to be published in the Aug. 12 Federal Register.
The policies and payment rates become effective Oct.1, 2005. OHA
will issue a bulletin this week with a full review of the rule.
(Charles Cataline,
charlesc@ohanet.org) Thursday, August 11, 2005 After stating its intent to follow through on the proposed plan that cuts hospital payments to 55 percent of charges for inpatient services and 50 percent of charges for outpatient services beginning Oct. 1, 2005, BWC’s communication stated, “However, if we receive compelling feedback from our stakeholders that this plan would have unintended consequences and viable alternative suggestions are presented, we would consider changing our plans.”
In addition to receiving comments from OHA, BWC has already received feedback from some managed care organizations, Ohio Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) District 1199. OHA’s response, sent yesterday to BWC, is available online at www.ohanet.org/pr/resources/BWC_letter_BWC_081005.pdf. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org; Tiffany Himmelreich, tiffanyh@ohanet.org)
CDC Makes Flu Vaccine Recommendations The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Advisory on Immunization Practices (ACIP) have released recommendations for a three-tiered approach to prioritization in the event of a flu vaccine shortage for the upcoming 2005-2006 season. Although the total vaccine supply for this season is unknown, CDC estimates the supply of inactivated and live, attenuated influenza vaccine should be adequate to satisfy historical demand for the upcoming flu vaccine.
CDC anticipates this tiered approach to assist health care providers in developing contingency plans to address potential vaccine shortfalls for the upcoming flu season. People qualifying for group 1A include those aged 65 and older with comorbid conditions and residents of long-term care facilities. Group 1B includes people aged 2-64 with comorbid conditions and aged 65 and older without comorbid conditions, as well as children 6-23 months and pregnant women. Group 1C includes health care personnel, and household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of children less than six months of age.
Tier 2 consists of household contacts of children and adults at increased risk for flu, and healthy persons aged 50-64. Tier 3 consists of people aged 2-49 without high-risk conditions. For more information on the CDC vaccination recommendations, visit www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5430a4.htm. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)
Deadline Extended for Trauma Report Feedback
As Ohio
continues to develop its trauma system, trauma advocates are
pursuing a formal plan to ensure optimal care of the
traumatically injured and Ohio hospitals now have an extended
opportunity to review and comment on the final draft of the
Hospital Component of the State Trauma Plan. The Ohio Department
of Public Safety (ODPS) provided a grant to a consortium of
regional trauma systems to work together to provide input from
the hospital perspective. Over the past six months, this
steering committee worked with trauma stakeholders in the state
to develop this document, which aims to ensure optimal care for
the traumatically injured and fulfill requirements for continued
federal trauma system funding for Ohio from the Health Resources
Service Administration. The final draft includes the proposed
trauma plan as well as the process for developing the plan.
Friday,
August 12, 2005 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will soon change its policy on processing electronic Medicare claims that are not compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Beginning Oct. 1, CMS will not process claims unless they comply with HIPAA, and non-compliant claims will be returned to the filer for re-submission as compliant claims. As of June, only 1.45 percent of claims from hospitals were non-compliant with HIPAA, according to CMS. CMS will work with hospitals between now and October to reduce that number even more before the policy change occurs.
The change affects claims for services provided under fee-for-service Medicare, ending a portion of the CMS HIPAA contingency plan in effect for the past two years and under which Medicare continued to accept non-compliant electronic claims after the deadline. CMS expects to end the contingency plan for other types of electronic claims in the future, beginning with the remittance advice transaction.
For more information, visit www.cms.hhs.gov/media/press/release.asp?Counter=1528. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)
TUPCF Will Sustain Programs In Face of Budget Cuts The Board of Trustees of the Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation (TUPCF) recently announced its commitment to sustain the program for at least 10 years despite a 10 percent budget cut.
After the Ohio General Assembly diverted expected future funding for TUPCF in June, the tobacco prevention and cessation organization resolved to reduce its budget for operations, grants and some programs for fiscal year 2006 and even further into the future. At the same time, the foundation reaffirmed its commitment to working with the Ohio Legislature to continue its efforts to reduce tobacco use as efficiently and effectively as possible.
TUPCF is developing a plan to leverage external grant funding, but even without additional funding it will have enough money to guarantee a consistent level of programming for at least 10 years, the time period the board believes is necessary to reach its tobacco use reduction goals. The reduced budget represents no immediate changes to current services, and will result in the elimination of new programs and evaluation of all programs’ effectiveness. For more information, visit www.standohio.org. (Lynne Ayres, lynnea@ohanet.org) © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
