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Monday, September 12, 2005
Ohio Hospitals Join careLearning.com
Four Ohio hospitals are joining the more than 156 other facilities around the country enrolled in the Health and Safety Compliance Series offered by careLearning.com. This program, which explores ways to use the Internet to meet the distance learning needs of health care workers, also helps hospitals meet the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as well as other mandatory education requirements. careLearning.com offers hospitals an online, affordable and highly efficient method to train staff.

Ohio hospitals enrolling their employees and volunteers in the online learning service include: Fayette County Memorial Hospital, Washington Court House, Paulding County Hospital, O’Bleness Memorial Hospital, Athens and Berger Health System, Circleville. careLearning.com is a not-for-profit corporation owned and operated by state hospital associations. It is currently the third largest provider of hospital-specific online education in the country.

To learn more about careLearning.com visit www.careLearning.com or contact Joe Ruggles at 614.221.7614 or joer@ohanet.org. (Joe Ruggles, joer@ohanet.org)

September ICD-9-CM Classes Cancelled

OHA is canceling two continuing education programs in Columbus this month. The Intermediate ICD-9-CM coding class scheduled for Sept. 20 and the Advanced ICD-9-CM class scheduled for Sept. 21 will not be available as planned.

The courses were intended for account managers, billing specialists, compliance officers and other health care managers to discuss common coding problems, diagnosis and procedure coding changes and other issues related to ICD-9-CM coding.

For more information on educational seminars through OHA, visit www.ohanet.org/education/education_programs.asp.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Plan Ahead…Health Care Decisions Week ‘05
The legal and health communities will combine forces to help Ohioans understand advance directives during Health Care Decisions Week 2005, planned for Oct. 31 – Nov. 4. During the weeklong event, health care providers and attorneys will be available at public libraries statewide to answer questions about advance directives—particularly living wills and health care powers of attorney—and help with the completion of these documents.

Co-sponsored by the Ohio State Bar Association, local bar associations, the Ohio Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, OSMA, OHA and the Ohio Library Council, the event currently seeks attorneys and health care providers willing to volunteer. Hospital associates are encouraged to volunteer and should contact Rhonda Major-Mack at OHA at 614.221.7614 or rhondam@ohanet.org for application materials or more information on participating. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

Did you know that if they had a choice, nearly 90 percent of people report they would prefer to die at home? Yet only 25 percent actually die at home. For those who have chronic illnesses and experience a decline over time, a “portable” Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order form may be one way to ensure a person’s wishes are honored. When medically appropriate, a DNR allows for comfort care to be offered without unwanted, life-sustaining measures initiated.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005
OHA Presents Disaster Preparedness: Lessons Learned
Recent events along the Gulf Coast put renewed emphasis on Ohio hospitals’ need to be prepared for catastrophic events. Ohio suffers events such as ice storms, massive power outages, floods and tornados, and OHA’s Research and Educational Foundation will sponsor a seminar on disaster preparedness Oct. 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the Midwest Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus. Emergency department staff, safety officers, security personnel facilities management representatives and other hospital staff members with responsibility for disaster preparedness are encouraged to attend this event.

The seminar will feature speakers from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). In addition, Antonio Dajer, M.D., chief of ER New York University Downtown Hospital, will offer a presentation on his experience following Sept. 11, 2001. Dajer’s hospital sits several blocks from the site of the World Trade Centers and was a strong focus of hospital-related media attention following the terrorist attack. Jim Kendig, vice president and safety officer with Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Fla., will speak on the aftermath of last year’s devastating hurricanes in Florida. The area evacuated 17 hospitals and worked to care for many injured Floridians. Several Ohio hospital representatives will also offer insight on their response to disasters in Ohio.

For more information or to register for this program, visit www.ohanet.org/education/education_programs.asp. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)

Thursday, September 15, 2005
CNA Campaign Targets Ohio
Registered nurses (RN) from across the country will be touring the nation this fall representing the recently-formed labor union, National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association (NNOC/CNA).

In June 2005, the NNOC/CNA, which broke away from the American Nurses Association, met with RNs from 20 states and developed a campaign aimed at what CNA said will protect RNs and patients from corporate health care and promote a single standard of care. Their national tour and campaign are geared to recruit RNs across the country into the NNOC/CNA and to initiate legislative and regulatory demands. They will hold meetings in Cleveland Oct. 20-21 and in Cincinnati Oct. 22-24 in their 15-state tour.

For more information on the NNOC/CAN or other labor union organizing activities, contact OHA at 614.221.7614. (Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org; Mary Gallagher, maryg@ohanet.org)

Pharmacy Board Approves Institutional Pharmacy Rules
The Ohio Board of Pharmacy (OBP) approved rules Tuesday regarding institutional pharmacies. OBP’s next steps will be to file the new rules with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR), the Secretary of State and the Legislative Service Commission, and to hold a public hearing on the issue in November.

The proposed rules include regulations for hospital pharmacies including proposed revisions to language for positive identification of individuals who are electronically recording the prescription, dispensing and administration of drugs. After discussion over several months, an ad hoc task force of OBP and OHA representatives reached consensus on positive identification to ease the burden currently faced by hospitals working to apply new electronic health record technology. The board will reconvene the ad hoc task force to develop instructions explain the rules.

A notice will be forthcoming for the hearing scheduled for Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. The rules are proposed to go into effect in January 2006. (Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org)

Friday, September 16, 2005
Mission to Care: Ohio Hospitals Respond to Hurricane Katrina
As the entire U.S. pulls together to support victims of Hurricane Katrina, Ohio’s hospitals also pool resources to care for evacuees coming to Ohio and gather teams of crucial health care volunteers to send to the coastal states.

Before survivors of the hurricane reached Ohio, hospitals and regional hospital coordinators worked together with other local responders to set a plan for responding to the needs of displaced individuals. They established systems to allow evacuees to refill prescriptions and obtain other supplies, and prepared emergency rooms to serve as the primary provider of health care for these people. Hospitals in Ohio and the many other states providing care to evacuees will receive support from the national level.

The Ohio Department of Health, OHA and Ohio Citizen Corps responded to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) request for hospital volunteers using the Ohio Medical Response Corps disaster emergency advance registration system. The system tracks and identifies credentialed volunteers for emergency relief and facilitates state and regional planning for deployment of volunteers. Ohio hospitals and their regional coordinators were asked to form hospitals teams of 100 volunteers willing to travel to areas of need, and information on these teams were passed on to the American Hospital Association and HHS.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) last week announced a proposed relief package to aid victims of the hurricane, specifically to offer tax incentives and address health care needs. The legislation also provides 100 percent federal funding for Medicaid programs in states caring for evacuees and a delay for all states’ funding decreases scheduled for Oct. 1. Providers caring for evacuees would receive federal add-on payments to help compensate for the additional uncompensated care.

OHA provides ongoing updates for hospital associates and others online at www.PrepareOhio.com. To read the complete September Healthbeat, visit http://www.ohanet.org/healthbeat/2005/0905.htm (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)