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Monday,
May 1, 2006 President George W. Bush spoke today at a special session of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Membership Meeting, recognizing hospitals’ leadership and expressing his intent to continue working closely with the hospital community. The president noted the importance of making health care in the U.S. more affordable and available, and the potential of health savings accounts and other methods to reach this goal. He also reiterated his commitment to keeping the promises of the Medicaid and Medicare programs for America's elderly, poor, and disabled.
Noting his
appreciation for AHA’s leadership on making hospital cost and
quality information more publicly available, Bush called for
continued progress as well as similar transparency efforts from
insurance companies, physicians and the government. Comments in
support of health care technology, association health plans and
liability reform rounded out the president’s remarks. For more
information on the efforts of Ohio hospitals related to these
issues, visit
www.ohanet.org. (Jonathan Archey,
jonathana@ohanet.org) AHA Outlines Steps for Greater Health Care Pricing Transparency The American Hospital Association (AHA) released a policy this week at its Annual Membership Meeting to spur efforts to make hospital prices more transparent. The plan supports federal requirements that states work with hospital associations to expand current efforts to publish hospital charges. It also supports federal requirements that states work with insurers to make information on enrollees’ expected out-of-pocket costs available to them before medical visits. In addition, the policy encourages federally-led research to better understand what pricing information consumers want and would use, and a hospital-led effort to create consumer-friendly language for terms, definitions and explanations that are common on hospital bills. The complete AHA policy is available at www.aha.org/aha/members_only/content/04_27_06_trans.pdf. In Ohio, inpatient charge information is currently available to consumers and OHA continues to work on proposals in House Bill 197 to expand pricing transparency to outpatient procedures. Visit www.ohanet.org/portal/default.htm to access information on the cost and quality of health care in Ohio. In conjunction with hospitals’ efforts, the government, insurers and patients must also play a role. A recent telephone survey commissioned by the HSA Coalition showed widespread public support for the government and insurers publishing prices, with 88 percent of likely U.S. voters agreeing that this pricing information should be available online. View a full news release at www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1104. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org) OHA Invites Hospital Associates to 2006 Annual Meeting Printed programs for the 2006 OHA Annual Meeting, Hospitals…At the Community’s Service, were mailed to hospitals this week, inviting them to join peers from across the state at this annual two-day event. The program includes specific information on the educational sessions available at this year’s meeting, set for June 12-13 at the Columbus Hilton at Easton. This year’s event features a Health Policy Forum with presentations by candidates for the U.S. Senate, as well as more than 60 educational sessions and events that offer continuing education credits. Don’t forget to check out details on this year’s OHA Recognition Dinner on Monday, June 12, and to register early to secure a seat. Be sure to register by June 5 to request reserved seating for groups of eight or more. Tables will be set in rounds of 10.
Printed registration materials for both the 2006 OHA Annual Meeting and the OHA Recognition Dinner are provided in the program, and online registration is also available at www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/default.asp. This Web site also contains complete details on the Annual Meeting, hotel information and directions to the Columbus Hilton. (Joe Ruggles, joer@ohanet.org)
The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold a hospital Open
Door Forum conference call May 5 to provide information and
answer questions about the fiscal year 2007 hospital inpatient
prospective payment system proposed rule. The forum will focus
on CMS' analysis of recommendations in the Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission's March 2005 report to Congress on
physician-owned specialty hospitals, and its proposal to adopt
hospital-specific cost weights for FY 2007 and consolidated
severity diagnosis-related groups for FY 2008 or earlier. To
participate in the conference call, from 10-11:30 a.m. EST, dial
800.837.1935 and reference conference ID 8428199. An audio
recording of the call will be available for four business days
beginning May 8. To access the replay, call 800.642.1687 and
reference the conference ID.
Thursday,
May 4, 2006 Recipients of OHA’s Health Care Leadership Awards include:
OHA will also present its Hospital Safety Awards , recognizing successful hospital safety programs. Four finalists and the ultimate recipient of the Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award will be announced at the event. A complete list of nominees and photographs for all honorees are available online at www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/Awards/. Registration information and frequently asked questions are also available.All hospital employees and friends and family of honorees are invited to attend the dinner. Register by JUNE 5 to request reserved seating for groups of eight or more. Tables will be set in rounds of 10. The OHA Recognition Dinner is sponsored in part by Harley Ellis Devereaux. (Tiffany Himmelreich, tiffanyh@ohanet.org) OHA Teams Up with SmokeFree Ohio for Round Two of Signature Collection OHA is assisting SmokeFreeOhio with the second round of signature collection from Ohio voters to put a statewide, smoke-free workplace law on the November ballot. If enacted, The SmokeFree Workplace Act would ban smoking from indoor public places statewide and protect patrons and employees from secondhand smoke while creating a fair playing field for all Ohio businesses. Tracy Sabetta, co-chair of SmokeFreeOhio, led a press conference yesterday at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus to jumpstart the campaign. Last November, during the first round of signature collection, nearly 1,300 people circulated a SmokeFreeOhio petition and collected more than 165,000 Ohio voter signatures to put before the Ohio General Assembly. SmokeFreeOhio is asking lawmakers to allow the issue to go on the statewide ballot next November. For the second drive, volunteers and SmokeFreeOhio staff members have until July 31 to collect 100,000 additional Ohio voter signatures to present to the Ohio secretary of state. Ohioans will then be given the opportunity to vote on the SmokeFree Workplace Act in November. At yesterday’s event, volunteers released balloons inviting Ohioans to sign the SmokeFreeOhio petition, and banners were displayed listing more than 373 supporting organizations. The Ohio Beverage Association is seeking a constitutional amendment that will rival SmokeFreeOhio’s goal of banning smoking from restaurants, bars, and bowling alleys. OHA encourages member hospitals to support SmokeFreeOhio by aiding in the collection of signatures. To learn more about the campaign or to get involved visit www.smokefreeohio.org. (Stacey Conrad, staceyc@ohanet.org)
Friday, May 5, 2006 The Ohio Department of Health’s Director’s Advisory Committee on Emerging Infections commended OHA and the hospital community this week for their compliance with new Clostridium difficile (C. diff) reporting requirements and outlined recommendations for ongoing action. The following recommendations will now go to the department for official adoption:
OHA will provide more information to hospitals on the updated reporting forms as it becomes available. To learn more or view currently available C. diff resources, visit www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/cdiff.htm. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org; Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org) © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
