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Monday,
July 3, 2006 Private Patient Rooms Promote Safety The 2006 edition of “Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Health Care Facilities” includes the adoption of single-bed rooms as a new minimum requirement for new hospital construction. The Facilities Guidelines Institute and the American Institute of Architects’ Academy of Architecture for Health commissioned a study in which private rooms appear to reduce the risk of disease transmission, lower the risk of medical errors and decrease the risks of falls. The study also suggests that hospitals may benefit economically from having all private rooms. To learn more, view the premier Safety Institute’s construction-infection control risk assessment model at www.premierinc.com/all/safety/resources/construction/. For more information on the 2006 guidelines for hospital and health care facilities, visit www.aia.org/aah_gd_hospcons. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Wednesday,
July 5, 2006 OHAIS was created by OHA in 2003 to help bring long-term availability, predictability and stability to the Ohio medical professional liability marketplace for hospitals and physicians. Learn more about OHAIS at www.ohainsurance.com/. (Susan Stanfield, sstanfield@ohainsurance.com)
Thursday,
July 6, 2006 Flu vaccine makers estimate about 100 million doses, 16 percent more than last season, will be available in the U.S. for the upcoming flu season. To guarantee optimal use of the flu vaccine, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that health care providers and state and local public health agencies develop plans for expanding their outreach and infrastructure to vaccinate more people. ACIP now recommends children ages two to five and their household contacts be vaccinated, and the group stresses that previously unvaccinated children ages six to eight months should receive two doses of vaccine. It continues to advise refraining from using the medications amantadine and rimantadine to treat or prevent influenza A because of the virus’ widespread resistance to the drugs. View a full updated report of the ACIP recommendations at www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr55e628a1.htm. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also awarded a $149.1 million contract to Roche Laboratories to supply up to 31 million treatment courses of the flu antiviral treatment Tamiflu to the U.S. at a federally subsidized price. In addition, HHS expects to purchase 44 million treatment courses of flu antiviral drugs for fiscal years 2006 and 2007, allocating at least 20 million to states in proportion to their population. View the full HHS news release at www.hhs.gov/news/press/2006pres/20060630.html, and an HHS pandemic planning update at www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/PanfluReport2.pdf. Learn more about influenza response and plan at www.ohanet.org/flu/. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org) HHS Web-based Tool for Emergency Preparedness Planners Yesterday the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a Web-based tool intended to strengthen emergency preparedness planners’ ability to access and use health information about people with disabilities consistent with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA) privacy rule. The tool will allow state and local planners to get answers to HIPAA privacy questions tailored to their specific needs. To learn more about the Web-based tool visit www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/decisiontool/. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)
Friday, July 7, 2006 This week OHA sent an initial response to Attorney General Jim Petro about his draft rules released last week that would impose substantial disclosure, governance and operational requirements on all charitable organizations in Ohio, particularly tax-exempt hospitals. OHA expressed disappointment that it received no response from the attorney general’s office despite several requests from OHA for collaboration in the creation of the rules. OHA also explained it moved ahead on these issues without Petro's input, but offered continued support for public accountability for Ohio hospitals.
OHA’s response is available at www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/resources/petro070506.pdf and the association continues to develop a more detailed analysis of the draft rules. The rules, summary and instructions for comment are available at www.ag.state.oh.us/spotlight/cgrules.asp. All Ohio hospitals are encouraged to submit comments to OHA. (Mary Gallagher, maryg@ohanet.org) © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
