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Monday,
February 12, 2007 HB 197 requires hospitals to report to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) quality measures that are selected only from those measures developed by four national entities (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Joint Commission, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and National Quality Forum). Hospitals also are required to report their top 60 inpatient DRGs for all inpatients and their top 60 outpatient procedures to ODH for the 2006 calendar year on or before May 1, 2007. To assist hospitals in reporting these measures, OHA created a secure Web site to capture and report to ODH the required measures. The OHA Web site will go live March 1, 2007, to allow enough time for the data to be reviewed, edited and validated by hospital staff prior to submission of the data to ODH. OHA staff also will work directly with hospitals to help them meet new reporting requirements. More information is available in an OHA member bulletin at www.ohanet.org/Bulletins/2007/07-005.htm, and hospitals will soon receive a packet of instructions from ODH regarding these reports. (David Engler, davide@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 OHA Announces HCAP and UPL Membership Meeting OHA will host a membership meeting March 1 to discuss issues relating to the 2008 Hospital Care Assurance Program (HCAP), as well as issues relating to potential Upper Payment Limit programs designed to maximize federal Medicaid funding for Ohio’s hospitals. The meeting at Brookside Country Club in Columbus from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will also brief attendees on OHA’s recommendations for the 2007 HCAP distribution. Member hospital CEOs and CFOs are urged to attend the meeting along with one hospital trustee. There is no charge to attend and lunch will be provided. To attend, please return the registration form as soon as possible. (John Callender, johnc@ohanet.org; Ryan Biles, ryanb@ohanet.org) National Patient Safety, Quality Award Applications Available The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum (NQF) are accepting applications through April 16 for the 2007 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards, recognizing individuals and health care organizations making significant contributions to the safety and quality of patient care. Awards are presented for individual achievement, research and innovation in patient safety and quality at the national and local level. The awards will be presented at the NQF Annual Meeting Sept. 27-28 in Washington, D.C., and recipients will be featured in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety in December. Learn more or submit an application at www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/EisenbergAward/.
Thursday,
February 15, 2007 Ohio currently converts individuals who are medically eligible to donate an organ into actual donations at a rate of about 60 percent. The initiative looks to reach a 75 percent conversion rate by the end of 2007. The initiative will also focus on increasing the number of organs per donor—striving to recover up to 3.75 organs per donor, up from the current rate of 3.19. Meeting those two goals would result in approximately 200 additional organs being available to individuals who need them.
“Ohio hospitals are proud to work with the state’s organ procurement organizations on the Ohio Organ Donation Breakthrough Initiative, bringing new hope of a long, fulfilling life to hundreds of Ohio’s sickest patients,” said Jim Castle, Ohio Hospital Association president and CEO.
The 28 participating hospitals are all high-donor-potential hospitals, meaning those facilities receive five or more medically eligible donors each year. A complete list, as well as hospital-specific progress information, is available online at www.OhioOrganBreakthrough.org. Participation in the initiative is voluntary. View a related news release. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Ohio Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both indicate fairly mild flu seasons in Ohio to date, but an increase over the next month should be expected. Visit www.ohanet.org/flu/index.html for more information on up-to-date resources on influenza in Ohio. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org; Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org) © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
