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Monday, August, 27, 2007
Resources Available for Advance Directives Week
Gov. Ted
Strickland declared Oct. 14-20 Living Wills and Advance Directives Week
2007, Living Today, Planning for Tomorrow. In support of Living
Wills and Advance Directives Week, OHA is joining with organizations
statewide to produce resources to help hospitals and other organizations
host educational events and distribute information to employees and
members of the community. A list of co-sponsors and a resource kit,
which includes a sample news release, flier, sign-in sheet, suggested
format, PowerPoint presentation, list of frequently asked questions and
helpful links, are available online at
www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/advance_directives.htm. A
feedback form is also posted, and OHA asks that all organizations
hosting events complete and return the form to improve future advance
directives initiatives.
Hospitals and others are encouraged to take the opportunity to educate
Ohioans about advance directives—particularly living wills and health
care powers of attorney—and to aid them in completing these documents.
Hospitals planning to host an event are asked to share their plan with
Rhonda Major-Mack at
rhondam@ohanet.org or by phone at 614.221.7614. (Rick Sites,
ricks@ohanet.org)
Mick
Benitez-Santana, RN, BSN
Coordinator, Center for Blood Conservation
Lake
Hospital System
Painesville
View photo
A look inside Mick’s
nomination
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Mick may be found anywhere people need him in LakeEast Hospital:
offering compassionate and superior care at a patient’s bedside, behind
a desk organizing and laying the groundwork for new initiatives to
improve health care, teaching others, stopping to help people in the
hallways, or representing the hospital at local events and parades.
Focused on others, he is gentle, caring, fun, intelligent, excited, and
engaged. He is a proponent of camaraderie, and a champion of teamwork.
Mick has a great smile and his favorite word is, “wow!” Well respected
by his colleagues and physicians, he believes in patients first. Mick is
a four-star guy.
Tuesday,
August 28, 2007
IRS
Form 990 Comments Due Soon
Comments
on the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) completely redesigned Form 990
are due Sept. 14. The American Hospital Association (AHA) last week
submitted a letter on Schedule H, which would require community benefits
and other information to be reported by hospitals. AHA’s letter urges
the IRS to redesign the schedule to focus on the community benefit
standards the IRS has used in the past and to include Medicare
underpayments and bad debt to more accurately reflect hospitals’ benefit
to communities, while eliminating questions from the schedule that are
unrelated to community benefit and compliance. To view AHA’s letter,
visit the
AHA Web site (an AHA password is required).
OHA urges hospitals
to submit comments on the revised Form 990 as soon as possible. The AHA
letter may be used as a model, as well as a
shorter AHA comment letter. To access the IRS’ draft forms and
background materials, visit the
IRS Web site. Comments can be submitted by e-mail to
Form990Revision@irs.gov or by mail to:
Internal Revenue
Service
Form 990 Redesign, SE:T:EO
1111 Constitution Avenue, N W
Washington, D.C. 20224
Hospitals are also
welcome to share comments with OHA for inclusion in the OHA comment
letter to the IRS by contacting Mary Gallagher at
maryg@ohanet.org. (Mary Gallagher,
maryg@ohanet.org)
Wednesday, August 29,
2007
New
Regulations Released for No-Match Letters
Each year, thousands of employers receive from the Social Security
Administration (SSA) “no-match” letters indicating that employees’ names
and corresponding Social Security numbers provided on their W-2 Forms do
not match SSA’s records. In fact, as many as four percent of the wage
reports the SSA receives each year do not match SSA’s records.
Earlier this month,
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement amended the regulations
relating to the unlawful hiring or continued employment of unauthorized
aliens. These regulations, which amend 8 C.F.R. Part 274a, describe the
legal obligations of an employer under current immigration law when the
employer receives a no-match letter from the SSA or receives a letter
regarding employment verification forms from the Department of Homeland
Security. The new regulations will become effective on Sept. 14.
There are many
reasons for a mismatch between employer and SSA records, including
transcription errors and name changes due to marriage that are not
reported to SSA. Employers should not assume that the mismatch is the
result of any wrongdoing on the part of the employee. More information
regarding employers’ specifics obligations under the regulation is
available at
www.ice.gov/partners/employers/safeharbor/index.htm. (Nancy Falk,
nancyf@ohanet.org)
Hospitals’ Heartbeat
A 2007 nominee for the
Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award
Cheryl Theis, LPN
Staff Nurse, Medical/Surgery Oncology
Lakewood
Hospital
Lakewood
View photo
A look inside
Cheryl’s nomination
Lakewood
has always been a part of Cheryl’s life. She loves giving back to the
community by caring for its citizens and by promoting health and
wellness throughout the community. Cheryl works on a Medical Surgical
Oncology unit and is passionate about caring for people with the
diagnosis of cancer. Cheryl serves as the chair and "cheerleader" for
Lakewood Hospital's Relay for Life team. She has been an active
participant in this event, organizing the actual event, developing
teams, organizing bake sales, book sales, Easter basket raffles and
various other events that have provided great support for this event
every year. She and her husband serve as volunteer DJs for the entire
event, which last year meant 18 nonstop hours of entertaining the Relay
for Life participants.
Thursday, August 30,
2007
HRSA
Awards Electronic Health Records Grants
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded Ohio
Shared Information Services (OSIS) of Cincinnati a $1.3 million grant to
help health centers prepare to adopt and implement Electronic Health
Records (EHR). OSIS is a management service organization that provides
technical support to not-for-profit community health centers in Ohio and
Kentucky. EHRs provide health care professionals the ability to monitor
and analyze health information for their patients, while avoiding waste
and duplication of care.
In other health
information news, the 4th Annual Ohio Health Information
Technology and Exchange summit will be Oct. 29 at Quest Business Centers
in Columbus. More information about the summit and about Ohio Health
Information Technology activities can be found at
http://ohhit.pbwiki.com/. (Jean Scholz,
jeans@ohanet.org)
Hospitals’ Heartbeat
A 2007 nominee for the
Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award
Richard Baltisberger,
M.D., F.A.A.P.
Chief of Pediatrics
Licking
Memorial Hospital
Newark
View photo
A look inside
Richard’s nomination
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Richard was instrumental in Licking Memorial Hospital obtaining Level II
Obstetrics and Newborn licensure from the Ohio Department of Health. He
was also the driving force behind the development and implementation of
a pediatric hospitalist program at the hospital. Yet, he says,
“Hopefully, the best is yet to come.” The father of four continually
seeks to make improvements to the quality of pediatric care provided to
patients and their families. His daily efforts and attitude earned him
an MVP Award from Licking Memorial. MVPs are chosen for their consistent
demonstration of organization values—communication, attitude, respect
and excellence.
Friday, August 31, 2007
OPSI
Site Gets Extreme Makeover
The Ohio Patient Safety Institute has a new look and
Web site as it prepares to move to the next phase of patient safety.
OPSI has been the centralized source for statewide patient safety
initiatives since 2000 and is waiting for the final rules from the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to become a federally
designated patient safety center.
Hospitals can find
resources on medication and surgery safety and download resources such
as medication safety brochures and a toolkit to implement the new
statewide standardization of colored wristbands. View a news release and
the new OPSI Web site at
www.ohiopatientsafety.org. (Rosalie Weakland,
rosaliew@ohanet.org)
Hospitals Lead the Way
Ohio
hospitals continue to be recognized as leaders in their field across the
state and nation.
The Employers Resource Council
recognized many Northeast Ohio hospitals as NorthCoast 99 Award Winners.
Akron Children's Hospital; Akron General Medical Center;
Ashtabula County Medical Center; Barberton Citizens Hospital;
Cleveland Clinic Hospitals; EMH Regional Healthcare System,
Elyria; Lake Hospital System; Pomerene Hospital,
Millersburg; Robinson Memorial Hospital, Ravenna; Southwest
General Health Center, Middleburg Heights; St. Vincent charity
Hospital, Cleveland; and Summa Health System, Akron, were
honored as great workplaces for top talent in Northeast Ohio.
The Ohio Partnership
for Excellence, a non-profit entity that utilized Malcolm Baldrige
criteria for performance excellence, named Union Hospital, Dover,
and University Hospitals Geauga Medical Hospital Bronze Level
organizations. Defiance Regional Medical Center and Kettering
Medical Center were recognized as Silver Level organizations.
The Lorain County
Urban League, Inc. presented Community Health Partners, Lorain,
with the Employer of the Year Award for exhibiting a belief in diversity
and equal opportunity within the community.
Fisher-Titus Medical
Center,
Norwalk, was recently awarded an accreditation for its Department of
Pathology and Laboratory Services by the Commission on Laboratory
Accreditation of the College of American Pathologists.
Many Ohio hospitals
were recognized by Thomson’s 100 Top Hospitals, formerly the Solucient
100 Top Hospitals. For a complete list of winners, visit
www.100tophospitals.com.
The Surgical Review
Corporation recently named the Surgical Weight Loss Center at
Deaconess Hospital, Cincinnati, a Center of Excellence for Bariatric
Surgery.
© 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008.
Please direct comments, corrections or additions to: oha@ohanet.org
614.221.7614.
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