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NHA Annual Convention is next week
The 2007 NHA Annual Convention brings together
hundreds of health care professionals to gain insights on leadership, industry
trends, quality excellence and motivation. This event is a great opportunity to
discover how your organization can enhance strategic planning and turn
aspirations into actions. Learn from nationally-recognized experts who will
provide guidance on choosing the right path on a rugged terrain. Among these
experts is keynote speaker Fred Lee, author of bestseller If Disney Ran Your
Hospital – 9 ½ Things You Would Do Differently.
Network with colleagues and make new business
contacts at the NHA Trade Show on Thursday. This year’s Trade Show features more than 85
companies that will introduce you to helpful products and services as well as
offer exciting prizes throughout the event. The
Convention concludes on Friday with the heartwarming Caring Kind Luncheon.
Nebraska hospitals will recognize their finest at this annual celebration of
caring with the help of Linda Ball, RN, who will present “You Make a
Difference.” In addition, the recipients of the Excellence in Service Award, the
Quest for Excellence Award, the Trustee of the Year Award and the graduates of
Class IV of the NHA Leadership Institute will be recognized.
The 2007 NHA Annual Convention is an important
resource for navigating health care and charting your course for future success.
We look forward to seeing you there, Oct. 31 - Nov. 2nd, at the Cornhusker
Marriott Hotel in Lincoln, Neb. For more information
click here.
NOTE: The NHA office will be closed next week from Oct. 31 - Nov. 2
for the Annual Convention, and Newslink will not be published.
The Nebraska Hospital Association and Governor Dave Heineman
Salute Veterans in Health Care
LINCOLN, Neb. — Kevin Harringer, a flight nurse
and paramedic for Regional West Medical Center, in Scottsbluff, Neb., currently
serves on the Wyoming Air National Guard. Kevin’s unit transported the second
largest number of evacuees from Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Daniel
Remigio, a volunteer at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb., who
served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1942 to 1946 and from 1952 to 1954, was one
of the first officers to start an “African-American” Marine Corps Anti-Aircraft Gunnery Battalion.
Kevin Harringer and Daniel Remigio are two of 321
veterans and current service men and women that Nebraska’s hospitals are
saluting in the fall edition of the Nebraska Hospital Association’s (NHA)
quarterly magazine, Healthier Nebraska, which was released this week.
Nebraska’s hospitals were invited to submit the names of veterans and current
service men and women who are associated with their organizations.
“Our service men and women are an important part of the health care team,” said
NHA President, Laura J. Redoutey, FACHE. “Nebraska’s hospitals need people who
are flexible, mission-oriented and who put care for others above all else,” says
Redoutey. “These admirable values are exactly what the Armed Forces inculcates
in its service men and women who provide excellent leadership in health care
delivery.”
Read
more or view the
magazine.
Film shows how cultural differences can affect patient care
OMAHA, Neb. – "Hold Your Breath," a documentary on
the challenges of multicultural health care, will have its Omaha premier at 7
p.m. this evening. Presented by the Creighton University Center for Health
Policy & Ethics (CHPE) in partnership with Nebraska Educational Television, the
showing will take place at the Hixson-Lied Science Building, Room G4, located on
the Creighton campus at 27th and Burt Streets. The event is free to the public.
The film follows the dramatic and tragic journey
of Mohammad Kochi, an older Afghani refugee living in California. Kochi, who is
dying of gastric cancer, must navigate the twists and turns his health care
takes as his Islamic world and deep faith in Allah collide with western
medicine's scientific focus. Directed by Maren Grainger-Monsen, M.D., and Julia
Haslett, the 2005 documentary is the first in what will be an annual CHPE event,
titled "Film Program on Healthcare Ethics, Justice, and Culture."
The film will be followed by a panel discussion
featuring health care experts, including staff of Creighton's Cancer Counseling
Program, a Creighton pharmacy professor and a Stanford University faculty member
who participated in the filming of "Hold Your Breath." For more information,
call 402/280-2017. For information and educational resources, visit
http://chpe.creighton.edu/chpe/holdyourbreath.htm.
— National Network of Libraries of Medicine,
Creighton University Health Sciences Library, October 17, 2007.
Rising costs alter how Americans use health care
More than six in 10 Americans with health
insurance reported that they were paying more for their health plan in the
past year and of these, 81 percent said the increase caused them to try to take
better care of themselves and talk to the doctor more carefully about treatment
options and costs. In addition, 64 percent of the respondents to the Health
Confidence Survey said they went to the doctor only for more serious conditions
or symptoms; 50 percent delayed going to the doctor; and 28 percent skipped or
did not fill doses of their prescriptions.
Those results and others led the authors to
conclude that rising health care costs are changing the way Americans use the
health care system in both positive and negative ways.
Read
more.
— by Cinda Becker, Modern Healthcare's Daily Dose,
October 24, 2007.
Celebrating a decade of excellence at The Nebraska Medical Center
OMAHA, Neb. – This month, The Nebraska Medical
Center and the University of Nebraska Medical Center are celebrating a decade of
excellence - a successful 10-year partnership between the two entities. “Our
success did not happen by chance,” said Glenn Fosdick, FACHE, president and CEO
of The Nebraska Medical Center. “The hospital board and the medical center
leaders had a clear and concise vision from the beginning and we have remained
committed to that vision even when facing challenges.”
Before the 1997 merger of the two hospitals, both
Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital, founded in 1869, and University Hospital,
founded in 1917, had each established themselves as leaders in health care. “The
first heart transplant, the first kidney transplant and the first dialysis
treatment in the state of Nebraska were all performed under Clarkson Hospital
programs,” Fosdick said. “University Hospital pioneered the transplantation of
peripheral stem cells for lymphoma treatment and performed the first liver
transplant in the state. Our partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical
Center only makes us a better organization.”
Read
more.
Easy measures stop the spread of MRSA and staph from Good Samaritan Hospital
Over the last few months, Good Samaritan
Hospital’s Infection Control office has been receiving calls from the public
about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. National news
stories have brought this infection to the forefront, and local cases have
raised concerns about how someone might acquire MRSA and special considerations
for those who have it.
Staphylococcus aureus, often referred to simply
as "staph," are bacteria commonly carried on the skin or in the nose of healthy
people. Approximately 25 to 30 percent of the population has the bacteria in
their nose, but no infection. In the U.S., staph bacteria are one of the most
common causes of skin infections. Most of these skin infections are minor (such
as pimples and boils) and can be treated without antibiotics. However, staph
bacteria also can cause serious infections (such as wound infections,
bloodstream infections and pneumonia).
Read more.
Nepalese man expresses gratitude to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital after car
accident
LINCOLN, Neb. – When Ram Pathak declares, “I’ve
come a long way,” the statement has dual meaning. First, the Nepal native is
thousands of miles from his homeland, after relocating to Bellevue, Neb., in
2005, to attend college. Secondly, injuries from a recent car accident sent him
to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital where he’s made extensive inroads on his
rehabilitation.
Pathak was driving home June 29, 2007, after a
full day of undergraduate classes at Bellevue University and working the evening
shift as a telemarketer. He was exiting a ramp on I-80 when the glare off a
truck’s headlights caused him to veer left and lose control of his car. His
automobile was totaled. Pathak suffered a dislocated hip and damaged his C5-C6
vertebrae. He was hospitalized at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha,
Neb., for three weeks.
“When I came to Madonna, I had no sensory in my
left leg and could only shuffle about 25 feet with a walker,” Pathak shared. His
therapy team focused on exercises to assist him in building leg strength and
regaining balance.
Read
more.
Alegent Health’s Metro Cancer Centers receive national accreditation
OMAHA, Neb. - The Alegent Health Cancer Center –
with locations at all metro-Omaha Alegent Health campuses and the Midwest Cancer
Center – has received a three-year Network Accreditation with Commendation from
the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer (CoC). The CoC is a
consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving survival and
quality of life for cancer patients through standard setting, prevention,
research, education and the monitoring of comprehensive quality care.
Read
more.
CMS
RFP details plan to implement RACs in all states by March 2008
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) issued a request for proposals for contractors to implement its
Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program beginning in March 2008. Originally,
this was a
demonstration project in the states of California, Florida and New York. The Tax
Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 made the program permanent and instructed the
agency to expand the program nationwide by 2010. However, the RFP indicates CMS’
intentions for RACs to review inpatient and outpatient hospital claims for
coding errors in all 50 states by March 2008. The rollout timeframe for RAC
review of more complex claims reviews, such as review of medical necessity, has
not yet been determined. RACs review Medicare claims, and where they identify
and collect overpayments they get to keep 25 percent of the dollar amount.
— AHA News Now, October 22, 2007.
Study examines factors that contribute to resident errors
Physicians-in-training are more vulnerable than
other clinicians to medical errors that stem from poor teamwork, according to a
new study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Based on a
review of closed medical liability claims, the study found that errors in
judgment (72 percent), teamwork breakdowns (70 percent), and lack of technical
competence (58 percent) were the most common contributing factors in errors
involving trainees. Supervision and patient handoff problems were the most
common teamwork problems; and both were more common among errors that involved
trainees (54 percent) than those that did not (7 percent). Robert Dickler,
senior vice president for the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Division
of Health Care Affairs, said such studies “are valuable to the academic medical
community. They point to areas where further investigation is needed and
increase our ability to refine and enhance the educational process.” The study
appears in the Oct. 22 Archives of Internal Medicine.
— AHA News Now, October 23, 2007.
National strategy for public health and medical preparedness issued
The White House last week issued a
directive establishing a National Strategy for Public Health and Medical
Preparedness. The strategy focuses on disease surveillance; the stockpile and
distribution of vaccines, drugs and other medical countermeasures; mass casualty
care; and community resilience. The document creates multiple federal task
forces to develop an implementation plan for the strategy. It also directs the
Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish an office for emergency
medical care, and develop templates that provide “minimum operational plans” to
enable communities to distribute and dispense medical countermeasures within 48
hours. The document also directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish
a mechanism for relaying up-to-date and specific information on public health
threats to state and local public health officials, among other actions.
— AHA News Now, October 22, 2007.
NHA 2007 Annual Convention and Trade Show
October 31-November 2, 2007 – Cornhusker Marriott Hotel, Lincoln, NE
"Pathways: Navigating the Nature of Health Care." The NHA's Annual Convention is
Nebraska's largest gathering of health care professionals.
York General Health Care Services Diabetes Fair
November 1, 2007 – York Medical Clinic
Jefferson Health
Care Foundation Holiday Dazzle
November 9, 2007 – Fairbury, NE
Baird Holm
Health Law Forum
November 16, 2007 – Omaha, NE
UNMC Mental
Health Symposium
November 16, 2007 – Omaha, NE
Visit the
Events page on the NHA Web site for more information on any of the events.
If you have an event you would like listed on the NHA Web site, submit it to
Heather Bullock, marketing and events coordinator, at
hbullock@nhanet.org.
NHA Newslink is published by the Nebraska
Hospital Association, 3255 Salt Creek Circle, Suite 100, Lincoln, NE 68504-4761.
Phone 402/742-8140, Fax 402/742-8191. Contact Christy Rasmussen, director of
communications, at 402/742-8151, or email,
crasmussen@nhanet.org.
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