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Lincoln one of 10 markets for CMS
post-acute demonstration
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last week identified the 10
markets
it will recruit for its voluntary post-acute care provider demonstration.
They are: Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Lakeland/Tampa, FL; Lincoln, NE; Louisville,
KY; Rapid City, SD; Rochester, NY; San Francisco; and Seattle. CMS also
identified nine alternative markets. The demonstration will develop a common
patient assessment tool to be used for Medicare beneficiaries upon discharge
from general acute hospitals, and upon admission and discharge from post-acute
settings, including long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation
facilities, skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies. Providers will be contacted
between January and July, and data collection will begin between late May and
early September. For more information contact Barbara Gage, principal
investigator at RTI, at pat-comments@rti.org.
—AHA News Now, December 20, 2007.
Gaps in mental care transition
Young adults with mental illnesses similar to mall shooter
Robert Hawkins' may fall through cracks in the mental health system because of
the disconnected smattering of services and providers. Hawkins, the 19-year-old Omahan who killed eight people and himself Dec. 5 at
the Von Maur department store at Westroads Mall, had been made a ward of the
state in his early teens so he could get psychiatric care.
Nebraska spent $265,000 on residential and day treatment for him.
Read the full
article.
— Karyn Spencer, Omaha World Herald, December 23, 2007.
Term limits to silence state's Senate speaker
LINCOLN, Neb. — Ernie Chambers, the 'Defender of the Downtrodden' who can talk bills to death,
begins his final session. He is both loved and loathed.Ernie Chambers, 70, is a former barber and black radical who, through sheer force
of will, has become this conservative state's most unlikely power broker. In his
nearly four decades in the Legislature, the state senator has mastered the fine
art of talking bills to death. "In Washington they call it a filibuster," one
legislative leader once joked. "In Lincoln they call it an Ernie."
Read the full
article.
— Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times, December 24, 2007.
Children's health insurance hits wall on growth
The modest spending increase that Congress approved for a popular children's
health insurance program will maintain coverage for those already enrolled, but
many lacking insurance will have to look elsewhere. Few expected such a result
when 2007 began. Democrats proposed a huge spending increase on the
federal-state partnership known as the State Children's Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP).
Read the full article.
— AP/The Tennessean, December 26, 2007.
CUMC donates over 19,000 lbs. of food for needy
OMAHA, Neb. — There were literally mountains of food in Creighton University
Medical Center’s (CUMC) Becic Dining room on Thursday, December 20. This year’s Feed
the Need food donation drive was a success. Creighton University Medical
Center faculty and staff collected 19,445 pounds of food to donate to the
Siena/Francis House.
Debby Daley with Tenet Corporate said CUMC’s food drive was the biggest Feed the
Need food drive this year. “I’m very proud of your hard work and contributions
to this year’s Feed the Need campaign,” said CUMC CEO Linda Ollis.
Read
more.
New CEO named for Ogallala Community Hospital
OGALLALA, Neb. — Jim Ferando, Banner Health Western Region president, has named Bob Edwards, MBA,
as chief executive officer (CEO) at Ogallala Community Hospital (OCH) in
Ogallala, Neb., effective Tuesday, Jan 1. Edwards replaces interim CEO Dena
Klockman who will resume her position as chief finance officer (CFO) for the
hospital. Klockman recently celebrated 25 years with Banner Health.
Read the
full news release.
Henderson Health Care Services commits to healthy
lifestyles
HENDERSON, Neb. — Effective January 1, 2008, Henderson Health Care Services,
Inc. will be
promoting a healthy life style program. The program, HeLP, will include a
Wellness Winner’s Club available to all employees for participation in events
including exercise and/or weight loss. Healthy meal options and snacks will also
be implemented.
The second phase will be effective May 1, 2008, when Henderson Health Care
Services, Inc. becomes tobacco-free. No tobacco use of any kind will be
permitted inside or anywhere on our hospital campus including hospital grounds
and parking areas. Henderson Health Care Services, Inc. has been a smoke-free
facility for years but will now extend the policy throughout the campus.
“We are committed to providing the healthiest environment possible for our
patients, residents, employees, visitors and volunteers,” says Cheryl Brown and
Marianna Harris, administrators.
Read more.
Faith Regional hospital physicians
receive board certification
NORFOLK, Neb. — Faith Regional Health Services is pleased to
announce that three hospital medicine physicians have received board
certification in internal medicine. Hospital medicine physicians, commonly
referred to as hospitalists, specialize in internal medicine and are trained to
provide inpatient care for a wide variety of patients.
Read
more.
IRS finalizes Form 990, new Schedule H
The Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) recently released its final
revised
Form 990 and new Schedule H, which tax-exempt hospitals must use to demonstrate
compliance with the community benefit standard. After receiving hundreds of
comments from the hospital community and Congress, IRS elected to include
Medicare underpayment and patient bad debt on the community benefit reporting
form; restored community building programs as a reportable benefit; removed the
“burdensome” billing information chart; and delayed for one year the Schedule H
filing requirement for any portions unrelated to identifying information.
"Hospitals are strongly committed to transparency and accountability. The
improvements that IRS made to Schedule H will help communities throughout the
nation better understand the incredible range of programs, services and
activities that hospitals provide to those they serve every day," AHA President
and CEO Rich Umbdenstock said. “We will continue to work with IRS and the
Congress to ensure Schedule H reaches it highest potential as a trusted
information source for communities everywhere.” Read an AHA
Special Bulletin
regarding the final Form 990 and new schedule H.— AHA News Now, December 20, 2007.
United Healthcare revises new inpatient admission notification policy
Responding to hospitals’ concerns, United Healthcare yesterday announced it has
further revised its new inpatient admissions notification policy to allow
contracting hospitals to notify it of all weekend and federal holiday inpatient
admissions by the next business day through June 30, 2008. Hospitals will still need to notify United of any weekday admissions within 24 hours in order to
receive full reimbursement of their contracted rates. United also said it will
conduct a pilot study of 200 facilities to identify and address any operational
issues with the new notification requirements. Under the new policy, effective
Dec. 3, hospitals that provide notification between 24 hours and 72 hours of
admission will see a reduction of 50 percent of the average daily payment rate for each
day preceding the notification. If the notification is provided after 72 hours
or not at all, the reimbursement reduction will be 50 percent of the contracted rate
for the entire admission.
Congress approves extension of Mental Health Parity Act
Congress passed legislation
Friday extending the Mental Health Parity Act of
1996 until the end of 2008. Included in the Heroes Earnings Assistance and
Relief Tax Act of 2007 (H.R. 3997), the extension will prohibit group health
plans that provide medical, surgical care and mental health care from imposing
coverage limits on mental health provisions that don’t apply to other types of
medical treatment, and imposes a $100 fine per day for violations. The extension
does not eliminate a loophole in the 1996 law that allows group health plans to
impose higher co-payments, deductibles and coinsurance payments for mental
health services.
—AHA News Now, December 21, 2007.
Nebraska Methodist Hospital Pathology Center implements robotic diagnostic
system
When a potentially life-changing diagnosis is at stake, patients and physicians
want test results from the lab to be quick and accurate. New equipment at The
Pathology Center at Methodist Hospital is helping to provide such results.
The Pathology Center has implemented a robotic diagnostics system that automates
laboratory testing procedures while significantly reducing the potential for
error. Robotics automatically move bar-coded specimens along the testing track.
The process automatically forwards normal test results and most abnormal test
results that are auto-verified by the laboratory computer system to the physician who
ordered the testing. Auto-verification can also trigger automatic retesting and
can signal a technologist for further intervention with the specimen.
Read more.
Alegent.com goes mobile
OMAHA, Neb. — Alegent Health is once again taking the lead in the nation in
health care technology by making it possible for consumers on the go to receive
breaking health news headlines, updates, directions—even pictures of newborns
delivered at area Alegent hospitals. Alegent.com recently launched a new site
that’s exclusive for consumers with mobile handheld devices including Smart
Phones and PDAs to access.
Read
more.
Nebraska Methodist Hospital offers "CarePages"
OMAHA, Neb. — Families and friends of patients at Methodist Hospital now have a way
to stay in touch via the internet through CarePages. CarePages are free, private
Web pages that allow patients and their families to post patient condition and
progress without having to place numerous telephone calls. Patients can receive
messages of support, post photos and send compliments to caregivers.
“This service is beneficial to both patients and those who care about them,”
said Roger Hertz, vice president of information technology at Methodist Health
System. “Updates are provided when patients and their families feel it is
appropriate. Likewise, family and friends can keep up with a patient’s progress
without making repeated telephone calls.”
Read more.
Hispanic growth in rural towns creates health care challenges
HANOVER, Pa. (AP) — Encouraging Hispanics to get flu shots in this rural
community near the Maryland border proved a tough job for Gino Salazar.
Whenever the part-time community health worker at Hanover Hospital told Hispanic
residents about the hospital's vaccination clinics, they resisted, fearing the
shots would make them sick. But when the hospital took the clinics to churches
with predominantly Hispanic congregations--with Peru native Salazar making a
pitch at Sunday services--they came in droves.
"We thought if they saw one person going in (for a shot), then everybody would start coming in," Salazar said. "It became a mass vaccination."
Read the full article.— High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal, December 19, 2007.
Implementation of an EMR in a Community Hospital Webinar
January 9, 2008
Ensuring Compliance: The 30 Patient Safety Practices for Better Health Care Webinar
January 10, 2008
Chargemaster Pricing, Charge Compression and Devices Webinar
January 15, 2008
Smoke-free
Lobby Day
January 22, 2008 – Lincoln, NE
Preventing Health Care Associated Infections Webinar
January 29, 2008
Recent Stark II Developments Impacting Hospitals - Reporting and
Phase II Webinar
January 31, 2008
The Joint Commission Medical Staff Standards: 2008 Update Webinar
January 31, 2008
Click here for a list
of upcoming NHA audioconferences and webinars.
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 in Newslink or on the NHA Web site,
submit it to Heather Bullock, marketing and events coordinator, at
hbullock@nhanet.org. Send news items to Christy Rasmussen, director of
communications, at crasmussen@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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