OMAHA — It’s a day for
which Lee and Rachel Woollen of Holdrege, Neb.
have been waiting for months. They plan on
three more days like it in the coming weeks.
Brett Woollen, the first of their four children
born February 11, is out of the hospital.
“We continue to see improvements
with the babies every day. It has been a
long bumpy road for them, but they are all doing
better than any one expected,” said Rachel
Woollen, the babies’ mother. “We are
blessed to have four healthy babies.”
Read more.
— The Nebraska Medical
Center, June 10,
2008
When you go
online with your computer and Google “American hospitals” certain words keep
coming up, like “increasing bad debt,” “rising numbers of uninsured,” and
“growing amount of unreimbursed Medicaid expenses.” Now before you stop reading
and phone in your resignation, we’d like to suggest there’s some bipartisan hope
on the way. The ominous hospital trends we just mentioned are byproducts of a
broken health system, and, for the first time in the history of the Senate, a
bipartisan coalition of senators – seven Democrats and seven Republicans – want
to fix things. What is striking about our “cure,” embodied in S.334, the
“Healthy Americans Act,” is its similarity in many respects to the AHA’s Health
for Life: Better Health. Better Health Care.
Read more.
—
AHA News Now,
June 9, 2008
BALTIMORE, Md. — The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services today announced the launch of an outreach effort to help beneficiaries
understand its durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies
competitive bidding program. The DMEPOS program begins July 1 in 10 metropolitan
statistical areas and applies to 10 of the top product areas, including power
wheelchairs, oxygen equipment and supplies, and hospital beds and accessories.
Under the initiative, CMS will mail beneficiaries in the 10 MSAs a letter and
brochure about the new program, as well as a list of Medicare contract suppliers
in their area. They should receive the information later this month. Local
partner groups and DME referral agents, such as hospital discharge planners,
physicians’ office staff and home health agency social workers also will receive
the information, CMS said.
—
AHA News Now,
June 9, 2008
Majority of U.S. House Supports Repeal of
Medicare Therapy Caps
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — With about one month to go before the
current exceptions process for clinically based care above the Medicare therapy
caps expires, a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives has endorsed
legislation to repeal the arbitrary financial limit on therapy benefits.
Read more.
— Medical News Today,
June 5, 2008
Baucus introduces Medicare reform bill
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT)
Friday introduced Medicare reform legislation (S. 3101), which is expected to
move directly to the Senate floor within the next two weeks. The Medicare
Improvements for Patients and Providers Act would block a July 1 physician
payment cut and increase physician payments by 1.1 percent for the remainder of 2008
and in 2009.
Among other changes, the bill would extend the Medicare Rural Hospital
Flexibility grant program; provide rebasing for sole community hospitals; extend
and expand the outpatient hold-harmless provision for small rural hospitals
under 100 beds, and add sole community hospitals under 100 beds; extend Section
508 reclassification; repeal the competitive bidding demonstration project for
clinical laboratory services; and allow critical access hospitals to receive
101 percent of reasonable costs for clinical lab services whether the specimen was
taken at the hospital or off site. Co-sponsors include Sens. John Rockefeller
(D-WV), Olympia Nowe (R-ME) and Gordon Smith (R-OR). Finance Committee Ranking
Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) is expected to release a separate Medicare
package this week with some Senate Republicans.
—
AHA News Now,
June 9, 2008
Providing high-quality care … collaborating productively with
physicians … building healthy communities … using technology effectively …
making health care work better for everyone. That’s the tip of the iceberg when
it comes to a hospital CEO’s challenges, and your need for tools, information
and resources to respond to them is a large part of what your membership in the
AHA is all about.
It all comes together at the 2008 AHA Health Forum Leadership
Summit: “Hospitals-Physicians-Consumers: At the Intersection of Improved
Quality, Safety and Performance,” to be held July 24-26 in San Diego.
Read more.
—
By Rich
Umbdenstock, AHA News Now, June 9, 2008
NHA-HFMA 2008
Golf Tournament
June 11, 2008- Kearney
NHA 2008
Mid-Year Meeting
June 12-13, 2008 - Kearney
Register now!
Nebraska Hospice and Palliative
Care Partnership training workshops
June 10, 2008 - Lincoln
June 13, 2008 - Omaha
June 20, 2008 - Ogallala
Alegent Health Girls' Day Out
June 14, 2008 - Village Pointe, Omaha
FAMC Presents Free Health Fair at Old Settler’s Day
in North Bend
June 28, 2008 - North Bend Senior Center, North Bend
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.
NOTE: The Nebraska Hospital Association will be changing over to a new email
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402/742-8140, Fax 402/742-8191. Contact Kelley Porter, director of
communications, at 402/742-8151 or email,
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