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 LINCOLN—The Nebraska Statewide Telehealth Network (NSTN) has recently been awarded $245,000 by the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources Administration (HRSA) for expansion of services. HRSA has also recommended an additional $450,000 total between September, 2010 and August, 2012 for continuation of this project.
The NSTN is a collaboration of over 100 hospitals, health departments, mental health centers and rural health clinics across Nebraska that provide real time two-way video conferencing for the provision of patient care, education and administrative meetings. The grant funding will allow the NSTN to further expand teletrauma capabilities and provide videoconferencing equipment for physician offices.
“The grant really builds upon the past success of the Network, which is one of the most comprehensive in the nation in terms of the number of health care agencies involved,” said Laura J. Redoutey, FACHE, Nebraska Hospital Association President. “This grant will allow the NSTN to provide more hospitals with videoconferencing capabilities in their emergency departments, enabling them to interact with their colleagues at
the American College of Surgeons verified trauma centers and other hospitals as they work to save patient lives. In addition, the NSTN will be able to initiate a beta program to place units directly in physician offices,
allowing physicians to incorporate telehealth into their daily practice. This
expansion will better serve the busy practitioner as well as provide increased access to specialty care for patients in rural areas.”
Read more.
— Nebraska Hospital Association press release, December 17, 2009
Insurance premium costs would rise dramatically for many Nebraskans if current health care reform legislation is enacted, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska said Thursday.
Costs would soar for healthy young people and jump substantially for the average healthy 40-year-old couple with two children, according to the Nebraska health insurance giant.
Read more.
— Lincoln Journal Star, December 17, 2009
BOSTON—When Massachusetts began offering virtually free treatments to help poor residents of the state stop smoking in 2006, proponents hoped the new Medicaid program would someday reap benefits. But state officials never expected it would happen so soon.
New state data show a steep drop in the smoking rate among poor people. When the program started, about 38 percent of poor Massachusetts residents smoked. By 2008, the smoking rate for poor residents had dropped to about 28 percent, a decrease of about 30,000 people in two and a half years, or one in six smokers, said Lois Keithly, director of the state’s Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program.
Read more.
— New York Times, December 17, 2009
OMAHA—Researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle compared the psychological well-being of patients with blood cancers with an advance care plan to those without one. The goal is to help understand how best to design interventions that may increase the number of patients with an advance care plan.
Read more.
—
UNMC press release, December 14, 2009
CRETE—The Heartland Healthcare Executive Group recently awarded its annual
Early Careerist Award to Carol Friesen, FACHE, President and
CEO of Crete Area Medical
Center at its annual dinner
meeting on November 17,
2009, in Omaha.
This award recognizes ACHE affiliates who have significantly
contributed toward
the advancement of health care management excellence.
Read more.
—
The Wilber Republican, December 2, 2009
OMAHA—The Nebraska Medical Center has been named an American Society for
Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence®.
The ASMBS BSCOE designation recognizes surgical programs with a demonstrated
track record of favorable outcomes in bariatric surgery. With an estimated
two-thirds of American adults overweight or obese, it’s an issue that affects
many people. In recent years, weight loss surgery has become safer, and with
minimally invasive techniques, recovery times have greatly improved.
Read more.
—
The Nebraska Medical Center press release, December 16, 2009
WASHINGTON—When Senate Democratic leaders agreed this week to remove a public insurance plan from their massive health care bill, they did more than quash a liberal dream of expanding the government safety net. They effectively pinned their hopes of guaranteeing coverage to all Americans on a far more conventional prescription: government regulation.
The change sprang from a compromise made to placate conservative Democrats wary of a new government program. But shorn of a "public option," the Senate health care bill has reverted to a long-established practice of leveraging government power to police the private sector, rather than compete with it. Despite the resistance among Republicans and conservatives to more government regulation, even the insurance industry has agreed to broaden oversight of their business in exchange for the prospect of gaining millions of new customers.
The expanded regulation of insurance programs ultimately could ripple through the entire health care system, affecting how doctors, hospitals, and other providers care for their patients.
Read more.
— Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2009
WASHINGTON—In a radio interview today, Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) denied threats
from the White House to close Offutt Air
Force Base
in Omaha and a monetary offer to 'get on board' regarding the health care bill.
He also discussed the Senate and House health care bills and stresses his request
that language be included to prevent federal dollars to fund elective abortions,
whether directly or indirectly.
Listen to radio interview.
— KFAB radio broadcast, December 17, 2009
WASHINGTON— The Senate health care bill could enable insurers to avoid some of the strongest consumer protections and benefit requirements adopted by state governments, Democratic lawmakers from Maine and California said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV). The bill would allow insurers to sell policies across state lines, subject to the laws and regulations in a state of the insurers' choosing, 31 Democratic House members said. "Practically speaking, insurers will domicile their plans in states with less stringent regulations and market to the population in more protective states like ours, just like nationally chartered banks have done," the House members wrote on behalf of lawmakers from the two states.
Read more.
— Washington Post, December 17, 2009
Sanofi Pasteur has recalled four lots of pediatric H1N1 flu vaccine in prefilled syringes after finding that doses in these lots no longer meet potency specifications, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) announced today. Children who received vaccine from these lots do not need to be revaccinated, because the small decrease in antigen content is unlikely to result in a significant reduction in immune response, CDC said. Vaccine providers should return any unused vaccine from the lots to the manufacturer. Shipped in November, the recalled lots are intended for children 6-35 months old. The affected vaccine met all specifications at the time of release. The CDC and Food and Drug Administration have determined that there are no safety concerns for children who received the vaccine. For more information, visit
www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination.
— AHA News Now, December 15, 2009
National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) 2010 Update: Ensuring Compliance
January 19, 2010 – Webinar
Using Electronic Health Records to Document and Improve Quality of Ambulatory Care
January 19, 2010 – Webinar
Funding Opportunities for Electronic Health Records Under the HITECH Act
January 26, 2010 – Webinar
SAVE THE DATE:
NHA Advocacy Day
March 9, 2010 – Lincoln
SAVE THE DATE:
2010 Lifespan Health Services Conference
May 11-12, 2010 – Kearney
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