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LINCOLN—Governor Dave Heineman named Kerry Winterer, as the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Winterer will begin July 13.
Winterer, 59, began his work with health care in 1988 co-founding The Benefit Group, Inc., which administers health care and other plans for small employers. As vice president and general counsel, Winterer was responsible for operational areas of the company such as administration and financial oversight of the company, as well as helping clients with governmental compliance concerns related to and including Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) and other government requirements.
“I am pleased to appoint Kerry CEO of Health and Human Services,” Governor Heineman said. “Kerry has the business knowledge that will be an asset in leading a successful department. He is an effective communicator, he understands the value of public-private partnerships, and he will be a good leader for the Department of Health and Human Services.”
Read more.
— Governor.Nebraska.gov, June 29, 2009
LINCOLN—A former Lt. Governor of Nebraska and the current Acting Director of the Nebraska Farm Service Agency (FSA) have been appointed to major positions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson announced today.
Maxine Moul, who served as Nelson’s Lt. Governor from 1990 to 1993, was named USDA Rural Development Director for Nebraska and Dan Steinkruger was named Director of the Nebraska FSA.
Nelson, who nominated both, said he was thrilled that the USDA accepted his recommendations.
“This is very good news for rural Nebraska and our agriculture producers. Maxine has a deep background in the area of economic development and is one of the most knowledgeable experts there is in Nebraska. Dan’s vast experience and expertise with FSA assures that producers will continue to get the kind of help they need,” said Nelson.
Read more.
— bennelson.senate.gov, July 1, 2009
Nebraska.gov
has worked with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to create the Nebraska Health License Monitoring
System.
Nebraska health professional license information is already made available
online through a previous
collaboration between Nebraska.gov and DHHS; however, each
licensee must be manually searched to see most current status. The
system was designed to make life easier for credentialing coordinators. By signing up for the monitoring services,
users can be notified via email when a tracked license is due to expire, has already expired
and/or if disciplinary action has been filed.
Read more.
The First Lady visited a Community Health Center today to highlight the critical role that health centers are playing in not only providing coverage to Americans who have lost or never had health care but also to highlight the important role that Centers play in prevention and wellness. The First Lady also announced more than $850 million worth of Recovery Act grants to help more than 1,500 Community Health Centers around the country with some much needed capital improvements.
Read more.
— HHS.gov, July 1, 2009
A Quinnipiac University poll released recently gauging registered voters’ views of health care reform underscores the political complexity of the issue, with the results offering ammunition to both the supporters and opponents of President Barack Obama’s No. 1 legislative priority.
The national poll of 3,063 registered voters showed that 69 percent believe Americans should have the option of purchasing government-run health insurance. But only 28 percent of those polled said they would take advantage of government-run insurance, a number that could suggest a lack of confidence in Washington’s ability to administer coverage.
The survey was conducted June 23-29 and has a 1.8-point margin of error.
The poll also showed that 72 percent of respondents would not pay more than $500 annually to finance a health care overhaul. Only 15 percent said they would be willing to pay between $500 and $1,000 annually in taxes to finance reform that lowers costs and ensures that all Americans have coverage.
Read more.
— Roll Call, July 1, 2009
The Regional Policy Boards (RPB) met June 2009 across the country. Members received reports on American
Hospital Association (AHA) legislative, regulatory and policy initiatives, and discussed several priorities including health care reform, comparative effectiveness research and health information technology.
View AHA RPB meeting highlights.
LINCOLN—On June 5, BryanLGH Medical Center President and COO Craig Ames retired after 20 years of hospital service.
Ames directed the BryanLGH hospitals. He participated in the merger of Lincoln
General and Bryan Memorial hospitals, and the creation of the Bryan Medical
Plaza, Pine Lake Medical Plaza and Fallbrook Medical Plaza. Ames also helped
shape the hospital's Gogela Neuroscience Institute; cardiac and vascular
services including the BryanLGH Heart Institute; women's and children's services
including a neonatal intensive care unit; Star-Care air ambulance service; and
others. Ames served on the NHA Board of Directors, as well as a member of the Nebraska
Hospital Association Research and Educational Foundation.
HASTINGS—Mary Lanning Hospital in Hastings will have a new CEO this fall.
The hospital's board chose an experienced hospital manager to take over after Chief Executive W. Michael Kearney retires this fall.
Bradley Neet will be the next CEO at Mary Lanning. He plans to leave his current job as president of Saint Michael's Hospital in Wisconsin and move his family to Hastings this summer.
Neet has also held management jobs in hospitals in Texas and Illinois over the past 25 years.
Board President Robert Anderson says the board is excited about the talent and experience Neet brings to the job.
— KOLN/KGIN.com, June 17, 2009
CENTRAL CITY—Litzenberg Memorial County Hospital (LMCH) has been providing
quality health care services to the Central City and Merrick County for half a
century. Officially dedicated on February 28, 1959, LMCH celebrates its 50th
anniversary with a series of special events that will highlight the milestone
while also emphasizing various aspects of healthy living.
LINCOLN—The Nebraska Hospital Association (NHA) yesterday submitted
comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the
hospital inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) proposed rule for fiscal
year (FY) 2010.
While the NHA is supportive of portions of the proposed rule, there are concerns
regarding several provisions including the calculation of the coding adjustment (behavioral
offset), the elimination of the Indirect Medical Education (IME) adjustment, the calculation of
the outlier threshold and the payment cut for critical access hospitals (CAHs)
that elect the “Optional Method” (or Method 2).
The NHA is also concerned that CMS has not made a positive budget-neutrality
adjustment to reverse the FY 1999 through FY 2006 standardized amount
budget-neutrality adjustments for the rural floor. While CMS has proposed a
market basket update of 2.1 percent for FY 2010, the update actually received by
Nebraska hospitals would be severely reduced by all of the other proposed
provisions.
The estimated overall impact of the proposed rule on Nebraska hospitals is an
increase in payments of only $678 thousand from FY 2009 to FY 2010 for the
entire state (0.1 percent change). For 2007, Nebraska’s PPS hospitals had a
negative 21.0 percent margin related to providing inpatient services to Medicare
patients. Further cuts would continue to deplete scarce resources and make
hospitals’ mission of caring for patients even more challenging.
WASHINGTON—Lawmakers working on a major overhaul of the health care system have reached
a familiar juncture in their effort. Committee chairmen in both chambers are
crafting bills they hope will attract the support of moderate Democrats and
possibly some Republicans. The situation in many ways follows the path of
then-President Bill Clinton's failed bid to extend health insurance to all
Americans in 1993 and 1994. Yet the dynamic is different this time, with
congressional Democrats appearing more inclined to act decisively on the issue.
Read more.
— Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2009
WASHINGTON—President Obama is trying to enlist the nation's governors and his own army of grass-roots supporters in a bid to increase pressure on lawmakers that are divided in regards to health care legislation. In a meeting with five governors, Obama privately urged them to serve as his emissaries to Congress. He even coached them on the language they should use with lawmakers, two of the governors said, advising them to avoid terms like "rationing" and "managed care," which evoke memories of the Clintons' failed health initiative.
Read more.
— New York Times, June 30, 2009
 The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Friday released its latest annual “snapshots” of state-specific health care quality information. The data is based on the agency’s
2008 National Healthcare Quality Report, which was issued last month. The snapshots summarize health care quality in three dimensions: type of care (preventive, acute and chronic care), setting of care (hospitals, ambulatory, nursing homes and home health care) and clinical area (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, maternal and child health and respiratory disease).
Compared to all states, for the most recent data year, the performance for
Nebraska for all measures is in the strong level. For the baseline year,
Nebraska is also in the strong range. The AHRQ included additional
graphics describing specific types of care, settings of care and care in clinical areas.
The CMS Restraint and Seclusion Webinar
July 8, 2009 – Webinar
Critical Access Hospital Case Management Webinar (CL)
July 8, 2009 – Webinar
People Management Skills - The Business of the Future Webinar (CL)
July 14, 2009 – Webinar
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 Kelley Porter, Director of
Communications, kporter@nhanet.org.
NHA Newslink is published by the Nebraska
Hospital Association, 3255 Salt Creek Circle, Suite 100, Lincoln, NE 68504-4778.
Phone 402/742-8140, Fax 402/742-8191. Contact Kelley Porter, Director of
Communications, at 402/742-8151, or email,
kporter@nhanet.org.
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