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Participants in Nebraska’s electronic medical records project met Thursday in Kearney to raise a toast to the success of a 90-day systems test and plan its statewide rollout.
Because electronic records are a health reform priority — and because Nebraska’s shovel-ready initiative has outpaced other statewide efforts — participants anticipate an infusion of federal stimulus funds to speed development of a national model.
Read more.
—
Lincoln Journal Star, July 10, 2009
A Nebraska program that aims to help low-income women stay healthy and out of the hospital has been singled out as an example of the best of American health care.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday highlighted Nebraska's WISEWOMAN program in an ongoing government report on health care success stories.
“It's very exciting,” said Melissa Leypoldt, the program's director. “We've received lots of letters from clients about how appreciative they are for these services. But it's exciting to get this kind of recognition on the national level.”
Read more.
— Omaha World-Herald, July 16, 2009
BOSTON—A hospital that serves thousands of indigent Massachusetts residents sued the state on Wednesday, charging that its costly universal health care law is forcing the hospital to cover too much of the expense of caring for the poor.
The hospital, Boston Medical Center, faces a $38 million deficit for the fiscal year ending in September, its first loss in five years. The suit says the hospital will lose more than $100 million next year because the state has lowered Medicaid reimbursement rates and stopped paying Boston Medical “reasonable costs” for treating other poor patients.
Read more.
— New York Times, July 15, 2009
Increases in health care costs for consumers aren't likely to slow next year with HMO rates projected to jump nearly 12
percent in 2010, a new study by benefits consulting firm Hewitt Associates indicates. Though the Hewitt study looked only at HMOs, it provides a snapshot at where companies are in negotiating rates for next year with insurers, according to the
Chicago Tribune.
Read more.
— Chicago Tribune, July 16, 2009
OMAHA—Alex and Shannon Wilterdink welcomed Adalie Faith to the world Monday morning, July 9, 2009 at Alegent Health Bergan Mercy Medical Center. Everything went smoothly. Mom was focused, her nurse was encouraging and dad was cheering them both on – from a Marine base in Iraq.
When Sergeant Wilterdink shipped out to Iraq in January 2009 from Camp Pendleton, he knew he and his wife were expecting their first child. Rather than go it alone in California, Shannon moved back to Omaha to be with her family hoping that her husband could be there too. Even if he couldn’t be there in person, she wanted him to still be a part of the event, so she contacted the Freedom Calls Foundation—which operates call centers at seven military camps in Iraq and Kuwait and conducts some 2,000 video teleconferences a month. They reached out to Alegent Health and began the technical conversation on how to connect Bergan
Mercy Medical Center with Iraq.
Read more.
— Alegent Health press release, July 11, 2009
OMAHA—A University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) research team specializing in staph infections has landed an $11.1 million program project grant to study one of this country’s most dangerous bacterial pathogens—community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA).
The grant was awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is the largest research grant ever awarded to UNMC’s department of pathology/microbiology and is the only program project grant given by the NIH to investigate MRSA.
Read more.
— UNMC press release, July 16, 2009
OMAHA—On July 17, The Nebraska Medical Center will be transformed into a
barbershop to raise money for childhood cancer research. Four pediatric oncologists, Alfred
Grovas, M.D., Bruce Gordon, M.D., Donald Coulter, M.D and James Harper, M.D. have agreed
to give up their hair at the Shave-A-Thon to benefit The St. Baldrick’s
Foundation. Read more.
— The Nebraska Medical Center press release, July 16, 2009
LINCOLN—First Lady Sally Ganem will provide the address at the Women's
Leadership Luncheon during the NHA 2009 Annual Convention on Thursday, October 15.
Held at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln from 12:30 p.m. -
1:30 p.m., this event will bring together women health care leaders to network and hear how Nebraska’s First Lady has combined her professional experience as an educator with
her public duties.
Click here for more information on the NHA 2009 Annual Convention held
October 14-16, 2009.
WASHINGTON— President Obama is pressing lawmakers to give up boosting
Medicare payments to benefit hometown providers. Setting reimbursement rates for
local health care providers is a legislative ritual that amounts to one of the
most effective and lucrative forms of constituent service. Delivering federal
money through Medicare can be a powerful tool on the campaign trail, allowing
lawmakers to argue that they are creating jobs and improving the quality of
health care for voters. Obama administration officials say they are determined to
stem soaring Medicare spending.
Read more.
— Washington Post, July 16, 2009
WASHINGTON—A bill which aims to make health insurance available to all Americans was approved 13 to 10 by the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The panel was the first Congressional committee to approve the health legislation. But a partisan split signified potential trouble ahead, according to the
New York Times: Republicans on the panel, who voted unanimously against the measure, described the idea of a new public insurance option as a deal-breaker. They said they still hoped that a consensus bill would emerge from the Senate Finance Committee.
Read more.
— New York Times, July 16, 2009
WASHINGTON—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats could use a proposed new tax on the wealthy to pay down the deficit, if there's money left over after funding health care reform.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) said if more savings are found than the initial amount estimated to help offset the $1 trillion-plus health care plan, the tax revenues carved out to offset the bill’s cost could be funneled toward deficit reduction.
Read more.
— TheHill.com, July 16, 2009
Creating an Issue-Free Environment - Union Awareness for Health Care Organizations
July 28, 2009 – Hastings
July 29, 2009 – Omaha
The Power of Empowerment: Coaching for Quality Performance
July 28, 2009 – Webinar
Fun in the Sun: Free Summer Safety and Skin Cancer Awareness Event
July 30, 2009 – Kearney
Health Career Fair for Minority High School Students
July 31, 2009 – Lincoln
Preparing for Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Audits
August 26, 2009 – Lincoln
August 27, 2009 –
Kearney
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.
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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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