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Nebraska is one of 22 states that will share an awarded $22 million by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to
provide colorectal cancer screening for low-income adults ages 50-64 who are
uninsured or underinsured. The program seeks to increase screening rates and reduce disparities in colorectal cancer and mortality. The state recipients are Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and Washington. Only half of U.S. adults age 50 or older have received the recommended colorectal cancer screenings.
LINCOLN—The Nebraska Hospital Association (NHA) released a statement today responding to President Barrack Obama's health care reform address yesterday. The statement
lauded President Obama’s continued focus on health reform and his commitment to expanding coverage to the millions of Americans without health insurance.
“We support insurance reforms that incorporate portability and pre-existing condition reform that would make it easier for beneficiaries to acquire adequate health insurance coverage, ” stated NHA President Laura J. Redoutey.
Read new release.
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology
plans to launch in October a preliminary certification program for electronic health record
(EHR) products, based on emerging recommendations of two committees advising the Department of Health and Human Services on how to define meaningful EHR use. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expects by year-end to issue a proposed rule defining "meaningful use,” which will determine which hospitals and physicians are eligible for more than $17 billion in health IT funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s
(ARRA) HITECH provisions. If the federal rulemaking process results in new requirements, the commission said it will offer vendors with preliminary certifications an incremental inspection at no additional fee to bring their certifications into alignment with the final rules.
— AHA News Now, September 8, 2009
Nearly half of Americans have a chronic condition, and 75 percent of the $2.6
trillion spent annually on health care goes to treat patients with long-term
health problems, says Kenneth Thorpe, a professor at Atlanta's Emory University
and head of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease. In the Medicare program,
95 percent of spending is linked to a chronic disease.
Read more.
— USA Today, September 9, 2009
WASHINGTON—After a month of angry town hall meetings and dire predictions about the state of health care reform, President Obama moved forcefully to take the initiative on the debate during a nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress. Obama had two overriding objectives for his speech, according to the
Washington Post: First was to reassure and ultimately rally a skeptical public to get behind the drive for comprehensive health care reform, and second was to appease independents worried that his agenda threatens a fiscal disaster for the country.
Read more.
— Washington Post, September 10, 2009
NORTH PLATTE—Narcotics like morphine and codeine have long been used to provide pain relief for patients, especially after surgery. But almost anyone who has used these medications knows that they can leave a person feeling groggy and nauseated.
Now a new system is being used at Great Plains Regional Medical Center (GPRMC) to help patients control their pain without the use of narcotics. This portable pump is called the ON-Q Pain Buster, and patients really seem to like it.
Read more.
— North Platte Telegraph, August 29, 2009
KEARNEY—Change is a good thing in the emergency department at Good Samaritan Hospital.
The recent addition of a communication board, procedure carts, a new documentation system, central supply closet and a decrease in door-to-doc time and length of stay, among other improvements, have the department buzzing with change.
The improvements, made possible by a team of Good Samaritan Hospital employees, were made using the Lean methodology that helps to eliminate wasted time, steps or supplies.
Read more.
—
Kearney Hub, August 29, 2009
ALMA—Harlan County Health Systems (HCHS) recently welcomed a new Director of
Nursing (DON) to their staff. Manuela "Manny" Wolf joined the staff on July 27
and says she is very excited to be involved in both management and all facets of
nursing. Manny worked at the Franklin County Memorial Hospital for nine years
prior to accepting the DON position at HCHS.
—
Republican Valley Review, August 12, 2009
OMAHA—Alegent Health was recently featured by CNN.com as one of a growing number of hospitals, Web sites, even states, helping patients comparison shop on the Internet before undergoing a medical procedure or test.
Hospitals say they're responding to a growing demand from patients who are paying for more of their health care out of pocket,
due to rising deductibles and the advent of high deductible, consumer-driven plans.
Read more.
—
CNN.com, September 10, 2009
WASHINGTON—The national debate on the health care overhaul has centered on a wide range of proposals in Congress, only some of which will end up in the final bill, notes the
Wall Street Journal. Increasingly, though, the contours of the overhaul are becoming clearer, and are certain to sharpen when President Obama addresses Congress in a special joint session, according to the
Journal.
Read more.
— Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2009
WASHINGTON—With or without Republican support, the Senate Finance Committee will mark up its version of a health care overhaul during the week of Sept. 21, Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., said Wednesday.
Baucus said he would release a final draft bill next week. “We must move forward if we’re going to get this bill done by the end of the year,” he said.
Read
more.
— CQ Politics, September 10, 2009
WASHINGTON—In the heated debates on health care reform, not enough attention is being paid to the huge financial windfalls ObamaCare
will dole out to unions—or to the provisions in the various bills in Congress
that will help bring about the forced unionization of the health care industry.
Tucked away in thousands of pages of complex new rules, regulations and mandates
are special privileges and giveaways that could have devastating consequences
for the health care sector and the American economy at large.
The Senate version opens the door to implement forced unionization schemes
pursued by former Governors Rod Blagojevich of Illinois in 2005 and Gray Davis of California in 1999. Both men repaid tremendous political debts to Andy Stern and his Service Employees International Union (SEIU) by reclassifying state-reimbursed in-home health care (and child care) contractors as state employees—and forcing them to pay union dues.
Read more.
— Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2009
LINCOLN—The Nebraska Hospital Association (NHA) today testified in support of the proposed changes to revise Nebraska Medicaid’s methodology for determining rates for inpatient hospital services, including the implementation of a new DRG classification system using AP-DRGs.
Over the past months, the NHA and its member hospitals have been working with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
and Navigant Consulting (Navigant) to develop and implement an inpatient
reimbursement system intended to more appropriately address the costs associated
with the Medicaid populations served in Nebraska’s hospitals.
Read more.
Saint Elizabeth Foundation "Give & Grow Together" Benefit Auction
September 14-24, 2009 – Online Auction
The Joint Commission Medical Staff Standards Program
September 14, 2009 – Omaha
Changes in Pharmacy Benefit Drug Pricing Methodology Webinar
September 15, 2009 – Webinar
Hospital Pharmaceutical Waste 3-Part Webinar Series
September 16, October 7 & October 21, 2009 – Webinar
NeRHA Annual Conference
September 17-18, 2009 – Kearney
NHA 2009 Annual Convention
October 14-16, 2009 – Lincoln
Federal Grant Management Class
Offered
November 19-20, 2009 – Lincoln
Click here
for a list
of upcoming NHA audioconferences and Webinars.
Visit thee
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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