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OMAHA—A total of 13 Creighton University Medical Center health care providers have departed in the last few days to help treat victims of the Haiti earthquake. The team is seeing patients from the Dominican border town of Jimani, located about 35 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A third group of eight nurses may head for the Dominican Republic later this week.
Team members, who took vacation time to participate in the effort, plan to stay for approximately a week.
The team also took with them vital medical and other supplies provided by Creighton’s School of Medicine, Creighton University Medical Center and Tenet Healthcare. In addition to donating funds through the
Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC) center near Santiago, Dominican Republic, Creighton is also organizing supplies for transport. Hospitals and other medical facilities wishing to donate supplies can contact Ron Groepper, COO, Creighton University Medical Center at
ronald.groepper@tenethealth.com or (402) 449-5005.
Creighton medical students also continue to raise money for Haiti relief, challenging faculty, staff and community members to contribute.
— Nebraska Hospital Association, January 20, 2009
Nurses are a trusted source of health information and should have more influence on efforts to reduce medical errors, increase the quality of care, promote wellness and reduce health care costs, according to a recent Gallup survey of opinion leaders. However, respondents said nurses are not perceived as important decision makers or revenue generators, key barriers to greater influence.
"We must build on the widespread trust of nurses' expertise as an essential component in leading and implementing reform," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which sponsored the poll of opinion leaders in various industries.
Pamela Rudisill, president of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, an AHA subsidiary, said, "The survey reinforces the role of nurses as change agents and catalysts for improving health care, but we as a profession must do a better job of educating the public and opinion makers to the value of nursing in executive decision making."
— AHA News Now, January 21, 2010
GRAND ISLAND—The Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) Learning Effectiveness Group has notified Saint Francis Medical Center that it will award grant funding to provide nursing education focused on caring for patients with neurology-related diagnoses. The grant is for $7,400 and will cover 100 percent of the total HealthStream courseware cost included in Saint Francis’ grant application.
Read more.
—
Saint Francis Medical Center press release, January 20, 2010
 BROKEN BOW—Over 160 people attended a
dedication ceremony last Sunday to celebrate the completion of a 12 million dollar 39,000 square foot addition to the Jennie M. Melham Memorial Medical Center in Broken Bow. Hundreds more attended the Ribbon Cutting and Open House to view twenty-three new spacious private patient rooms, two labor/delivery rooms and space and technology designed to aid staff in providing care.
The dedication ceremony in the Heritage Hall Multi Purpose Room kicked off the day. The Master of Ceremonies was Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Michael J. Steckler who introduced the
guest speakers that included Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy, Senator Deb Fischer and Broken Bow Mayor Mac McMeen.
During the program, all the speakers highlighted the importance of health care
in rural Nebraska. Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy said the community should be proud
of the health care that is being provided to its citizens.
—
Jennie M. Melham Memorial Medical Center, January 20, 2010
LINCOLN—During the Association of Nonprofit Executives (ANPE) Annual Awards Luncheon
on Wednesday, Phyllis Ericson, CEO, Nebraska Community Blood Bank, was announced as the 2009 Executive of the Year. The annual ANPE Nonprofit Executive of the Year
Award honors a member of ANPE
who demonstrates exceptional leadership abilities.
Phyllis joined the Nebraska Community Blood Bank in 1989 and became the CEO in
1995. As a clinical chemist, she has ensured that the Nebraska Community Blood Bank has stayed abreast of changing regulatory standards and policies, making the blood supply safer than ever before.
For the past 20 years, Phyllis has led and developed the organization tripling blood collections and blood donor participation. In 2009, the Nebraska Community Blood Bank distributed over 80,000 blood products for transfusion to patients in Nebraska, as well as world-wide.
Click here to learn more about the Nebraska
Community Blood Bank.
—
Nebraska Hospital Association, January 21, 2009
LINCOLN—The Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony Jan. 20 on a bill that would eliminate a time limit on authorization for the release of health information.
Grand Island Senator Mike Gloor, sponsor of
LB 702, said Nebraska’s current 180-day limit on authorizations is more restrictive than federal law and creates a barrier to the exchange of health information.
Read more.
— Unicameral Update, January 21, 2009
LINCOLN—Individuals working in Nebraska facilities with an Alzheimer’s special care unit would be required to obtain dementia-specific training under a bill,
LB 726, heard by the Health and Human Services Committee January 20.
Read more.
— Unicameral Update, January 21, 2009
WASHINGTON—Massachusetts voters sent a message that needs to be heeded by both political parties, Senator Ben Nelson said Wednesday.
People are frustrated with the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, which has led to a dysfunctional government that's "not working together for them," Nelson said.
Democrats need to make "a renewed effort to work across the political aisle," Nelson said, but Republicans also have "a responsibility to engage."
Read more.
— Lincoln Journal Star, January 21, 2009
WASHINGTON—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struggled to sell the Senate version of the legislation to reluctant Democrats, even as party moderates raised doubts about forging ahead without bipartisan support, the
Washington Post reports. Despite Republican Scott Brown's victory in a Senate special election in Massachusetts, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) have pledged to complete work on the massive bill they started nearly a year ago. But they have yet to identify a clear way forward that will appeal broadly to their rank-and-file, the Post reports.
Read more.
— Washington Post, January 21, 2010
WASHINGTON—The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) plans to update its electronic health record
(EHR) technology certification programs to conform to the Department of Health and Human Services'
(HHS) recent interim final rule on EHR standards.
"Our aim is to ensure that hospitals and doctors have enough time to purchase and implement certified EHRs and achieve meaningful use in time to qualify for HHS financial incentives in 2011 and 2012," said CCHIT Executive Director Alisa Ray. "With eligibility for hospitals opening in October 2010, there is an urgent need for certification programs to be in place."
The commission will hold a free Web-based
teleconference January 26 to discuss the certification program changes and answer questions. The organization also is developing a site certification program to inspect and certify hospitals' existing EHR technologies, which will launch after HHS announces its final rules on meaningful use.
— AHA News Now, January 20, 2009
Join us for 2010 NHA Advocacy Day
March 9, 2010 – Lincoln
National Rural Health Policy Institute
January 25-27, 2010 – Washington D.C.
Funding Opportunities for Electronic Health Records Under the HITECH Act
January 26, 2010 – Webinar
CMS Hospital CoP and The Joint Commission Grievance and Complaints (CL)
January 27, 2010 – Webinar
Outpatient Marketing Positioning Strategies: Maximizing Effectiveness and Increasing Volume Demand
January 28, 2010 – Webinar
A Benefit Concert for The Returning Veterans Resource Network
February 6, 2010 – Omaha
Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) Seminar
March 11, 2010 – Grand Island
SAVE THE DATE:
2010 Lifespan Health Services Conference
May 11-12, 2010 – Kearney
Click here
for a list
of upcoming NHA audio-conferences 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. 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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