The 2019 KHA Legislative Platform will be presented to the Association membership for approval at the annual KHA Health Care Leadership Conference (HCLC) on November 9 at the Louisville Marriott East.

Governor Bevin’s Executive Cabinet Secretary Scott Brinkman will report from the Executive Branch on health care, Medicaid, the drug epidemic and other challenges facing the commonwealth.

Leaders of the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives will reveal plans for the upcoming session and how health care factors into their parties' agendas. A media panel will address the hot topics associated with the 2019 session of the Kentucky General Assembly, the future of politics in Kentucky and its impact at the state and federal levels.

Finally, U.S. House editor...

KHA, in association with The Ridge Behavioral Health System and the Advocacy Action Network, will host a conference on suicide prevention systems on Friday, December 7 at The Marriott Griffin Gate in Lexington. Mark your calendars now!

The focus this year is Suicide: Among All Ages and Stages.

Suicide takes life without regard to age, income, education, social standing, race or gender. Overall, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death for all Americans, the second leading cause of death for adults ages 25-34 and the third leading cause of death for youth ages 15-24. In Kentucky, suicide is the 11th leading cause of death. On average, one person dies by suicide every 12 hours in Kentucky.

The conference has an experienced lineup of presenters, including Kristen Quinlan, PhD, Evaluator for SAMHSA’s CAPT Northeast Resource Team and Epidemiologist for SAMHSA’s Suicide Prevention Resource Center. Dr. Quinlan is a senior research associate at Education Development Center,...

If you are looking to build connections and/or establish affiliations or joint ventures with Kentucky hospitals to better assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities in a cost-effective manner, consider being a sponsor of the Kentucky Hospital Association.

Sponsorships include opportunities at KHA's signature event, the 90th Annual Convention — May 8-10, 2019.

There are several different sponsorship levels to meet your needs. If you have any questions, please contact Claire Arant at KHA (carant@kyha.com) or visit the Sponsorship Opportunities page of our website at www.kyha.com/sponsorship-opportunities.

KHA Solutions Group Affinity Partner FairCode Associates was founded in 2001 by a team of physicians and nurses to improve coding documentation and compliance in hospitals. They are dedicated to the correct documentation of patient acuity, and to ensuring that their clients receive full and fair compensation for the care they render.

FairCode's specially trained physicians and coding professionals have been working with clients nationwide. This list includes academic medical centers, teaching hospitals, rural community hospitals and multi-hospital health systems.

They work closely with your coders and CDI team members to bridge the gap between clinical documentation and the assignment of codes. Using advanced technology to support peer-to-peer communication with attending physicians, a DRG-specific database of historic changes, (to say nothing...

KHA will host a Full Membership Update call on Thursday, September 13 from 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. (ET). The agenda for the call is as follows:

1. Medicaid Update
2. UPL Update
3. CON Update

To participate, please dial: 1-877-594-8353
When prompted, enter participant number: 16020884

KHA is conducting a survey on hospital policies and procedures regarding Hepatitis A in the emergency department.

Please take a few moments to complete the brief survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KHAHepA2018 by September 14.

If you have any questions, please contact Ashley Peterson at KHA (apeterson@kyha.com).

Open Enrollment for the 2019 Medicaid Plan Year will take place from November 1 - November 30, 2018. While new beneficiaries can enroll in Medicaid at any time, Open Enrollment is the only chance for beneficiaries who are already receiving Medicaid to switch their Managed Care Organization (MCO).

The Open Enrollment period gives beneficiaries the opportunity to consider what MCO offers the best plan for their family's needs and situation.

If beneficiaries want to change their MCO during Open Enrollment, they can visit benefind.ky.gov, visit their local Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) office or talk to their local Assister.

KHA is grateful for the support of its Annual Sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of services. Please join KHA in thanking Gold Sponsor Barnett Benvenuti & Butler PLLC!

The attorneys and staff of Barnett Benvenuti & Butler (BB&B) are dedicated to the law of health care. Their clients appreciate responsive attorneys, substantive advice and efficient solutions tailored to the particular needs of health care providers. The firm's legal team is driven to provide exceptional service through effective advocacy and wise counsel. Their focus on health law helps you focus on health care.

For more information, visit the BB&B website at http://www.bbb-law.com/....

Emergencies and accidents can happen anytime, anywhere. Are your employees prepared for the financial burdens that could arise due to extremely high medical transportation costs both at home or while traveling the country?

Americans today suffer from a false sense of security that their medical coverage will pay for all costs associated with emergency or critical care transport. The reality is that the majority of people are only partially covered for these costs.

MASA Medical Transport Solutions provides more than just benefits. They provide the ultimate peace of mind from emergency medical transport bills after even the best insurance companies have paid their part.

Here’s what you can expect with MASA:

Payroll deducted - $7 per pay period ($14 a month)....

From AHA: Hospitals wishing to qualify for the payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals in fiscal year 2019 must make a written request for low-volume status to their Medicare Administrative Contractor no later than Sept. 1, 2018, per the instructions outlined in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' inpatient prospective payment system final rule for FY 2019. See page 16 of the AHA Advisory for more information. In addition, applications for hospital reclassifications for FY 2020 are due by Sept. 4, 2018. This also is the deadline for canceling a previous wage index reclassification withdrawal, or termination. See pages 18 and 19 of the ...

KHA is grateful for the support of its Annual Sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of services. Please join KHA in thanking Bronze Sponsor Arnett Carbis Toothman!

Arnett Carbis Toothman (ACT) provides forward-thinking companies and businesses an array of class-leading services, supported by nearly three quarters of a century of accounting and consulting experience. ACT team leaders and associates are well regarded in their fields and adept at pinpointing and executing the most efficient and cost effective services necessary to maintain the rhythm of your business.

For more information, visit the ACT website at https://www.actcpas.com/....

 

Today’s specialized workforce shortage is one of the most critical challenges facing health care leaders across the country. To help combat this issue, KHA Solutions Group's new Affinity Partner offers Kentucky health care organizations the ability to take advantage of the health care industry’s most cost-effective recruitment network and platform: HospitalCareers.com.

HospitalCareers.com is the health care industry's leading hospital jobs site that connects health care candidates and hospitals to find their perfect match. Through their network of twenty-four state hospital associations and integration with advanced online recruitment...

KHA will host member meetings in each of the four districts throughout the state in September. Online registration is now open! Use the corresponding links below to reserve your seat for your district's meeting. This is a great opportunity to be involved with the Association and network with your peers.

September 7 Cumberland District Registration Hazard ARH Regional Medical Center   September 11 Blue Grass District Registration...

The KHA Trustee Conference will be held September 21 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Join your colleagues from across the state for this timely event designed specifically for hospital trustees. Conference speaker Karma Bass, MPH, FACHE explains details about the agenda in the video below.

As part of the HRET Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN), hospital quality, patient safety and clinical leaders are offered the opportunity to participate in the “Foundations for Change” and the “Accelerating Improvement” Fellowships.

These Fellowships are a partnership between HRET, the state hospital association, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and were conducted from January through July of this year. The Fellowships consisted of interactive webinars and online courses on key topics in quality improvement and patient safety, designed to build capacity and “bench strength” in Kentucky to drive ongoing reduction in health care-associated harm.

KHA salutes the new Kentucky Fellows from the following hospitals successfully completed the Fellowships:

Baptist Health Madisonville (Angela Giffin-Walls) Bourbon Community Hospital (Johnya Earlywine) Clark Regional Medical Center (Angie Leach, Deanna Wells, Kelly Stratton, ...

The Kentucky Chapter of ACHE is offering 1.5 hours of ACHE credits in Owensboro on Thursday, September 20 in conjunction with the Healthcare Coalition Conference (HCC).

This is the chapter’s first time teaming up with the hospital facility engineers, material managers, safety and security and emergency management officers.

The Kentucky ACHE is offering a panel discussion on Aligning Evidence-Based Design and Evidenced-Based Medicine to Design a More Efficient and High Quality Patient-Centered Health Care Delivery Model.

For ACHE, the Healthcare Coalition Conference has created a special one-day rate of $175. You can attend the ACHE session from 9:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. (CT) and if your schedule allows, you can stay for the full day of education.Highlights include:

Breakfast (with live music) State of the State – Mike Rust, KHA President at 8:00 a.m. (CT) HCC “Lightning Round” – five 5-minute presentations (the BEST of the...

KHA is grateful for the support of its Annual Sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of services. Please join KHA in thanking Bronze Sponsor Boehringer Ingelheim!

Family owned since 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies. Improving health and quality of life for patients is the goal of this research-driven pharmaceutical company.

For more information, visit the Boehringer Ingelheim website at https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/.

To become a sponsor, contact Claire Arant...

Kentucky hospitals were were recognized in U.S. News and World Report's latest rankings of the best hospitals in the country. Six hospitals in Kentucky were recognized as nationally ranked or high performing in different specialties (according to the magazine's methodology):

UK Chandler Medical Center, Lexington Nationally ranked in four specialties: Cancer, Diabetes & Endocrinology; Ear, Nose & Throat; and Orthopedics High Performing in 5 Specialty Procedures/Conditions   Baptist Health Lexington High Performing in 8 Specialty Procedures/Conditions   Baptist Health Louisville High Performing in 7 Specialty Procedures/Conditions   Norton Hospital, Louisville High Performing in 6 Specialty Procedures/Conditions   St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Edgewood-Covington High Performing in 6 Specialty Procedures/Conditions   Jewish Hospital, Louisville High Performing in 3 Specialty Procedures/Condition Visit the magazine's...

KHA is grateful for the support of its Annual Sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of services. Please join KHA in thanking Diamond Sponsor the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters!

The Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters (IKORCC) represents more than 32,000 professional tradespeople in 33 locals in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and parts of West Virginia and Tennessee. A proud affiliate of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, which has a century-plus tradition of representing the best of the building trades, the council works in partnership with more than 30,000 contractors, helping them find the best possible talent for their projects.

For more information,...

KHA is pleased to release the Utilization Trend Report, updated with data from First Quarter 2014 through First Quarter 2018.

A copy of the report is available on the KHA website's Data Center, under Utilization.

If you have any questions, please contact Chuck Warnick at KHA (cwarnick@kyha.com).

KHA recently updated its member database software. As the Association uses this software to send out group emails, some hospitals may be blocking those messages thinking they are spam.

In order to ensure you receive communications from KHA, please make sure you add kyha@memberclicks-mail.net to your list of approved senders. You might also want to alert your IT team to this change.

The Kentucky Association for Healthcare Recruitment (KAHCR), affiliated with the National Association for Healthcare Recruitment (NAHCR), is welcoming new members! The KAHCR chapter membership includes health care recruitment professionals across the State of Kentucky and Southern Indiana. The chapter's mission is to provide a forum for those professionals engaged in the recruitment of health care personnel for their institutions, through which programs may be developed for the promotion of Kentucky and Southern Indiana.

Th group also provides educational programs and engages subject matter experts  on various topics. The chapter meets bi-monthly (see below for details on the next meeting).

If you would like more information about KAHCR, would like to attend a scheduled meeting at no charge or would like to know how to join, please contact KAHCR President Casey Richeson (casey.richeson@owensborohealth.org) or KAHCR Treasurer Chera Cummings...

KHA is grateful for the support of its Annual Sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of services. Please join KHA in thanking Corporate Sponsor GRW!

GRW’s in-house architectural and engineering design professionals offer you exceptional service and experience to solve a wide range of design challenges.

For more information, visit the GRW website at http://www.grwinc.com/.

To become a sponsor, contact Claire Arant at KHA (carant@kyha.com).

Two of KHA's biggest annual events are scheduled — the Health Care Leadership Conference and Annual Convention — so mark your calendar now and plan to attend! Additional information will be available in the coming months.

KHA Health Care Leadership Conference
November 9
Marriott East
Louisville

KHA 90th Annual Convention
May 8-10, 2019
Lexington Convention Center/Hyatt Regency Lexington

The Kentucky Trustee is a quarterly newsletter KHA produces for the benefit of hospital boards. The goal is to provide your trustees with information they need to lead your hospital forward in today’s rapidly changing environment. The summer edition of the Kentucky Trustee is available at https://www.kyha.com/assets/docs/Publications/KT/KTSummer2018.pdf.

KHA mails the Kentucky Trustee newsletter to all trustees for which the Association has contact information. This is a good time to ensure KHA has your current board members’ addresses.

If you have suggestions for future issues of the Kentucky Trustee, please contact Ginger Dreyer at KHA (502-426-6220 or 800-945-4542 or via e-mail at gdreyer@kyha.com).

The KHA Trustee Conference will be held September 21 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Join your colleagues from across the state for this timely event designed specifically for hospital trustees. This conference is built on networking, education and idea exchange. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to talk with your peers about similar challenges and discover new skills to overcome them.

View the brochure for Conference details. Online registration...

KHA is urging the Kentucky congressional delegation to sign a bipartisan Dear Colleague Letter that is being circulated in Congress by the House Ways and Means Committee. The letter deals with CMS’ proposal to make major changes to the system under which patients are functionally assessed and classified under Medicare. This impacts the Medicare patients that need inpatient rehabilitation care and the seven freestanding and 11 hospital-based rehabilitation units (IRFs) in Kentucky’s hospitals who care for and rehabilitate patients who have experienced major medical events such as traumatic brain injuries, strokes and spinal cord injuries.

The letter asks important questions of CMS and highlights concerns with this proposal. KHA has asked all of Kentucky's Congressmen to sign onto the letter, which expresses concerns about this CMS proposal and encourages the agency...

If a CMS surveyor showed up at your hospital tomorrow, would you know what to do? Two upcoming KHA seminars will cover the 2018 changes in the CMS Hospital Conditions of Participation (CoPs). Hospitals have seen a significant increase in survey activity by CMS, so this is a great way to educate everyone in your hospital on all the sections in the CMS hospital manual especially ones that apply to their department.

• CMS Hospital Conditions of Participation Made Easy 2018
  September 10-11
  Brochure
  Online Registration
   
• Revised CMS CAH Conditions of Participation 2018: Ensuring Compliance
  September 11-12
  Brochure
  Online Registration

On July 13, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) filed changes to the State Health Plan – the guiding methodology for formal review under the Certificate of Need (CON) program. These changes were filed in two regulations – ordinary and emergency. The E-reg deletes the Post Acute Transitional Care pilot project (passage of SB 123) and an Ordinary Regulation combines required changes from the passage of HB 444 as well as other recommendations received during the pre-comment period. (Click the bill numbers above for full text of the regulations.) KHA's summary of the changes identifies if these were KHA-supported or...

The Health Resources and Services Administration's Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Organ Donation Campaign recently recognized more than 1,200 hospitals and transplant centers nationwide, including 314 small and rural hospitals, for outstanding efforts to promote organ donation awareness and registration.

The 17 Kentucky hospitals below reached platinum, gold, silver and bronze recognition levels for their organ, eye, and tissue donation and registration efforts between October 1, 2017, and April 30, 2018.