A KHA team lobbied the Kentucky congressional delegation on July 13-14 at their Capitol Hill offices in Washington, D.C. KHA Legislative Chair Nina Eisner, along with Sherri Craig, KentuckyOne Health; Rosanne Nields, St. Elizabeth Healthcare; Riggs Lewis, Norton Healthcare;Lourdes Baez, Baptist Health; David Critchlow and Alan Larson, LifePoint Health; KHA President Mike Rust and Vice-President Sarah S. Nicholson, met with all the members and staffs of the Kentucky delegation to discuss the ACA repeal and replacement legislation, including the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), and other key issues.

The revised BCRA was introduced in the Senate while the group was on Capitol Hill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that the Senate would vote on the ACA replacement legislation as it was time for the members to vote up or down on the legislation and then move on to other issues. If the BCRA replacement legislation fails,...

KHA is once again hosting a Kentucky Infection Prevention Boot Camp on September 26-29 in Louisville. The 2017 Boot Camp was developed through a statewide collaborative aimed at supporting Kentucky infection prevention professionals in their daily work to reduce health care associated infections and provide quality patient care. The three and a half day conference builds on foundational skills provided in previous educational offerings, and explores topics with emerging importance. The target audience includes infection preventionists, chief nursing officers, risk managers, quality improvement and patient safety personnel from all types of health care systems including hospitals, health departments, long-term care, ambulatory surgery and others.

For details, view the brochure. Online registration...

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid is inviting all network providers, coders, billers and practice managers to participate in coding education webinars throughout the month of August. The webinars provide an opportunity to:

Explore risk adjustment and how it impacts all patient types, payers and risk-sharing contracts Discover the connection between documentation, coding, risk adjustment and quality care Discuss guidelines for documentation and common electronic health record issues Earn 1.5 CEU and 1.5 CME units Sessions will be held on Thursdays:

August 10 August 17 August 24 August 31 Online registration is available now. Providers are also welcome to complete this form...

Several Kentucky hospitals and health systems with hospitals in Kentucky were honored by the 2017 Health Care's Most Wired survey, conducted by Hospitals & Health Networks and the American Hospital Association with the assistance of several experts from the field.

In addition to the survey's usual topics, for the first time, the survey included detailed questions on how quickly data could be restored in the event of a disaster that causes the complete loss of the primary data system. More than half of the Most Wired (58 percent) said clinical information systems such as the EHR, laboratory and radiology would be available within four hours, compared with 49 percent of all respondents. Close to half of Most Wired respondents also said that within four hours, they would have access to financial systems,...

Governor Matthew G. Bevin is seeking to appoint a certified licensed nutritionist or an applicant with a dual nutrition and dietitian license to the Kentucky Board of Licensure and Certification for Dieticians and Nutritionists. According to KRS 310.040, this person must also represent state or local nutritional programs or be in private practice.

Pursuant to KRS 310.040, the Kentucky Hospital Association is permitted to submit a list of nominees for potential membership on the Board.

All nominees should submit an application to Boards and Commissions for consideration, together with a resume.

If you would like to make a recommendation, please ask your applicant to complete the Boards and Commission application. The application may be completed online and resume uploaded at https://boardregister.ky.gov/BnC/Account/Login.aspx .

Lastly, please let KHA know of your recommendation so the Association...

The Mid-South Critical Access Hospital Conference, representing rural health care in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, will be held August 16-18 in Nashville. 

Held annually, this August marks the 15th year for the Mid-South CAH Conference. Nearly 150 critical access hospital (CAH) C-suite executives and management teams, along with community leaders and agencies focused on rural issues, will convene at this premier event to discuss health care for rural populations. There will be multiple peer networking opportunities and numerous face-to-face educational credits through the American College of Healthcare Executives, as well as continuing education for nursing, nursing home administrators...

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) has been law since 2008. MHPAEA provided that health plans could not limit mental health or substance use disorder benefits in any way that was more restrictive than how medical/surgical benefits were limited. This sounds simple enough…but why do so many people still have limited access to behavioral health care? The Conference on Behavioral Health Parity: What Is It and How Can We Make It Work? will explore this question, and give attendees the opportunity to hear from experts on how to work within the parity law, to better understand it and to benefit from it.

Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) will be aviailable for Social Work, LPCC, Psychology, CADC, LMFT and Nursing.

For program details, view the brochure. Registration is open online...

KHA Solutions Group has added the Patient Transition of Care platform from Sequentia Corporation as its latest partner in its Affinity Partner program. Sequentia’s web-based solution offers health care providers the system, tools and data necessary to fully optimize the patient transition of care process from “end to end” in the continuum of care. Beginning with patient admission into a hospital for acute care, the Sequentia system tracks, accelerates and enhances the patient journey into and through post-acute care, with any type of care provider that is required to deliver the best patient care outcome. Hospitals using the Sequentia platform can achieve significant operational and financial performance improvements.

Sequentia Corporation is a developer and provider of health care technology solutions, and the Sequentia TOC platform is a Certified Health Information Technology platform.

The Sequentia system has been used for over three years at Ashtabula County Medical Center, a Cleveland Clinic...

KHA released a report today on the performance of the five Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) operating in Kentucky The report was compiled from public data from 2016. The report provides information on medical loss ratios, utilization review denial rates, quality scores, corrective action and prompt payment.

If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Galvagni at KHA (ngalvagni@kyha.com).

The 2017 Healthcare Coalition Conference is September 26-28 at the Hyatt Regency Lexington and the Lexington Conference Center. The Conference is designed to meet the educational needs of health care engineers, professionals involved in managing safety & security in health care facilities, as well as professionals in health care supply chain and materials management. 

The Healthcare Coalition Conference will include top-notch educational content, hours of continuing education credits, as well as ongoing opportunities to discuss emerging issues and best practices with colleagues, vendors and consultants. 

Registration is available online at http://kshe.org/event/2017HCCRegistration.

The KHA Small, Rural and Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Forum will meet on July 27 at KHA Headquarters in Louisville. All small, rural and CAH CEOs, CFOs and COOs are invited to attend.

This meeting will include a CAH swing bed cost reporting workshop, an update from KHA on the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) distribution model, MACRA resources for rural hospitals and a KHA Swing Bed Workgroup planning session.

Registration is due by July 20 at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/rural717.

If you have any questions, please contact Elizabeth Cobb at KHA (ecobb@kyha.com).

The Kentucky Prescription Assistance Program (KPAP) is a service that helps qualified patients obtain their prescription medications through the medication assistance programs offered by drug companies. KPAP assists patients with prescriptions at a reduced charge or no cost at all. It provides a 90-day supply of brand name medications directly to the patient or they are mailed to a partnering site where the patient can pick them up. Thirty days before the medication is to run out, the patient is alerted that a refill is needed. Thus, improving adherence and continuity of care for the patient.

Hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, free clinics and faith-based organizations can become a partnering site. KPAP consultants come to your facility and set up the program. They provide training and follow-up training as needed, all free of charge.

KPAP is a web-based program that compiles information into one central database. The patient must be a Kentucky resident, but the program...

The Mid-South Critical Access Hospital Conference, representing rural health care in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, will be held August 16-18 in Nashville. 

Held annually, this August marks the 15th year for the Mid-South CAH Conference. Nearly 150 critical access hospital (CAH) C-suite executives and management teams, along with community leaders and agencies focused on rural issues, will convene at this premier event to discuss health care for rural populations. There will be multiple peer networking opportunities and numerous face-to-face educational credits through the American College of Healthcare Executives, as well as continuing education for nursing, nursing home administrators...

Yesterday, Governor Matt Bevin, joined by state legislators and constituents, ceremonially signed more than a dozen pieces of recently enacted legislation at the State Capitol. Among the acts signed were House bills (HB) 128 and 161 and Senate bills (SB) 4 and 79.

SB 4 requires peer review of medical malpractice complaints by medical review panels before medical malpractice cases can go to court. A complaint can bypass the panel and go directly to court only by agreement of all parties.

Photo (left to right): KHA President Mike Rust; KHA Vice President of Health Policy Elizabeth Cobb; KHA Legislative Committee Chair Joe Koch; Governor Matt Bevin; Senator Ralph Alvarado (SB 4 sponsor); KHA Vice President of Government Relations Sarah S. Nicholson; and KHA Board Chair Susan Starling.

Mark your calendars now for the 2017 Kentucky Immunization Conference, Educate, Immunize, Protect – Kentucky’s Immunization Trifecta, December 5-6 at the Embassy Suites in Lexington. This Conference is sponsored by the Kentucky Rural Health Association and the Kentucky Immunization Coalition in collaboration with the Kentucky Immunization Program.

There is an exciting line up of nationally recognized speakers and continuing education credits will be offered.

Make your hotel reservations at http:// embassysuites.hilton.com/en/es/groups/personalized/L/LEXESES-KYI-20171201/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG by November 15 for the $100 conference rate. After this date, the cost will be $150.

More information, including registration, can be found at www.kyrha.org. 

From AHA: A new and evolving cyberattack using a variant of Ransomware has hit businesses in Ukraine, India, France, Russia and Spain. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) informed AHA that some U.S. hospitals and a pharmaceutical company also have been attacked. At this time, there is no definitive assessment about the source of the cyberattack. HHS is advising vigilance and following general cyber hygiene practices, such as ensuring that all your systems’ patches and anti-virus definitions are up to date. AHA is closely monitoring the situation and will update members as more information becomes available.

For more on the developing attack, make sure to check US-CERT, ...

The Kentucky Trustee is a quarterly newsletter that 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 spring edition of the Kentucky Trustee is available at http://www.kyha.com/docs/Publications/Trustee/KTSummer2017.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 Pam Kirchem at KHA (502-426-6220 or 800-945-4542 or via e-mail at pkirchem@kyha.com).

Most laws that made it through the Kentucky General Assembly earlier this year take effect on Thursday, June 29. The exceptions were those that had emergency clauses that triggered them to take effect immediately and those that specified later effective dates.

Of special note for hospitals are the Family Caregiver Act, which allows an inpatient to designate a caregiver to be recorded in the medical record and notified prior to the patient’s discharge, as well as the mammography bill, which will require a notification on certain results which involve dense breast tissue.

The recent WannaCry ransomware attack that was reported to have infected more than 230,000 computers across the globe in a single day has left many businesses, especially those in health care, wondering if their data is at risk.

Join KHA Affinity Partner LBMC Information Security for a free webinar to learn more about how a robust risk assessment process can help your organization mitigate risks and keep your data secure. You will also get an exclusive, sneak peek at BALLAST – LBMC’s new, cloud-based risk assessment platform that completely automates the risk assessment process.

Automating the Risk Assessment Process

Thursday, June 29 2:00 p.m. (CT) CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW





For more than a decade, LBMC Information Security has partnered with some of the leading companies in health care to perform thousands of risk assessments...

All KHA members are invited to join their colleagues and the KHA staff on an Advocacy Trip to Washington on July 13-14. Your help and support is needed on this trip! With Senate actions pending on the ACA Repeal and Replace legislation with the American Health Care Act (AHCA), proposed Medicare DSH changes and other threatened cuts to hospital payments, 340B Drug Discount Program, Rural programs authorization extension needed, IMD and other key issues up for discussion it is imperative that Kentucky hospitals stay in constant contact with the members of the congressional delegation.

Attendees will travel to Washington on July 13, arriving for a lunch briefing at AHA and meetings on Capitol Hill with Kentucky Senators and Congressmen that afternoon. On the morning of July 14, there will be more Capitol Hill delegation appointments and KHA will host the health staff of the congressional delegation for a lunch briefing at 11:30 a.m. Members can depart after 1:00 p.m. (ET).

Members...

The threat of cyber attacks on hospitals is growing daily. Monitoring information security 24/7 can take a great deal of staff time and money. Information technology (IT) security professionals effectively detect and prevent intrusions into hospital networks providing hospitals with a peace of mind from potential threats. 

KHA Solutions Group Affinity Partner LBMC Security Services are affordable and scalable for any size hospital to streamline security infrastructure while minimizing the operational overhead associated with managing the facility's environment.

LBMC Information Security is a leading IT security firm. Their team of security and audit professionals help clients build and maintain security programs that reduce risk, mitigate threats and maintain compliance. Further, they continually reach beyond security infrastructure and protection to help make each hospital's overall cyber security operations more effective and efficient as well.

For more information on how to protect...

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires all ordering, referring and prescribing providers to be enrolled in the state Medicaid program. Further, all Attending Providers must also be enrolled in Kentucky Medicaid and be eligible on the claim's date of service.

The Department for Medicaid Services implemented new claim editing to monitor this requirement on April 1, 2017. As such, this requirement is applicable to all claims with dates of service beginning on that date and going forward. In order to allow providers time to comply with this requirement, claims with dates of service between April 1. 2017, and July 1, 2017, that do not meet this requirement will continue to be paid and providers will receive an "informational" EOB indicating that incorrect Attending Provider data has been submitted. 

Claims submitted for dates of service beginning on and after July 1, 2017, that do not comply with this...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) invites you to join a webinar on Wednesday, June 7 at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long- Term Acute Care Hospital (LTCH) Proposed Rule, and Request for Information.

On April 28, CMS published the FY 2018 IPPS and LTCH Proposed Rule. This webinar will provide an overview of the proposed changes to the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs.

To register, visit http://engage.vevent.com/index.jsp?eid=2133&seid=269.

The audio portion of this webinar...

SUNRx is hosting a free webinar on 340B Audit Best Practices on Thursday, July 20 at 12:00 p.m. (ET). These webinars address specific topics of interest in 340B, and are part of the SUNRx Webinar Series available exclusively through KHA Solutions Group and other SUNRx partners.

Speaker Aaron Lott has extensive 340B audit experience and will be sharing current trends and drivers with regard to 340B audits that will help you position your hospital for optimal results. He is executive director of pharmacy services for Health Enterprises (HE). Lott specializes in services including pharmacy benefit management (PBM) and specialty pharmacy, 340B program implementation, auditing and education as well as implementation of provider-owned retail pharmacies and centralizing pharmacy services. 

This informative webinar event will discuss current trends and drivers in the world of 340B audits.

To register, visit https://sunrx.webex.com/sunrx/onstage/g.php?MTID=e34f739889625b5f8eaf4e07a3f2df0e6....

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) encourages you to submit a formal comment on the fiscal year (FY) 2018 Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Proposed Rule by 5:00 p.m. (ET) on June 13.

The public can submit comments in several ways:

By electronic submission through the “submit a formal comment” instructions on the ...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Hospital Research and Educational Trust (HRET) set regular milestones for HIIN programs around the country. The latest milestone required 70 percent of the hospitals participating in K-HIIN to submit data on all applicable topic areas for the time period of October 2016 through February 2017. K-HIIN hospitals went above and beyond the goal, as 94 percent of the participating hospitals met their milestone in all applicable areas.

K-HIIN received additional funding for meeting this pre-set milestone, which will be passed on to all the participating hospitals who met their individual milestones. It is because of the hard work and dedication of the hospitals that K-HIIN continues to receive this funding to improve patient care and quality in Kentucky.

Hospitals meeting milestones 1-3 will receive their funding this week.

If you have any question about K-HIIIN and other quality programs at KHA, please contact Donna Meador at KHA ( dmeador@kyha.com)....

KHA Diamond Sponsor Bluegrass Care Navigators, previously Hospice of the Bluegrass, was recently named a 2017 Hospice Honors Elite recipient by Deyta Analytics, a division of HEALTHCAREfirst. Hospice Honors is a prestigious program that recognizes hospices providing the highest level of quality as measured from the caregiver’s point of view.

Separately, Modern Healthcare has honored Bluegrass Care Navigators, naming it one of its “2017 Best Places to Work.” The annual national award recognizes companies that continuously strive to improve their work environment and increase employee engagement, satisfaction and retention through innovative changes in the workplace. It was only the second year that Bluegrass Care Navigators participated in the program.

KHA is thankful for all the sponsors that help support the Association and its goals.

KHA Solutions Group Affinity Partner SUNRx offers the easiest and most effective way for rural health providers to take advantage of the 340B opportunity. SUNRx helps hospitals and health centers:

Generate Revenue. Capture revenue from patients with third-party coverage, and generate $40 or more from each qualifying claim. Reduce costs. Reduce the cost of medications for eligible patients by half. Launch contract pharmacy networks. Hospitals do not need a 340B inventory, additional staff or an outpatient pharmacy. SunRx can build a seamless network of retail pharmacies to dispense 340B discount drugs. Improve patient care. Help patients save money on medications so they fill their prescriptions, go to the emergency room less often and have better health outcomes. Simplify 340B. At no upfront cost, SUNRx can administer all aspects of the hospital's 340B program, including...

KHA is pleased to release the Utilization Trend Report, updated with data from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2016.   

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 (502-426-6220 or 800-945-4542 or via cwarnick@kyha.com).

KHA is grateful the support of the membership during the 2017 Kentucky General Assembly. When hospitals combine their strength and collectively express their concerns to elected officials, more can be accomplished.

A special thanks goes to KHA Legislative Committee Chair, Joe Koch, whose term ends July 1, for successfully leading the Committee for the last four years. Thank you, Joe, for your outstanding guidance and leadership throughout these important and challenging years of legislation and regulatory changes at both the state and federal levels.

2017 Kentucky General Assembly Report for Hospitals

Two out of KHA’s three liability reform priorities this session were passed as a first step toward making even greater strides to reform the medical liability climate in Kentucky. SB 4 (Alvarado, (R-Winchester), for the establishment of medical review panels, was signed into law by Governor Matt Bevin as well as HB 223 (Fischer, R- Ft. Thomas), for the lowering of the statutory...