Earlier today, KHA President Nancy Galvagni and Barbourville ARH Hospital Community Chief Executive Officer Charles Lovell, FACHE testified before the Kentucky Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Committee in Frankfort. The two discussed the pressures facing Kentucky's rural hospitals.

Their testimony covered the importance of Kentucky's rural hospitals, risks of hospital closures, the financial stability of rural health and cuts to hospitals. They went on to identify ways Kentucky could help alleviate some of the stresses hospitals are currently facing.

View the PowerPoint presentation for today's testimony for full details.

On Friday, November 15, the Kentucky Society for Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing (KSHPRM) held its annual Thoroughbred Awards. The awards luncheon, held in conjunction with the KSHRPRM fall conference at The Kentucky Castle in Versailles, honored and recognized excellent work throughout the commonwealth in the areas of health care marketing and public relations.

Organizations were eligible to submit entries in 34 categories ranging from television advertising to direct mail design, community events and social media campaigns. This year, entries were judged by the Louisiana Society for Marketing and Public Relations. In total, 113 entries were submitted for consideration. Entries receiving 70 to 76 total points earned a Certificate of Merit, while those receiving 77 total points and higher earned Thoroughbred...

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 Portola Pharmaceuticals!

Portola Pharmaceuticals is a global, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics that could significantly advance the fields of thrombosis and other hematologic conditions. The Company's first two commercialized products are Andexxa® [coagulation factor Xa (recombinant), inactivated-zhzo], marketed in Europe as Ondexxya® (andexanet alfa), and Bevyxxa® (betrixaban). 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 Concord Medical Group!

Concord Medical Group is a Texas-based, physician-owned and operated organization that provides quality hospital management and staffing solutions.

For more information, visit the Concord Medical Group website at https://concordmedicalgroup.com/.

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

On November 8, the Lexington Herald-Leader published an article written by reporter Alex Acquisto (Link to article - available to subscribers) covering the response of hospitals to the opioid epidemic in Kentucky.

The extensive article profiled the work at St. Claire Hospital in Morehead, and its ER medical director Dr. Philip Overall. The department's policy includes no longer using opioids as a “first line therapy for pain control...In 2017, a year after changes were instituted, the rate of patients leaving [St. Claire's] ER with an opioid dropped by more than two thirds, to under 4 percent, where it has hovered since. Of the 2,413 patients who visited the ER in July, only 82 — about 3 percent — left with a prescription."

The article continued with interviews of Dr. Phillip Chang and Dr. Doug Oyler of UK HealthCare on their work with KHA's Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship...

On November 8, Garren Colvin, CEO of St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood and 2019-2020 Chair of the KHA Board, was appointed by Governor Matt Bevin as a member of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky Board of Directors. He will represent members at-large and serve for a term expiring May 15, 2022.

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky Board of Directors advances and upholds the Foundation’s charitable mission of addressing unmet health care needs of Kentuckians and is responsible for the financial, program and policy affairs of the Foundation.

 

At KHA's Health Care Leadership Conference, the KHA membership approved the 2020 Legislative Priorities for the upcoming General Assembly Session.

This year's main priorities include:

On November 8, the KHA Health Care Leadership Conference brought Kentucky’s political leaders together with hospital leaders from throughout the state to learn about the issues that will affect hospitals in 2020. Members heard from Kentucky's newly elected Attorney General as well as state senators and representatives about upcoming legislation and plans for the new year. The media panel provided an interesting and informative analysis of the recent elections, which provided great insight into the political climate of the commonwealth.

KHA members also approved the Association’s legislative priorities for the upcoming session of the Kentucky...

The Kentucky Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) has two more educational events scheduled for 2019 where members can earn face-to-face credits.

On November 14, earn 1.5 credit hours by attending a panel on Career planning, coaching, mentoring, and managing professional development discussion with industry professionals at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. Visit the online registration page for more details.

On November 22, another panel will explore Disruptive innovation to improve patient outcomes for 1.5 credit hours at the St. Elizabeth Training and Education Center in Erlanger. Details are available for this...

KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Stevens Moon & Associates LLC / Indigo Clean.

Stevens-Moon proudly represents and distributes for many leading medical manufacturers in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Their products include Indigo Clean — Continuous Environmental Disinfection.

For more information, visit the Stevens Moon website at http://www.stevensmoon.com/.

To become a sponsor,...

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 HSG!

HSG builds high-performing physician networks so health systems can address complex changes with confidence. Whether you are improving your employed network, aligning with private physicians, building your strategy or wrestling with the impact of value-based care, HSG provides resources for you. This is all they focus on and can deliver insightful and innovative solutions with great results.

For more information, visit the HSG website at https://hsgadvisors.com/.

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KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Focus Healthcare.

Focus Healthcare provides medical products for infection prevention.

For more information, visit the Focus Healthcare website at https://www.focushealthcareproducts.com/.

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

The submission deadline for the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF), Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) has been extended to November 18. Assessment data for IRFs, LTCHs and SNFs, and CDC data for IRFs and LTCHs submitted April 1 to June 30 (Q2) of calendar year (CY) 2019 are due with this deadline.

All data must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. on November 18, 2019.

The lists of measures required for this deadline are found on the CMS QRP websites:

IRF Quality Reporting Data Submission Deadlines...

KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Philips.

Philips believes there’s always a way to make life better. IntelliSpace Epidemiology is a new decision support tool that aims to improve the efficiency and accuracy of hospital infection prevention teams. It combines clinical correlates, pathogen genomics and microbiology results to identify HAI clusters and suggest infection sources.

For more information, visit the Philips website at https://www.usa.philips.com/.

To...

KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Sage Products.

Sage is a division of Stryker Medical specializing in evidence-based infection prevention interventions that lead to improved outcomes.

For more information, visit the Sage Products page on the Stryker website at https://www.stryker.com/us/en/sage.html.

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

KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Magnolia Medical Technologies.

Magnolia Medical Technologies has developed the technology clinically demonstrated to reduce blood culture contamination and false-positive results for sepsis.

For more information, visit the Magnolia Medical Technologies website at https://magnolia-medical.com/....

On November 12, KHA and Collective Medical will host a webinar on Predicting and Preventing Workplace Violence Through Better Care Coordination.

In 2016, workplace violence cost hospitals and health systems over $1.5 billion, spent on security, training, staff turnover, medical care and absenteeism. Additionally, over 77 percent of emergency physicians believe that violence in the emergency department (ED) has harmed patient care through decreased productivity, emotional trauma and increased wait times.

Addressing workplace violence can help reduce costs and increase productivity. In 2018, health care leaders were asked for their best practices for addressing violence in health care. ...

KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Kersia.

Kersia manufactures dissolving and disinfecting NaDCC tablets — that eliminate C.diff and MRSA — and biofilm that is safer than bleach.

For more information, visit the Kersia website at http://www.kersia-group.com.

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

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 Fall 2019 edition of the Kentucky Trustee is available at http://www.kyha.com/assets/docs/Publications/KT/KTSummer2019.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’ names and addresses.

If you have suggestions for future issues of the Kentucky Trustee, please contact Ginger Dreyer at KHA (gdreyer@kyha.com).

Twenty Kentucky hospitals have already utilized the KHA Board Self-Assessment Survey and found it provides tremendous feedback to the CEO and opportunities to enhance their board. Learn how it can help your hospital or system!

The Board Self-Assessment Survey is an online survey that can be distributed to your board in order to identify where its strengths lie as well as where improvement may be needed.

There are two sections of the Self-Assessment survey – the board assessment and the personal evaluation. The board assessment allows each board member to answer a set of standard questions and up to three customizable questions about the board as a whole. 

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KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Cepheid.

Cepheid is a manufacturer of infectious disease molecular diagnostic tests and the gen-expert system.

For more information, visit the Cepheid website at https://www.cepheid.com.

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

KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Becton Dickinson.

Becton Dickinson (BD) manufactures a vast array of infection prevention products ranging from needleless connectors to vascular access care.

For more information, visit the Becton Dickinson website at https://www.bd.com.

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

KHA's Pharmacy Consultant Emily Henderson, PharmD was recently elected as a first-time member of the University of Kentucky Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Henderson attended UK from 1994 to 2001, when she received her doctorate of pharmacy degree, summa cum laude, from the UK College of Pharmacy. She was a member of Chi Omega sorority and the Rho Chi pharmacy honor society. From 2001 to 2016, Henderson was employed by Kroger as a staff pharmacist. She now works with the Kentucky Hospital Improvement and Innovation Network (K-HIIN) to promote quality improvement and patient safety in hospitals across the Commonwealth and as the project lead for the Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship (KY SOS). She is a member of the Kentucky Pharmacists Association and the Kentucky Society of Health-System Pharmacists....

KHA is currently recruiting applicants for two positions — Vice President of Health Policy and Vice President of Government Relations.

The Vice President of Health Policy will provide policy analysis and research on a wide variety of issues to support the representation and advocacy functions of the Association. Nature of work will also include data analysis, preparation of reports and position papers on legislative, regulatory or public policy issues, advising on certificate of need matters, and updating and tracking accomplishment of the KHA Strategic Plan. View the job description for more details.

The Vice President of Government Relations will serve as a lobbyist at the state level during the General Assembly and Interim Legislative Sessions as well as with the Kentucky United States Congressmen and their staffs. The nature of the position's work will include developing and maintaining bipartisan relationships with elected and appointed government leaders, legislative and regulatory staff in the legislative and executive branches of government as well as allied organizations. The position also includes writing position papers, visiting with legislators in Frankfort and Washington and in their home districts, and working collaboratively with the staff and contract personnel of member hospital and hospital systems. View this position's job description for more details.

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KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking the event's break sponsor the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE).

KHIE is a secure, interoperable electronic network that supports the statewide exchange of patient health information among health care providers across the commonwealth.

For more information, visit the KHIE website at https://khie.ky.gov.

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

KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like A Day for Infection Preventionists. Please join KHA in thanking the event's lunch sponsor Nozin.

Backed years of research and development, supported by NIH grants and successful clinical trials, Nozin products are directed at growing health maintenance and disease prevention markets.

For more information, visit the Nozin website at https://www.nozin.com/.

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

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 ProAssurance.

ProAssurance's health care professional liability solutions make insurance simpler. Get coverage that fits and a pledge of fair treatment. ProAssurance Group is A.M. Best A+ (Superior).

For more information, visit the ProAssurance website at https://www.proassurance.com/.

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

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 this year's first Diamond Sponsor, Unified Technologies!

Unified Technologies is a technology firm committed to connecting and protecting their clients through various voice and communication platform needs such as carrier services, phone systems, collaboration tools and contact center applications, as well as integrated security solutions.

For more information, visit the Unified Technologies website at https://unified-team.com/....

On October 9, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to modernize and clarify the regulations that interpret the Medicare physician self-referral law (often called the “Stark Law”), which has not been significantly updated since it was enacted in 1989. The proposed rule supports the CMS “Patients over Paperwork” initiative by reducing unnecessary regulatory burden on physicians and other health care providers while reinforcing the Stark Law’s goal of protecting patients from unnecessary services and being steered to less convenient, lower quality or more expensive services because of a physician’s financial self-interest.

Through the Patients over Paperwork initiative, the proposed rule opens additional avenues for physicians and other health care providers to coordinate the care of the patients they serve – allowing providers across different health care settings to work together to ensure patients receive the highest quality of care.

For More information:...

Registration is now open for the 2019 Day for Infection Preventionists, November 12. The event is aimed at supporting Kentucky infection prevention professionals in their daily work to reduce health care associated infection and provide quality patient care. The one-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 in the hospital.

View the brochure for details. Online registration is available for your convenience.

If you have any questions, please contact Melanie Moch...