If you have participated in the Kentucky Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive program in the past and have not been paid through program year 6, the Kentucky Regional Extension Center (REC) can you achieve Meaningful Use and earn the remaining incentive monies. The Kentucky Medicaid EHR Incentive program will continue through 2021.

The Kentucky REC Health IT advisors will assist you through this process by reviewing your Meaningful Use reports, completing a gap analysis and action plan, and assisting with the submission of your attestation. They will also educate and guide you along the way.

The reporting period for 2017 is any continuous 90 days in the calendar year. So, the last 90 days of the year will begin on October 3, 2017. The deadline to submit your attestation is March 31, 2018.

If you registered for the Medicaid Meaningful Use Program in the past, but have only attested to AIU the first year, you will need to attest by October 1, 2017, using a 90-day reporting period in calendar year 2017 to...

KHA and the K-HIIN group recently recognized Sherri Boggs, quality, risk and safety manager at Our Lady of Peace Hospital in Louisville as the latest Patient Safety Hero Awardee. Boggs was nominated by Keith Rankin, the hospital's director of nursing, for her efforts in leading patient safety improvements throughout the facility.  

Rankin called Boggs the "crown jewel" in the efforts that have gone into the building of a great safety culture at Our Lady of Peace over the last 5+ years. She has led the journey by taking the reins and keeping all other leaders and departments on a steady track for success. When starting their "Safety First" journey, the measures that were in place to review events and prevent harm were mediocre at best Rankin noted. It seemed as though serious safety events were frequent and that processes were examined infrequently. Boggs was a key piece of transforming that culture and as a result, OLOP has grown into a facility that places safety at the front of care. Their patients feel safe and the facts show this,. The hospital has extended its time without a Serious Safety Event to over 400 days, which is an incredible feat in a facility with such a high-risk population. 

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On September 8, KHA submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) proposed rule for calendar year (CY) 2018. The Association has significant concerns with this proposal's reductions in payment for 340B hospitals as well as changes to remove total knee replacement from the inpatient only list, which is unsafe and will negatively impact hospitals participating in the CMS Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) and the Bundled Payment for Care Improvements (BPCI) programs.

A copy of KHA's comments are available on the Policy page (members only) of www.kyha.com.

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

Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) and Long-term Care Hospital (LTCH) providers are encouraged to review their performance data on each quality measure based on First Quarter 2016 to Fourth Quarter 2016 data, prior to the December 2017 IRF and LTCH Compare refresh, during which this data will be publicly displayed.

Providers have 30 days to review their performance data (September 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017).

Corrections to the underlying data will not be permitted during this time. However, providers can request a CMS review during the preview period if they believe their data is inaccurate.

For more information:

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KHA realizes that keeping employees trained appropriately and ensuring their skills and competencies remain up-to-date are constant challenges for hospitals and health care providers. For that reason, KHA, along with 40 other state hospital associations and the American Hospital Association, partnered to create careLearning, an internet-based education management solution.

careLearning is an online education company designed to help health care organizations by providing reliable, trusted and easily accessible talent management solutions. careLearning’s competency, eLearning and performance products are developed to ensure that your employees are provided with the appropriate training and education based on an assessment of the skills, knowledge and abilities required and an...

KHA Solutions Group has partnered with MASA MTS to provide a Community Solution to high air and ground ambulance out-of-network bills.

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 a majority of Americans are only partially covered for these high costs.

If a doctor or ambulance crew decides that a patient needs an air ambulance, their health insurer only pays part of the bill and because the ambulance companies are out of network, the balance of the bill goes to the patient.

MASA provides membership programs that employers can offer to employees to cover these expenses. With MASA, members will have ZERO out-of- pocket expenses for any emergent air or ground transport, REGARDLESS of who transports them! Membership programs...

The 2018 KHA Legislative Platform will be presented to the Association membership for approval at the annual KHA Health Care Leadership Conference (HCLC) on November 3 at the Embassy Suites Lexington.

As government leaders at the state and federal level are continuing to debate changes to the Affordable Care Act, it is an ideal time for the KHA Health Care Leadership Conference. Kentucky health care leaders can learn how President Trump’s administration will change health care as they join their peers and learn from Kentucky’s Senate and House leaders as well as state and national political experts. The Conference also gives attendees the opportunity to keep Kentucky's elected officials...

Yesterday, Kentucky Medicaid Commissioner Steve Miller announced a one-month delay to the implementation of a new Medicaid policy to no longer pay for early elective deliveries (EEDs) unless certain documentation is provided. This will also apply to Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs). KHA requested the delay to provide additional time for hospitals to obtain more details about the policy and the required documentation, and to implement process changes in their facilities.

Notice of the policy change was initially provided through a June 23, 2017, letter to hospitals, which had a start date of September 1, 2017. Under the addendum, denials will start for claims with dates of service beginning on or after November 1, 2017. Also, hospitals will get a reminder notice of the November 1 effective date on claims paid with dates of service through October 31, 2017, that do not meet the new requirements.

KHA is working with the Department for Medicaid Services to provide a webinar...

KHA and the K-HIIN group recently recognized Brooke Roberts, Joshua Veilleux, Sam Gabbert and Sonya Downs at Saints Mary and Elizabeth Hospital as Patient Safety Hero Awardees. All were nominated by Twinetta Nusz, program manager of patient safety, for their efforts in leading patient safety improvements throughout the hospital. Congratulations to all of the awardees and the entire team at Saints Mary and Elizabeth Hospital for all of their patient safety successes.  

To nominate a member of your hospital's team, please visit the K-HIIN Patent Safety...

The Texas Hospital Association has established the THA Hospital Employee Assistance Fund to help hospital employees who experienced significant property loss or damage because of Hurricane Harvey. All funds will be used to directly assist hospital employees in Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated disaster areas; administrative services are being provided in kind so that 100 percent of donated funds will be used to assist hospital employees. AHA has contributed an initial $50,000 to get the fund started. For more information or to make a donation, visit https://www.tha.org/Harvey/ReliefFund. AHA is working with THA on other ways hospitals and health systems can assist their colleagues in Texas and will share more information when available.

KHA and the K-HIIN group recently recognized Tim Trottier, chief executive officer of Spring View Hospital, as the latest Patient Safety Hero Awardee.  Trottier was nominated by Linda Hunter, the facility's chief nursing officer, for his efforts in leading patient safety improvements throughout the hospital. According to Hunter, Trottier was instrumental in helping Spring View improve quality, safety and satisfaction within the hospital. His achievements include improved patient, physician and employee satisfaction and decreased patient harms. 

To demonstrate his commitment to quality and patient safety he became a “Certified Professional in Patient Safety” CPPS. He most recently engaged a Patient Family Advisory Board (PFAB) that will lead the hospital’s mission to “Make Communities Healthier.”

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KHA is pleased to announce that the Hospital Longitudinal Analysis Reports are available for Fourth Quarter 2016 and First Quarter 2017. Participating hospitals received a secure email yesterday with two reports – the Kentucky State Report and a hospital-specific Readmissions Report.

KHA will host a webinar to discuss how to interpret the reports: 

DataGen Readmissions Demo for the Kentucky Hospital Association Thursday, August 31 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. (ET)

Webinar link: https://datagen.webex.com/datagen/j.php?MTID=mf832dc9a5a1c36fa48df83d7ccdd7e2a Meeting...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to cut payments for most “separately payable Part B drugs” purchased under the 340B program and dispensed to Medicare hospital outpatients in its Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) calendar year (CY) 2018 proposed rule. “Separately payable Part B drugs” generally refer to those that have per-day costs about the packaging threshold, pass through drugs and certain antiemetics. CMS proposes payment at Average Sales Price (ASP) minus 22.5%, rather than ASP plus 6% (the current payment rate), for a nearly 30% cut.

Yesterday, KHA sent the chief financial officer of each 340B hospital paid under the OPPS a brief survey regarding the impact of this payment cut. KHA will summarize this data in support of its comments to CMS (due September 11)  opposing these cuts. 

CEOs, please encourage your CFO to respond to the survey by Wednesday, September 6.

If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Galvagni at KHA...

Governor Matt Bevin was joined by state legislators and officials from St. Elizabeth Florence on Wednesday, as he ceremonially signed recently enacted Senate Bill 42. 

Sponsored by Senator John Schickel, SB 42 permits a law enforcement officer to make an arrest for assault in the 4th degree, when the violation occurs in a hospital and the officer has probable cause.

Pictured above are (left to right) Representative Diane St. Onge, Representative 
Sal Santoro, a city police department representative, Senator John Schickel, St. Elizabeth Healthcare President Garren Colvin, a sheriff's department representative and Governor Bevin.

What happens when a computer or the internet or your phone system are not working? Does each department know what its critical functions are and how to continue working? Is your EMR really the first system that must be restored?

To answer these questions, KHA will host a webinar to discuss Business Impact Analysis and Contingency Planning on Wednesday, October 4. For details, view the brochure.

Online registration is now open. If you have any questions, please contact Sharon Perkins at KHA (sperkins@kyha.com).

The Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services (KY DMS) is clarifying coverage for early elective deliveries (EED) including non-medically necessary inductions and cesarean deliveries. Claims submitted for labor inductions or cesarean sections on or before 39 weeks gestation that are not properly documented as medically necessary will be denied by Kentucky Medicaid including Kentucky Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs).

KY DMS's goals are to: 1) guide providers and hospitals to sound practice recommendations made by AGOG; 2) reduce morbidity in neonates from birth trauma and fetal immaturity; 3) reduce non-medically necessary deliveries less than 39 weeks gestation and; 4) encourage greater collaborations between hospitals and their physicians in developing quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving birth outcomes in Kentucky.

Medicaid delivery claims submitted, with dates of service on or after 9/1/2017, from enrolled hospitals and practitioners for elective inductions...

Yesterday, KHA sent the new Hospital CEO Dashboard Report to all Kentucky hospital CEOs via email.

The CEO Dashboard contains:

Hospital Utilization Data  Hospital Physician Data (Attending and Surgical)  Hospital Product Line Distribution  Financial Data (Payer Information)  Quality Data  Workforce Data Please note, KHA will start collecting Referring Physician data as of October 1, 2017, and future reports you show Referring and Surgical Physician data.

The data sources for this report include KHA InfoSuite, Kentucky Quality Counts (K-HIIN) data, Hospital Compare and KHA Annual Workforce Survey data from calendar year of 2016.

Hospital CEOS will receive updated reports on a quarterly basis. 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the data, please contact Chuck Warnick (cwarnick@kyha.com) or Melanie Moch ( mmoch@kyha.com) at KHA.

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Nurse Leaders across Kentucky are invited to attend the 13th Annual KONL Fall Leadership Conference, “Navigating Climate Change: Future of Healthcare and Nursing in an Ever-Changing Environment,” September 21-22 in Louisville!  

The opening speaker is Jo Ann Webb, the Vice President of Federal Affairs from the American Organization of Nurse Executives, in Washington, DC. Other topics include APRN Roles, Excitement and Innovation from Nursing’s C-suite, Behavioral Change with Performance Improvement and more. 

Attendees will learn together and network with nursing leadership peers from across the state. In addition, CNOs are invited to a networking breakfast during the Conference to discuss hot topics for nursing senior leaders.  

Registration and agenda details are available online at http://www.cvent.com/events/konl-13th-annual-leadership-development-conference-navigating-climate-change-future-of-healthcare-an/event-summary-f25098ae21404135838c469c03734e59.aspx.

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This week, KHA and the K-HIIN team are conducting a two-day TeamSTEPPS program at Clark Regional Medical Center in Winchester. Twenty-seven hospital employees from Clark Regional Medical Center and Bourbon Community Hospital are attending the program. TeamSTEPPS is a program of teamwork tools aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals. 

If you are interested in learning more about TeamSTEPPS or if you are interested in hosting a program in your facility, please contact Donna Meador at KHA (dmeador@kyha.com).

KHA and the K-HIIN group recently recognized Amy Griffith, RN, from Rockcastle Regional Hospital as the newest Patient Safety Hero Awardee. Griffith was nominated by Tammy Brock, the hospital's quality/patient safety director, for her efforts in leading patient safety improvements throughout the hospital. Brock noted that Griffith has taken the lead role in reducing readmissions in the organization and discharge phone calls are a huge part of that. 

Griffith was instrumental in instituting a new discharge call system, training and implementing the system, analyzing the data from the system and more. Griffith discovered the hospital's patients did not understand the medication sheet that was sent home with them, so she worked to create a better discharge medication sheet. She has taken over the role as a "care manager" and makes sure the discharged patients have everything they need to be successful at home. In one instance, a wife could not get her husband to his follow-up doctor's appointment, so Griffith worked with the doctor's office and the office's nurse practitioner was able to make a home visit.  

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The Kentucky Hospital Association filed a motion to intervene in the Kentucky Hospital Cooperative, Inc. (KYHC) liquidation. The Association contracted with Frost Brown Todd Attorneys to serve as outside counsel. The firm recently provided a proceedings update so that KHA members are fully informed on the current state of the case.

If you have any questions, please contact Greg Mitchell, Esq., or Shana Nanney, senior paralegal, at Frost Brown Todd (859-244-7558).

KHA and the Kentucky Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (K-HIIN) recently recognized Donna Davis, chief nursing officer at Georgetown Community Hospital with a Patient Safety Hero. Davis was nominated by Georgetown's CEO William Haugh for her efforts in leading patient safety improvements throughout the hospital. 

Per Haugh, Davis was the first CNO within LifePoint Health to become a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) by the National Patient Safety Board. In 2016, she led way for Georgetown Community Hospital to reduce the overall HEN HAC rate to 3.719 per 1,000 patient days, which was a 35% reduction from 2015. She also lead the organization to an overall readmission rate of 4.1% in 2016, which is below the national average and the 2015 GCH rate of 5.5%. Finally,...

Twenty-one Kentucky hospitals were were recognized in U.S. News and World Report's latest rankings of the best hospitals in the country. The top seven hospitals in Kentucky (according to the magazine's recent ratings) were:

UK Chandler Medical Center, Lexington Nationally ranked in four specialties: Adult Cancer, Adult Diabetes and Endocrinology, Geriatrics and Adult Neurology and Neurosurgery High Performing in 8 Procedures/Conditions St. Elizabeth Edgewood High Performing in 8 Procedures/Conditions Baptist Health Lexington High Performing in 9 Procedures/Conditions Norton Hospital, Louisville High Performing in 6 Procedures/Conditions Baptist Health Louisville High Performing in 5 Procedures/Conditions Jewish Hospital, Louisville High Performing in 3 Procedures/Conditions Owensboro Health Regional Hospital High Performing in 3 Procedures/Conditions Fourteen additional Kentucky hospitals were recognized as High Performing facilities...

From Politico Pro:

People living in poverty-stricken Appalachia have a lower life expectancy and higher rates of infant mortality than anywhere else in the country, according to a new study in Health Affairs.

Researchers examining life expectancy rates covering 2009 to 2013 found that among both men and women in Appalachia, the average life expectancy was 76.9 compared with 79.3 in the rest of the country. They concluded that the association between poverty and life expectancy was more pronounced in the region than elsewhere in the United States.

The biggest factors contributing to the life expectancy gap were cardiovascular disease, unintentional injuries including drug overdose, and cancer, the study found.

Smoking-related diseases accounted for more than half of the life expectancy...

Did you, or someone you know, make it a professional goal to sit for the ACHE Board of Governors (BOG) Exam? The Kentucky Chapter of ACHE is sponsoring a day-long BOG Prep Course to help you become board certified. Many health care leaders and ACHE fellows have agreed to teach on the material you will be tested on in the ten knowledge areas. 

Date: Friday, August 25 Time: 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (ET) (lunch provided) Location: Harshaw Trane 12700 Plantside Drive Louisville, KY 40299 Cost: Free to all members and anyone interested in joining ACHE

 
Fill in the registration form to reserve your seat.

As hospitals and their staffs work to assure that Medicaid patients get the care they need, those efforts often involve challenging managed care organization (MCO) medical necessity denials. New federal behavioral health parity rules are taking effect this fall to help assure that patients are not shortchanged in obtaining psychiatric and substance use disorder treatment. Under the new rules, MCOs are required to provide coverage for behavioral health services as generously as for physical health. For example, MCOs cannot impose treatment limitations on access to behavioral health services which do not apply to physical health. 

KHA is sponsoring a conference on August 18 in Lexington on Behavioral Health Parity, to explain the new rules and help hospitals and their staffs be able to identify potential parity violations. 

The Kentucky MCOs and the Department for Medicaid Services will be attending this conference – therefore, hospitals should be in attendance to have the same understanding of the new rules. The conference will feature national and state experts....

Registration is now available for the KHA Fall Conference on September 19 in Louisville. The KHA Committee on Volunteers is excited to offer this program to the auxiliary officers, auxiliary members, volunteers, directors of volunteers and gift shop managers.

Registration includes a continental breakfast, lunch buffet, private showing of “The Greatest Race” movie played in their 360 theater and a self-guided tour of the Derby Museum.

Don’t forget to be thinking about the silent auction items to bring with you. Each item should be valued at $10 or more. The more items you bring, the more who can participate. 

View the brochure for details, to register and to sign up for the silent auction.

If you have any questions, please contact Pam Kirchem at KHA (pkirchem@kyha.com).

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On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Medicare inpatient hospital prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule for fiscal year 2018. This rule will significantly change the methodology for making Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments. The new methodology will be phased in over three years. Preliminary estimates are that the new methodology will reduce Medicare DSH payments to Kentucky hospitals by about $77 million when the new method is fully in place in fiscal year (FY) 2020. KHA filed comments strongly objecting to these changes. Please note, this methodology only affects hospitals paid on a DRG basis, who also qualify for Medicare DSH.

Summary of Medicare DSH Changes

Hospitals that qualify for Medicare DSH payments will continue to receive 25 percent of the Medicare DSH funds under the pre-FY 2014 DSH formula, known as the empirically justified DSH payments. The remaining 75 percent of payments, which are paid from a...

KHA's latest Sponsorship Opportunities brochure is now available. Learn how your company can reach and network with Kentucky's hospital decision makers.

Sponsorships include opportunities at KHA's signature event, the 89th Annual Convention — May 10-11, 2018.

There are several different sponsorship levels to meet your needs. If you have any questions, please contact Pam Kirchem at KHA (pkirchem@kyha.com).

The KHA District Meetings for Fall 2017 are scheduled. Please mark your calendar and save the date for these important events. NOTE THE DATE CHANGES BELOW. Registration will start at 9:45 a.m. local time, the meetings will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. local time and lunch will be provided. Additional details will be available soon.

October 13  Ohio Valley  KHA Headquarters Louisville		October 19  Blue Grass District  Saint Joseph Hospital Lexington
October 20 Cumberland District  Baptist Health Richmond		October 30 Twin Lakes District  Owensboro Health Regional Hospital

If you have any questions, contact Pam Kirchem at KHA (pkirchem@kyha.com).