KHA will host member meetings in each of the four districts throughout the state in October. 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 get involved with the Association and network with your peers.

KHA has redesigned the District Meetings to promote more discussion and participant engagement. Please review the agenda and materials and come prepared to answer interactive live polling questions.

October 1 Ohio Valley District Registration KHA Headquarters Louisville ...

The Kentucky Hospital Association is actively recruiting a Director of Data Analytics, who will be responsible for conducting KHA’s research and data analysis activities. This position will also be responsible for a wide variety of health care data analysis and preparation of reports to assist the membership and to support the Association’s representation and advocacy function.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Oversee claims-related data exchange programs and projects with other state associations. Perform analytical audits of KHA claims data for reasonableness and accuracy. Prepare white papers and other analysis and reports for the membership on various topics using KHA Claims Data and other data sources. Perform data analyses and prepare reports to support health policy analysis, representation, advocacy and planning as directed by the Vice President of Data and Health Information Services, Vice President of Financial Policy, Vice President of Member Services or the President. ...

The Kentucky State Loan Repayment Program (KSLRP) is now accepting applications from health care providers seeking assistance with paying off their student loan debt.

The KSLRP is a loan repayment assistance program that helps to recruit and retain health care providers in rural and underserved communities across the state. Applicants selected to participate in the competitive program agree to work full time for two years providing primary care services at an eligible practice site located in a Health Professional Shortage Area. Participants receive tax-free student loan repayment awards — ranging from $10,000 to $40,000 a year — in exchange for their service commitment.

The current application window runs from September 1 to October 1. The deadline to submit completed application materials is Tuesday, October 1 at 5:00 p.m. (ET).

Eligible applicants include physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, registered nurses, dentists,...

KHA and the K-HIIN group recently recognized Heather Lee-Chestnut, a performance excellence engineer at Med Center Health, as the latest Patient Safety Hero Awardee. Lee-Chestnut was nominated by Melissa Allen, an APRN in infection prevention at Med Center Health, who explained why she deserved the award:

"Heather has helped lead our CLABSI prevention team since the beginning of the year. While she's not clinical, her expertise is in Distribution and Quality. She has absorbed the clinical information so quickly and has helped the nursing team see our opportunities to improve in a different manner. Heather has embraced the mission of eliminating central line infections and has worked diligently to help move our systems towards our goal of zero CLABSI. Without her, I'm afraid we wouldn't...

The website for the Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship (KY SOS) program, www.kentuckysos.com, is live. The site contains resources for participating hospitals, upcoming events, recordings and presentations from past events, information on the Advisory Committee and more.

If your hospital is not yet participating in the program, contact Donna Meador at KHA (dmeador@kyha.com).

Registration is open for the KHA Annual Volunteer Conference. Volunteers, auxillians, foundation and health care leaders from across the state will meet on September 26 to discuss new and exciting techniques to excel in their local programs. This is a completely revised conference bringing focus on the most requested topics and issues faced by hospital volunteer groups. Join KHA to reflect on the past, prepare for new challenges and learn how to rise to a new vision.

The registration fee includes two days of conference attendance, conference materials, meals (including entry into the networking reception with vendors and admission to the BBQ dinner with entertainment provided by the Moron Brothers) and eligibility for personal and facility prize drawings.

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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 Pacific Companies!

Pacific Companies, the only permanent and locum tenens firm to offer one point of contact. Since 2001, they have been a trusted advisor in health care staffing.

For more information, visit the Pacific Companies website at https://www.pacificcompanies.com/.

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

We hope you enjoy the KHA daily newsletter, Health e-News. The newsletter will receive a revamp soon, so we want to make sure you're prepared for the change! The email will come from a new address (kyha@memberclicks-mail.net), so please take the time now to add this address to your email address book or ask your IT team to whitelist it for your servers.

These steps will ensure you continue to receive the daily news clipping and blog updates in addition to other KHA group emails. This change will happen within the next two weeks, so take action now to ensure you do not miss any daily emails.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Ginger Dreyer at KHA (gdreyer@kyha.com).

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.

Hardin Memorial Health in Elizabethtown uses Collective’s platform to address the problem. Deanna Parker, Vice President of Emergency Services says, “With Collective Medical, we can better track and record violent incidents, helping us reduce instances of workplace violence, keep staff safe and better care for our patients.”

Hardin Memorial’s charge nurses are empowered to record incidences...

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 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’ addresses.

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

Join KHA on October 9 to learn directly from surveyors from the Kentucky Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and other experts so your facility can be better prepared for OIG surveys. Surveyors, a legal expert and hospital leaders will discuss the basics of an OIG survey, immediate jeopardy and real-world scenarios. Plus, as a participant, you will have the opportunity to ask questions to further enhance your understanding.

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

If you have any questions, contact Laurie Gutermuth at KHA (lgutermuth@kyha.com).

The Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services (DMS) has entered into 12-month MCO contracts for State Fiscal Year 2020 effective July 1, 2019, to provide health care services to Kentuckians who meet eligibility requirements for Medicaid. The contracts below have been submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for approval.

Please note, the files below are large and will take additional time to load.

Aetna

Anthem

Humana

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The Lexington Police Department will host a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Training Course in Lexington beginning October 1. The didactic course is provided over 5 days (40 hours) and satisfies the first portion of the KBN requirements for the SANE credential.

Instructors will be local members of the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), as well as experts from the Office of the Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney and the Kentucky State Policy Laboratory.

Download the brochure for program details and registration information. The registration deadline is September 23.

If you have any questions, contact the Lexington Police Department's SANE Program Manager Angela Wallace, RN, BSN, SANE (awallace@lexingtonpolice.ky.gov).

The Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services (DMS) is requesting feedback on the proposed DMS 340B Policy and Procedures Manual. The Department is extending the deadline for all feedback to October 3. The effective date of the proposed policy will be set to January 1, 2020.

Please email all feedback to jade.range@ky.gov.

The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) is alerting clinicians about the possibility of seeing patients with progressive, severe pulmonary disease related to the use of e-cigarettes or “vaping.” As of August 27, at least 215 possible cases in 25 states have been reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One death has been reported in Illinois. These pulmonary injuries are particularly seen among adolescents and young adults. Patients are experiencing respiratory symptoms including cough, shortness of breath and fatigue, and symptoms typically worsen over a period of days or weeks before admission to the hospital. Other symptoms reported by some patients included fever, anorexia, pleuritic chest pain, nausea and diarrhea. Chest radiographs show bilaterial opacities, typically in the lower lobes, and CT imaging of the chest show diffuse ground-glass opacities, often with subpleural sparing. Evaluation for infectious etiologies was negative in all patients. Some...

Don’t miss this opportunity for local, affordable and high quality education for your entire health care facility's maintenance and engineering team including your front line technicians starting at $75! The Healthcare Coalition Conference (HCC) will be held in Louisville on September 17.

Registration is open for all tracks offered at the HCC and includes options for one-day or multi-day attendance. Registration includes breakfast, lunch and the opportunity to learn from nationally recognized keynote speaker and basketball legend Thurl Bailey. Tracks include the Toolbelt Track (a full day of hands-on training designed for front line technicians), Management/Leadership Track (multi-day for Facility Leaders), Security & Safety, Materials Management and Emergency Preparedness.

View the full agenda and register today at https://kshe.org/page/2019hcc_agenda! If you have any questions, please...

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 91st Annual Convention — May 2020.

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 and the Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship (KY SOS) Advisory Committee invite KY SOS hospital representatives to attend an upcoming Regional Training Meeting to begin KY SOS efforts across the state.

The Regional Training Meetings will highlight specific standards for the SOS program while educating hospitals and clinical leaders on the KY SOS program and its requirements. Hospitals will be provided tools to implement and further their opioid stewardship efforts at these meetings. Lunch in included.

Project Leads and/or other opioid stewardship champions, like physicians, nurses and pharmacists, are encouraged to attend one of the following meetings:

September 10 - Louisville September 11 - Lexington September 26 - Bowling Green September 30 - Paducah October 11 - Hazard

View...

The Kentucky Medicaid Partner Portal Application (KY MPPA) is now a web-based application that streamlines the process of applying to become a new Medicaid Service Provider. KY MPPA was created for Individuals, Groups and Entities applying for a Kentucky Medicaid ID, and allows current Medicaid providers to perform maintenance, revalidation and change of ownership online.

Due to the number of boards with license renewals coming up, the Kentucky Department of Medicaid Services (DMS) wants to remind everyone that KY MPPA is open to all Provider Types. To help save time, they recommend uploading a copy of the license renewal directly into KY MPPA. This will replace the previous process of sending in a paper copy of the license renewal to DMS.

To help you become more familiar with KY MPPA and its benefits:

Register for your KY MPPA Account

You can register for your KY MPPA account...

The third episode of The Kentucky Hospitals Podcast is now available to download. Members can access the latest episodes at www.kyha.com/podcast. Just log in on any desktop or mobile device for a list of episodes. You can also click the Subscribe button there to receive email notifications when a new episode is produced.

In this episode, hear about recent visits to Frankfort where KHA staff and a member testified before the Cabinet for Health & Family Services as well as legislators on hospital data, price transparency and Medicaid issues. Plus, hear about the update to the Medicare...

As a member of AHA’s Long-Term Care & Rehabilitation Council, Lori Jarboe, CEO of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Lakeview, is working to help AHA hear Kentucky post-acute care (PAC) voices to represent and help guide national post-acute care initiatives. AHA is continuing to work on advancing a post-acute care media campaign to build awareness of the value of post-acute care. As part of this plan, they will be using a variety of channels to feature innovative PAC initiatives and partnerships. PAC hospitals in Kentucky are invited to join this process by sharing one or more of the following with Jarboe:

A few sentences describing your PAC innovation/s. What was the need driving your efforts? Who were your key partners? How did your effort reduce costs and/or improve outcomes? Recommend a referring hospital representative who would be willing to speak on the value of post-acute care services. How does the post-acute care organization provide unique value? What does...

Are you a Hospital Recruiter looking to network with other hospital recruiters around the state? If so, KAHCR invites you to their next meeting at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville.

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.

The group also provides educational programs and engages subject matter experts  on various topics. The chapter meets quarterly (see below for details on the next meeting) and all are welcome to attend.

If you would like to learn more, please attend this meeting as the organization's guest. RSVP to KAHCR President Kayla Williams (Kayla.Williams@bhsi.com).

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The Kentucky Hospital Association currently has two positions open — Director of Quality & Health Professions and Emergency Preparedness/Trauma Coordinator.

The Director Quality & Health Professions for KHA will provide expertise on issues related to health professions. The Director will provide oversight of work including development of detailed quality and patient safety improvement project plans, engagement of hospitals and execution of project plans including documentation and tracking of project results and related data.

In addition, this position will lead and facilitate collaborative activities on behalf of Kentucky hospitals with a focus on engaging hospital quality improvement staff, management, nursing and other clinical and non-clinical front-line staff for Kentucky hospitals to achieve success in focus areas of the work plan of the Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality (KIPSQ).

The Director will work closely with other KHA staff assigned to quality and patient safety projects to assure coordination of staff activities; shall demonstrate accountability for the successful completion of all contracts and grants that focus on quality improvement and patient safety; and will supervise the KHA Quality Improvement Analyst and the Infection Prevention Improvement Advisor. Required education: MSN....

The Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs (KASAP) released a video yesterday to provide training for hospitals on how they should respond to patients seeking help after a sexual assault.

This video will help facilities to understand their legal requirements, implement proper protocols and ensure emergency medical personnel are educated on proper care.



For easy links to this video and more resources from KASAP, visit https://www.kasap.org/get-info/resource-library/hospital-training-video-project.

The video is also available on the KHA website along with more education and resources for sexual assault response at http://www.kyha.com/sexual-assault-response.

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Early Bird Registration for the KHA Annual Volunteer Conference will close on September 6. Volunteers, auxillians, foundation and health care leaders from across the state will meet on September 26 to discuss new and exciting techniques to excel in their local programs. This is a completely revised conference bringing focus on the most requested topics and issues faced by hospital volunteer groups. Join KHA to reflect on the past, prepare for new challenges and learn how to rise to a new vision.

The registration fee includes two days of conference attendance, conference materials, meals (including entry into the networking reception with vendors and admission to the BBQ dinner with entertainment provided by the Moron Brothers) and eligibility for personal and facility...

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the KHA Committee on Volunteer Services, enhance the services KHA offers its members and help the Association find ways to highlight the great work of hospital volunteer and auxiliary programs across the state, hospitals are asked to complete a survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/khavolunteersurvey) on volunteer services at their facility.

The survey is very brief and should only take 3 minutes to complete. Please feel free to forward this information to the correct staff member at your facility.

The Kentucky Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (KACEP), the nation's largest emergency medical organization with more than 37,000 emergency physicians, endorses technology that enables emergency physicians to access, in real time, essential patient medical record information from different organizations across the community.

Collective Medical's emergency department information exchange (EDie) software is an ED-specific application that provides emergency physicians with instant access to a patient's history from other EDie-connected clinics, facilities, treatment centers and other emergency departments. This software has been proven to improve patient outcomes and avoid readmissions. Integrated access to patient medical records lowers health care costs through eliminating testing...

KHA Solutions Group Affinity Partner ChartWise’s three-time best in KLAS award-winning CDI software provides the most advanced and proven Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) and Denials Management (DM) solution available to meet the myriad of revenue cycle challenges faced by providers.

Developed by medical and coding professionals, ChartWise combines Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology with sophisticated clinically designed workflows that guide physicians, documentation and denials management personnel to identify and validate all clinical complications and indicators that have not been specified completely or accurately in the clinical record.

ChartWise is used by over 125 hospitals today with an average ROI of 13X...

KHA and the Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship (KY SOS) Advisory Committee invites KY SOS hospital representatives to attend an upcoming Regional Training Meeting to begin KY SOS efforts across the state.

The Regional Training Meetings will highlight specific standards for the SOS program while educating hospitals and clinical leaders on the KY SOS program and its requirements. Hospitals will be provided tools to implement and further their opioid stewardship efforts at these meetings. Lunch in included.

Project Leads and/or other opioid stewardship champions, like physicians, nurses and pharmacists, are encouraged to attend one of the following meetings:

September 10 - Louisville September 11 - Lexington September 26 - Bowling Green September 30 - Paducah October 11 - Hazard

If...

On August 6, DeLoitte hosted a briefing webinar to familiarize the KHA Waiver Implementation Workgroup with the Kentucky Integrated Health Insurance Premium Payment Program (KI-HIPP) program. KI-HIPP is a voluntary Medicaid program that helps eligible Medicaid members cover the cost of an employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) plan. Members who choose to enroll in the program do not lose their Medicaid benefits.

KHA members are urged to view the presentation deck from the webinar to familiarize themselves with the program. You can also visit the KI-HIPP webpage...