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 summer 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...

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....