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).