A group of KHA members visited Washington last week, led by KHA President Nancy Galvagni, to meet with members of the Kentucky congressional delegation.

Thanks to the team for taking time from their busy schedules to participate in this important advocacy trip. Pictured above are Bud Warman, Highlands Regional Medical Center; Joe Grossman, Appalachian Regional Healthcare; Nancy Galvagni; Nina Eisner, Ridge Behavioral Health System; Sherri Craig, CHI Saint Joseph Health and KentuckyOne Health; Rosanne Nields, St. Elizabeth Healthcare; and Lourdes Baez, Baptist Health.

Participants presented KHA's Federal Issues for Summer 2019 to the congressmen and their staff members while discussing...

Last week, KHA was honored with the American Hospital Association's Center for Health Innovation Performance Improvement Award during the 2019 AHA Leadership Summit in San Diego. The award recognized KHA's Kentucky Hospital Innovation and Improvement Network (K-HIIN) team for their great work assisting member hospitals with quality improvement.

This is a huge honor for K-HIIN and the endeavors of all the participating Kentucky hospitals who work tirelessly to provide the best quality care for all Kentuckians!

Accepting the award (pictured above) were K-HIIN Pharmacy Consultant Emily Henderson, PharmD,  and KHA Director of Data Collection and Training Melanie Moch, CPC.

The National Safe Haven Alliance (NSHA) recently provided KHA with a PowerPoint presentation to share with hospitals. The presentation has basic training for hospitals that do not currently have procedures in place for if a mother in crisis should need help to safely surrender her baby to the Safe Haven Program.

Download the presentation to use it in your facility. If you need further information, please contact NSHA Representative Sherry Foushee (sfoushee@nationalsafehavenalliance.org).

Below are two announcements of funding opportunities of interest to hospitals. Follow the corresponding links for more information.

On opioids: The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) has released their first Request for Proposals (RFP) on improving access to appropriate opioid use disorder treatment and services for underserved and vulnerable populations. For more information, please visit FORE’s website.

On CDFIs: The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Capital Magnet Fund Program will fund certified CDFIs and certain non-profit organizations...

The Kentucky Society for Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing (KSHPRM) is now accepting entries for the 2019 Thoroughbred Awards. The Award competition is designed to recognize marketing/public relations professionals who achieved excellence in projects ranging from publications and multimedia programs to advertising and fundraising in the past year.

Entries must be received no later than September 13 Projects entered must have been completed July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019 Entry fee is $45 The call for nominations, entry details and forms are available at http://www.kshprm.net/awards-1.

If you have any questions, please contact KSHPRM Thoroughbred Awards Chair Jill Scoggins (jill.scoggins@louisville.edu).

KHA will host a Roundtable Meeting with Congressman Brett Guthrie at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital on August 23 starting at 1:00 p.m. (CT). This is a great opportunity to further Kentucky hospitals’ key federal issues and how they affect the Congressman's district specifically.

If you would like to attend this event, please RSVP to Claire Arant at KHA (carant@kyha.com).

KHA is recognizing all the hospitals who have joined the Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship (KY SOS) on social media. Make sure you are following KHA (see platform details below) in order to see when your hospital is highlighted. Feel free to like, comment and share the posts with your followers so more people can see the commitment Kentucky hospitals have to combating the opioid epidemic.

KY SOS uses the hashtag #kyhospitalsos to make searches for the topic simple. Feel free to use #kyhospitalsos when sharing your activity in the program.

Facebook @KYHospitals

Twitter @KYHospitals

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/kentucky-hospital-association

...

On August 20, KHA will host a program on the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) for critical access hospitals (CAHs). Please save the date and make plans now to attend.

If you have any questions, please contact Sharon Perkins at KHA (sperkins@kyha.com).

On August 14, KHA will host a webinar on Conditions of Paticipation (CoP) for Nursing. Please save the date and make plans now to participate.

If you have any questions, please contact Sharon Perkins at KHA (sperkins@kyha.com).

The Kentucky Department for Public Health invites you to participate in a Hospital Emergency Department Update for Kentucky’s Hepatitis A (HAV) Outbreak webinar on August 14. The webinar will cover a current situation update, ongoing data collection needs to address the outbreak in your setting and a discussion of “best practices” for prevention activities in the ED during this outbreak. There will also be a time for Q & A at the end.

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

Please contact James House, Public Health Preparedness Branch Manager (502-564-7243 x4034 or via email at jamesr.house@ky.gov), if you have any questions regarding...

KHA is always looking for new ways to communicate with its members. To provide a new platform that presents the latest Association information in a convenient format, KHA is proud to present its brand new resource: The Kentucky Hospitals Podcast.

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 click the Subscribe button there to receive email notifications when a new episode is produced.

The inaugural episode covers key issues KHA is currently working on for the membership including "surprise...

When a public health crisis or natural disaster strikes, increased demand may overwhelm your facility’s staff. While every hospital has an emergency plan, updating your plans to include contacting Qualivis for supplemental staffing needs during emergencies is an easy way to improve your strategy. When rapid response staffing is essential to meet health care demands, facilities can count on Qualivis.

How to initiate Qualivis’ Rapid Response Staffing

If a facility needs rapid response staffing, it is simple. You can contact Pam Kirchem at KHA (pkirchem@kyha.com) or your Qualivis account specialist, and they will take it from there to ensure needs are met as quickly as possible.

How Qualivis helps facilities when disaster strikes

Easy access to a nationwide network of health care staffing agencies to simplify and speed the search process, so you can focus on providing patient...

The Kentucky Hospital Association and Collective Medical Technologies are committed to supporting patients with substance use disorder (SUD) and the providers who care for them. Medication-assisted therapy and coordinating care is proven to improve outcomes. As a part of this commitment, Collective Medical is adding Kentucky SUD clinics, behavioral health practices and related treatment facilities to this growing Kentucky network.

In Elizabethtown, Stepworks Recovery Centers is now connected to Hardin Memorial Health. Through the Collective Platform, care managers from Stepworks can now collaborate with Hardin Memorial emergency department (ED) staff when a Stepworks client presents in the ED to ensure that they aren't prescribed medications that could result in a relapse.

Deron Bibb, a board of directors member at Stepworks, explains, “It can be frustrating for centers like ours when patients leave our doors, relapse and return to the hospital — and we have no way of knowing because...

KHA recently received a letter from a company called Widelity which is acting on behalf of the Kentucky Educational Television (KET) system. KET, along with other television stations around the state, is beginning the process of changing the frequencies they broadcast on across the commonwealth, and there is a chance that depending on what your facility is using for wireless devices associated with patient care monitoring and remote operation of equipment, the change in frequencies could potentially create interference if they are within 70 miles of a transmitter.

While the information KHA has received from Widelity seems to indicate that something may have been sent directly to hospitals, it is not clear who in your organization may have received it. It also looks like a commercial solicitation; therefore, it may have been ignored, misdirected or discarded.

Due to the amount of wireless technology that has become part of the patient care system, the risk management exposure...

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) has issued emergency regulations for Behavioral Health Services Organizations (BHSOs) which became effective July 1. These regulations were issued on an emergency basis to implement the state’s 1115 substance use disorder (SUD) waiver. The public comment period on these regulations will be held in August, with any public comments due by August 31.

One of the regulations amends state licensure requirements for BHSOs offering mental health treatment [902 KAR 20:430]. The remainder address Medicaid coverage and payment for BHSO services.

Action Needed

KHA staff has reviewed these regulations and did not identify particular issues. However, please review the changes, including the new regulation governing BHSO SUD services, and contact Nancy Galvagni at KHA (ngalvagni@kyha.com) by August 15 if changes are needed so KHA can file comments before the August...

All members are invited to join KHA staff on Friday, July 12 to volunteer for the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Louisville. Staff members will be working at the Motor Rally event at Churchill Downs, but there are other events all over the city.

To volunteer for the rally or any other event you'd like to attend!, visit https://lnkd.in/guEQgDQ.

Earlier today, KHA submitted comments to the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce regarding the No Surprises Act, legislation focused on ending surprise billing.

While applauding and supporting the legislators' plans to protect patients, KHA detailed the ways the proposed legislation could affect Kentucky's hospitals including imposing arbitrary rates on providers and creating unfunded mandates on hospitals.

To see a full copy of KHA's comments, members can visit the Policy page of www.kyha.com.

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