This month’s refresh of Hospital Compare will include an update to hospital overall star ratings. This could again generate media interest, so KHA is sharing the AHA Member Advisory with members with some background information along with talking points on hospital-acquired conditions (HACs). Note that CMS has indicated it plans to propose more significant changes to the methodology this year, likely as part of the FY 2021 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) proposed rule this spring.

This month’s Hospital Compare update also will include the FY 2020 results of the HAC reduction...

Register now for the first Kentucky Chapter ACHE program of 2020. The program will be held in Frankfort on February 20 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. (ET), right after the Kentucky Hospital Day at the Legislature (separate registration).

A panel of Kentucky hospital leaders will speak on the importance of Emergency Department Service Standards: Best Practice Approach for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE). Participants can earn 1.5 ACHE Face-to-Face Credits.

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

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

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 and KHA Quality Conference Partner Boehringer Ingelheim!

Family owned since 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies. Improving health and quality of life for patients is the goal of this research-driven pharmaceutical company.

For more information, visit the Boehringer Ingelheim website at https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/.

To become...

KHA will host a SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) Awareness webinar on February 12 at 11:00 a.m. This webinar is complimentary for members and will focus on awareness of SANE law in Kentucky, the definition of SANE-ready designation and challenges around having processes in emergency departments statewide to ensure a sexual assault exam can be performed 24/7 if a SANE nurse is not available.

Keynote speakers for this webinar will be Carrie Jackson from the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs (KASAP) along with Vicki Yazel and Amanda Corzine, SANE coordinators from University of Louisville Hospital.

Please invite your emergency department leaders, staff and others from your facility to make sure your entire team is knowledgeable of the law and the requirements your must meet.

For log in information, please contact Carla Donnell at KHA (cdonnell@kyha.com).

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Registration is now open for the Annual KHA Quality Conference, March 4-6 in Lexington.

Hospitals, physicians and other health providers are experiencing the need to improve their services and skills to meet the growing needs of tomorrow’s communities. This is a time when all of health care must join together to seek innovations and to maximize the quality services provided to patients at all levels of care.

The 2020 Quality Conference is designed to bring together all health care stakeholders to provide a better understanding of the patient’s needs. With better care and the closure of communication gaps, patient outcomes will continue to improve in Kentucky.

Special thanks to the many conference sponsors for their support this year!

View the brochure...

The KHA Hospital Day at the Legislature is a key, annual event that provides members with a unique opportunity to speak with one powerful voice during the Kentucky General Assembly. This year's event will be held Thursday, February 20 at the Frankfort Country Club, 101 Duntreath Street, in Frankfort. Register online now to reserve your seat!

Registration and breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m. (ET), with breakfast starting at 8:00 AM. Confirmed speakers include Cabinet for Health and Family Services Interim Secretary Eric Friedlander and new Department for Medicaid Services Commissioner Lisa Lee. The program will begin at 8:00 a.m. and will adjourn by 10:15 AM, ET so members can go to the Capitol to meet with their...

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 Silver Sponsor CardioSolution!

CardioSolution offers a unique turn-key solution delivering comprehensive cardiovascular service line solutions to hospitals nationwide.

For more information, visit the CardioSolution website at https://www.cardiosolution.com/.

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

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 Silver Sponsor Frost Brown Todd!

With over 500 attorneys, Frost Brown Todd has developed a reputation for effectively serving the ever-changing needs of clients within the health care and insurance industry.

For more information, visit the Frost Brown Todd website at https://www.frostbrowntodd.com/.

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

The American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity encourages all hospitals to complete its 2019 Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Survey. The survey is designed to inform the field about its ongoing efforts to address health equity, diversity and inclusion. Aggregate findings from the survey will be shared in various forms, including whitepapers, presentations and educational forums. Hospital and health system CEOs whose organizations have not yet completed the survey received a reminder on January 10. Please complete the survey by the extended deadline February 14, 2020.

For more information, contact AHA survey support at surveysupport@aha.org or 800-530-9092.

KHA is grateful for the support of its event sponsors! Through their generous donations, KHA is better able to support its members and provide a wide array of events like the KHA Annual Quality Conference. Please join KHA in thanking event sponsor Nozin.

Backed years of research and development, supported by NIH grants and successful clinical trials, Nozin products are directed at growing health maintenance and disease prevention markets.

For more information, visit the Nozin website at https://www.nozin.com/.

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

By Sherry Kolb, RN - President of Qualivis, a KHA Solutions Group Affinity Partner

When you think of a hospital, you think of a safe space – a place to go to recover from illness or heal from injury. Increasingly, however, that sense of security is threatened by acts of violence committed against the people who have dedicated their career to help others. Data from numerous national organizations indicate that workplace violence is on the rise, with health care workers at a four times greater risk of being a victim of on-the-job violence than workers in any other industry. In fact, 2013 data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicate that 9,200 non-fatal workplace violence-related injuries were reported that year among health care workers. This accounts for more than 67 percent of all non-fatal workplace violence-related injuries across all industries. Research from the Occupational Safety and Health...

Throughout the year, KHA will host a series of webinars with featured speaker Sue Dill Calloway on updates to CMS standards. These programs ensure your hospital is prepared to meet all new requirements and is in compliance.

Schedule

April 8 Boards and Medical Staff: Complying with the CMS Hospital CoPs Brochure Registration

August 11 CMS CoP Standards for Hospitals and Proposed Changes: 2020 Update Brochure Registration

...

KHA will host the Annual Quality Conference on March 4, 5 and 6 at the Campbell House Hotel in Lexington. The title of the Conference is “Quality through Collaboration, Together We Will Have One Powerful Voice.” The 2.5-day conference will include sessions on partnerships and collaboration, honoring the work of the HIIN, next steps in quality, improvement science, Kentucky work on the opioid epidemic and various pharmacy-related topics. Please mark your calendars and join your colleagues from across the state at the Conference. The Conference brochure will be sent soon.

Like last year, KHA is seeking poster abstracts for presentations that support quality improvement, patient safety, leadership in health care and improved patient outcomes. See the “Call for Abstracts” document for details. The deadline for poster abstracts is Friday, February 7. Please...

AHA has shared the following Cyber Alert for hospitals:

A U.S.-led airstrike January 3 in Iraq eliminated Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Although the U.S. government has not identified a specific threat from Iran targeting U.S. health care, the public has been asked to remain vigilant for physical and cyber-based suspicious activity.

Many in the U.S. government believe that Iran will attempt a retaliatory strike against U.S. interests overseas or potentially against U.S. critical infrastructure via a cyberattack. Iran has used cyberattacks to conduct retaliatory strikes against the U.S. in the past and possesses a significant offensive cyber capability, including the ability to destroy data, disrupt computer networks and cause significant financial loss. If cyberattacks against other U.S. critical infrastructure or entities occur, collateral damage or disruption to health care...

KHA is excited to announce James C. Musser, Esq. has joined the KHA staff as the new Vice President of Health Policy. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in health policy and legislative issues in both Frankfort and Washington, DC. Musser’s policy expertise also includes the federal budget, taxes and entitlement programs.

Most recently, Musser served as the Executive Director of the Office of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. His role at the Cabinet involved overseeing legislative and regulatory initiatives and acting as the Cabinet’s chief liaison to the General Assembly.

Before joining the Cabinet, Musser spent 25 years in Washington, DC, where he served as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Labor after working...

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 Realty Trust Group!

Realty Trust Group provides innovative real estate solutions so that health care leaders save money, manage risks and enhance delivery of care.

For more information, visit the Realty Trust Group website at https://www.realtytrustgroup.com/.

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

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 Corporate Sponsor APCO Sign Systems!

APCO, the leading manufacturer of interior and exterior signs and wayfinding systems since 1966, is your single source for sign solutions.

For more information, visit the APCO Sign Systems website at http://www.apcosigns.com/.

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

Save the date for KHA's 91st Annual Convention, May 21-22 at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington.

Alden Mills, the event's keynote speaker, will present Unstoppable Teams: The 4 Essential Actions of High-Performance Leadership. Mills — through surprising stories and lessons from his many years as founder and CEO of the fastest-growing consumer products company in America, as well as his tenure as a three-time Navy SEAL platoon commander — shares the four pillars he uses to develop Unstoppable Teams. You’ll also get his C.A.R.E.-based leadership framework, which will make it easier for you to discover new passion for leading and building teams.

KHA extends a special thanks to this year's Diamond Sponsors Collective Medical, Portola Pharmaceuticals and Unified Technologies.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) released the following guidelines for hospitals and health care facilities to consider to ensure they are prepared for possible attacks on public infrastructure.

In collaboration with HC3, H-ISAC, DHS and the law enforcement community, ASPR is actively monitoring an increase in malicious cyber activities as result of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran. In the past, the Iranian regime actors and proxies have initiated destructive attacks against United States infrastructure; however, there are currently no specific, credible threats against U.S. infrastructure.

Iran and their proxies have often employed "wiper" attacks that are more destructive than ransomware or denial of service attacks. Yesterday, the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement encouraging all critical infrastructure operators to ...