Archive for October, 2009
Survey coordinator week?
An AHAP member submitted a question this week that caught my attention and I wanted to throw it out to the membership on the whole for discussion. She asked if there was currently a survey coordinator week (similar to other awareness weeks for various healthcare professions–many of which take place in October/November).
What are your thoughts on a possible “survey coordinator week?” If AHAP were to sponsor one, what sort of events/highlights would you be interested in seeing? Would you participate? Would your peers?
Feel free to add your comments/suggestions here on the AHAP Blog, or email me at mphillion@hcpro.com–I’d love to hear your ideas on whether a national survey coordinator week is something AHAP should start the ball rolling on.
Working group call sign-ups announced
AHAP members–keep an eye out in your inbox this week. We’ve sent out the official invitation to our latest AHAP working group call! Our next topic: using Lean in the hospital setting.
Join your peers on one of the following days to discuss possible best practices for this challenging topic:
* Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009, 12-1 p.m. ET
* Thursday, November 5th, 2009, 2-3 p.m. ET
You’ve expressed an interest in having an expert on the call, so joining the call will be Sarah Cottington, BS, RHIT, CPHQ, PI/RAC coordinator, and Ronda Reimer, Joint Commission coordinator, at Pella Regional Health Center in Pella, IA. They were instrumental in implementing Lean at PRHC and will help lead discussion during this call.
Working groups are FREE to AHAP members but space is limited. An official sign-up questionnaire will be arriving in your inbox shortly–it will take just a few seconds to fill out and you’re on your way!
Hope you can attend this upcoming working group call. Lean in the hospital setting is a hot topic and we hope to have some great discussion. As always, feel free to email me at mphillion@hcpro.com with any questions.
Guest presenters for our upcoming working group calls
Just wanted to remind everyone of our upcoming working group calls on using Lean in the hospital setting. The calls will take place on November 3 from 12-1 pm EST, and November 5 from 2-3 pm EST. Our guest presenters, talking about their own experience instituting Lean at their facility, are:
Sarah Cottington, BS, RHIT, CPHQ, with Pella Regional Health Center as the Performance Improvement/RAC Coordinator. Sarah has been a Lean healthcare facilitator since 2006.
Sarah has a background in Health Information, but went into healthcare quality after obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Management of Healthcare Services from Spring Arbor University, and is currently working on an MHA degree through Walden University. Sarah is passionate about making things better for patients and team members, and is a student of lean healthcare.
Joining Sarah is Ronda Reimer, RN, Special Projects Coordinator, Pella Regional Health Center (2001-present).
Ronda coordinates and supports organizational regulatory compliance/continuous readiness, and promotes nursing excellence as the Magnet® Coordinator and provides leadership for special projects for the organization.
She is also currently enrolled University of Missouri-Kansas City RN-BSN program with plans for continuing on with the BSN to PhD program beginning in 2010.
Save the date–working group calls!
It’s time for our next round of working group calls, and, as always, we invite all AHAP members to attend and participate–the calls are free to members.
This time around we’ll discuss incorporating the Lean process into the healthcare setting. Is your hospital using Lean? Researching it? Just curious? Call in to learn more, swap success stories, and more!
We’ll have two calls: Tuesday, November 3 from 12-1 pm EST, and Thursday, November 5, from 2-3 pm EST. Keep an eye on your inbox–an official invite is on its way, which will provide information on how to sign up for these calls.
First contest entry
Our first success story comes from Cheri Samuels, BSN, MSEd, RN, CPHQ. She writes:
SCIP Core Measure:
- Discontinue ABX within 24 hours of surgical end time.
- A collaborative effort from our medical staff and Pharmacy added the post-op ABX to the policy and placed a “Hard Stop” on the ABX.
- This brought the measure into the 90th percentile.
Thanks for sharing your success story, Cheri. A reminder–all you need to do is tell us about how you’ve used data, collected for core measures requirements or other accreditation or regulatory compliance, to make improvements to your processes, policies, or culture. Send all entries to mphillion@hcpro.com and I’ll post them to the blog!
Contest: core measures!
It’s time for another AHAP giveaway. This time, we’re giving the winner a free copy of the Practical Guide to Core Measures Impovement by Gayle Bielanski, RN, BS, CPHQ, CSHA.
To enter, all you need to do is share a success story about using data to make quality improvements. Everyone is collecting data to meet core measures reporting requirements, but how to use that data to make meaningful changes to the organizations processes, policies, and even culture can be a challenge.
Do you have a success story you’d like to share? Send a short description to mphillion@hcpro.com and I’ll post your story to the blog right here. In two weeks (October 23rd) we’ll draw a winner from all entries and give away a free copy of the Practical Guide.
prepub standards details
For folks looking for a bit more information on the prepublication standards released last week, the following sums up the changes (and reasons behind the timing):
The Joint Commission traditionally unveils the standards for the coming year a month or more in advance. These will remain posted until December 1, 2009, at which point both the electronic (e-dition) and print version of the 2010 manual will be distributed to hospitals.
In conjunction with the release of the prepublication standards, The Joint Commission has also released a report, free of charge, detailing CMS-related changes to its standards and survey processes. The report—distributed as part of a free edition of Perspectives—looks back through March 2009 at various changes made as part of The Joint Commission’s application to CMS for renewed deeming authority this year.
What have we seen in terms of changes this year?
The Accreditation Survey Findings Report has been modified as of July 1, 2009. It now includes requirements surveyed as below fully compliant for both Joint Commission standards and CMS requirements.
We have also seen changes to CMS Certification Numbers. Though this change effects only a small group of hospitals, it is a pivotal change for those organizations—and The Joint Commission will contact directly every hospital impacted by this change, which will go into effect on July 15, 2010.
The Joint Commission’s Medicare recommendation letter has been altered. It now informs CMS if a new or existing Medicare provider has participated in a deemed status survey. Also, it states whether The Joint Commission, as a result of that survey is making a recommendation about that provider’s Medicare status.
Finally, the hospital standards have been updated to improve “equivalency” with CMS hospital requirements. Elements of Performance were both added and revised to improve this balance.
Of note for the credentialing world: along with the prepublication standards, The Joint Commission has released details on credentialing and privileging with regards to proxy and telemedicine. Changes are expected to be implemented July 15, 2010. Please note that The Joint Commission is still in talks with CMS about telemedicine credentialing, and until a formal agreement can be reached, hospitals will be surveyed according to existing CMS requirements.
All of these documents can be found online at The Joint Commission’s Web site.
