Minnesota Hospital Association

Newsroom

September 06, 2016

MHA Newsline: Sept. 6, 2016

In this issue 

Bob Nelson of St. Cloud Hospital honored with MHA Volunteer of the Year Award

Bob Nelson, volunteer, St. Cloud Hospital, CentraCare Health, received the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) Volunteer of the Year Award, which honors hospital volunteers for their important role in supporting a positive patient and family experience at hospitals and health systems.   

Nelson began his volunteer service at St. Cloud Hospital in 2006. Since then, he has dedicated more than 2,800 hours serving in a variety of roles. Nelson understands the importance and value volunteering can bring to someone’s life – and how devastating it can be if someone has to leave a volunteer position that they enjoy. This led him to spearhead the Volunteers in Transition project.   

Volunteers in Transition was created to help maintain the dignity and usefulness of volunteers who, because of health or other situations, no longer can safely perform their current role. Volunteers in Transition allows volunteers to effectively transition to more appropriate roles, while remaining in the volunteer program as long as possible.   

In his role as vice president of the Volunteer Auxiliary Board, Nelson attends Health Care Auxiliary of Minnesota district meetings, the annual meeting and conference. Nelson graciously extended his volunteerism to include serving as a workshop presenter at the 2015 Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration Conference and at the Association of Healthcare Volunteer Resource Professionals national conference in September 2015, where he presented on Volunteers in Transition. Conference attendees were excited to learn about this unique and proactive approach and were grateful to have a compassionate solution offered to a sensitive and complex issue facing volunteer programs.   

Nelson’s leadership has impacted patients, visitors, staff and other volunteers, both locally and nationally.   

Additional award winners will be profiled in upcoming issues of Newsline. To learn more about the award winners, visit the MHA websitereturn to top   

MHA-HFMA Fall Conference scheduled for Oct. 4-5

MHA and the Minnesota Chapter of the Health Care Financial Management Association (HFMA) will hold their annual Fall Conference at the Minneapolis Marriott West in St. Louis Park on Oct. 4-5. The cut-off date for the group block at the Marriott is Sept. 15. More information and registration materials are available in the event brochure or on the MHA website.   

The conference will begin with a reception sponsored by CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, Eide Bailly LLP and RSM US LLP the evening of Oct. 4. On Oct. 5, five general sessions and two breakout sessions will cover topics such as MACRA, payment reform, ethics and the revenue cycle.   

During the closing keynote, “The Evolving Health Care Landscape,” David Smith, partner and director of payer services at Chicago-based Leavitt Partners, will discuss the electoral, market and policy drivers that are accelerating the movement to value-based care.   

With questions, contact Christy Hammer, MHA education specialist, 651-659-1412. return to top   

Regina Holliday to speak at MAPS Conference

The Minnesota Alliance for Patient Safety (MAPS) Conference is Oct. 27-28 at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest in Brooklyn Park. For more information, download the conference brochure.  

Regina Holliday, a Maryland-based patient advocate and artist known for painting a series of murals depicting the need for clarity and transparency in medical records, will provide the opening keynote. During her presentation, she will share her experience of caring for her husband, Fred. Fred lost his life to cancer but never lost hope that patients and caregivers can help make the system better for other families. Backed by her own patient and caregiving experiences, Holliday will address ways of improving the quality of health care delivery as well as ways to enhance patient safety.   

The conference, themed “Partnering for Safer Care,” is the eighth statewide conference sponsored by MAPS since 2002. With five general sessions and 20 breakout sessions, the conference will disseminate leading edge practices, provide knowledge on critical topics in safe care and facilitate creative and solution-oriented dialogue about how to make health care sustainably and measurably safer in Minnesota.  

An early-bird registration fee of $310 for MAPS members and $360 for non-members is available to those who register before Sept. 11. After Sept. 11 the rate is $395 for all attendees. The on-site registration fee is $500. To register, visit MHA's website, log in, click “Calendar of Events” and select the program title. The cut-off date for the group block at the Marriott is Oct. 5. return to top   

MHA to launch statewide virtual Patient and Family Advisory Committee Sept. 15

MHA will launch its new statewide virtual Patient and Family Advisory Committee (PFAC) on Sept. 15. This is an inclusive online community for anyone who is involved in a local PFAC in Minnesota. It is open to patient partners, patient and family engagement leaders and anyone passionate about including patients as partners in their care.   

The group will meet via webinar on the third Thursday of each month from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., alternating between meetings and educational programs. Meetings will feature Minnesotans sharing their successes and challenges of starting and sustaining a PFAC, opportunities for patients and families to be engaged beyond their facility, idea-sharing, interaction and discussion. Educational programs will feature prominent leaders in the patient experience movement.   

Online registration is required for the Sept. 15 kickoff event, which will feature Hutchinson Health and its PFAC journey. Registrants will receive a link to join the webinar the day of the event.   

To learn more, contact Joy Benn, quality and patient safety specialist, MHA, 651-659-1441. return to top

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