In this issue
Hospital
spotlight: PrairieCare working to reduce stigma around mental illness
October marks National Depression and Mental Health month as
well as Mental Illness Awareness Week Oct. 6-12 to raise awareness of mental
illness. In recognition of these efforts, PrairieCare in Maple Grove reminds
the health care community that there are free needs assessments offered to
screen for depression, increased stress, anxiety and other mental health
issues. Determining what level of care is appropriate for a patient can be
challenging to non-psychiatrists. To help facilitate access to care,
PrairieCare offers the free assessment to any patient/family requesting
evaluation. The assessment is focused on establishing a preliminary diagnosis
and making the appropriate referral, over half of which are made outside the
PrairieCare system. To learn more about PrairieCare’s needs assessment, visit www.prairie-care.com or
call 952-826-8424.
Many hospitals have found through their community health needs assessments that
mental health and mental illnesses are growing areas of concern. MHA and the
National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Minnesota have produced a resource sheet for raising awareness of or
addressing mental illnesses and behavioral health in your communities. Also,
for a toolkit to help raise awareness and reduce the stigma of mental illness,
visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness website.
You can also visit a new website, http://www.mentalhealth.gov
for additional resources. return to top
Long
awaited training available from MNsure
In July, hospitals, health systems and other organizations
submitted applications to MNsure to become navigators, in-person assisters or
certified application counselors (collectively, "assisters") for the
new health insurance exchange. Providers expected to have six to eight weeks to
complete the online training and certification requirements before being asked
to help individuals enroll in coverage. Instead, after weeks of waiting and
frustration for members, MNsure made the required training and certification
programs available last week, just days before MNsure launched.
The training and certification programs are expected to take assisters 15 hours
to complete. Although more than 60 MHA members applied to become assisters,
many question whether their staff can complete the online programs and
certification process before Oct. 1.
MHA members are encouraged to provide feedback about and impressions of the
training and certification process to Matt Anderson, MHA vice president of strategic
and regulatory affairs, so the Association can communicate needed changes or
improvements to MNsure. returnto top
CMS
attempts to clarify new two-midnight rule, but unanswered questions remain
Just days before the Oct. 1 effective date of a new policy to
create a presumption of an appropriate inpatient admission if a patient
receives care in the hospital over the course of two midnights, the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued brief written guidance and held a
nationwide conference call in an attempt to clarify its policy. Nevertheless,
as became clear during the conference call, CMS still does not have definitive
answers to hospitals' questions about how the new policy will be implemented
and enforced.
Aligning with appeals to Congress made by the American Hospital Association,
MHA asked Minnesota's Representatives to urge CMS to delay implementation of
the new two-midnight policy to give the agency sufficient time to more fully
and thoughtfully develop its interpretation of the rule and issue clear
guidance for hospitals. MHA thanks Reps. Betty McCollum and Collin Peterson for
supporting this effort.
The written clarifications from CMS are available here. During its conference call, CMS stated
that it will be posting additional guidance and responses to some of hospitals'
questions on its website at www.cms.gov/medical-review.
Finally, CMS offered hospitals the opportunity to email additional questions or
concerns directly to the agency at IPPSadmissions@hhs.gov. return to top
CMS
administrator responds to MHA letter, rejects OIG recommendation for critical
access hospitals
In response to MHA’s letter opposing controversial
recommendations made by the Office of the Inspector General to eliminate
critical access hospital (CAH) status for almost all CAHs in Minnesota, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner
responded with a letter of her own. In her response, Tavenner thanked MHA for
bringing our concerns to her attention and assured MHA that the agency has no
intention of adopting the Office of Inspector General’s recommendations, or of
suggesting that Congress adopt them either.
While CMS rejects the OIG recommendations, Tavenner reiterated CMS’ support for
the administration’s position of eliminating CAH status for hospitals that are
less than 10 miles from another CAH or hospital. MHA will continue to work with
our members of Congress to ensure access to high quality, low cost care for all
Minnesotans. return to top
Health
plan administrative cost report released
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Health Economics
Program has released its annual report on health plan administrative costs.
In 2011, health plans averaged 7.3 percent of their total costs as
administrative costs. Across all health plans in Minnesota, $1.3 billion was
spent on administrative costs out of a total of $18.4 billion in spending. For
all health plans, including non-profit plans, 4 percent of administrative costs
was spent on wellness and health education while 18 percent was spent on
product management and marketing. MDH emphasized that it relied on
self-reported data from the health plans and that the methodology for
calculating administrative costs for this report differs from the federal
government’s formula used to calculate medical loss ratios. return to top
Registration
now open for public health reporting for meaningful use
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is interested in
working with providers on the public health-related meaningful use objectives
and is currently able to receive electronic submissions for three of the public
health-related objectives: immunization registry, electronic lab reporting and
cancer registry (Stage 2 only).
A new requirement for Stage 2 meaningful use is that providers must register
their intent to submit data to MDH. Registration information can be found here. While this is required for Stage 2, MDH
will also be using this registration system for Stage 1 meaningful use and
non-meaningful use entities wanting to submit electronic data to the
immunization registry, electronic lab reporting and/or the cancer registry.
These meaningful use objectives are part of the CMS Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
to provide incentive payments to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and
critical access hospitals (CAHs) as they adopt, implement, upgrade or
demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record technology.
Email health.meaningfuluse@state.mn.us for questions. return to top
First
Contact hospital discharge protocol delayed
First Contact, the new hospital discharge protocol for people
discharged to a Medicaid-certified nursing home, has been delayed. It was
scheduled to be implemented on Oct. 1. Hospitals are requested to continue
using current practice, including referring high-risk seniors to Senior LinkAge
Line, until further notice.
The measure was contingent upon federal approval. As of Thursday, that approval
had not been received and therefore the measure will be delayed.
MHA members are encouraged to continue checking the Minnesota Board on Aging
website, www.mnaging.org, for up
to date information. MHA will also send out additional information and include
updates in Newsline when they are available. return to top
Road
map helps prevent retention of tucked and packed surgical items
While hospitals have made exceptional progress in reducing
retained objects, more work is needed to prevent the retention of tucked and
packed items. Data from the adverse health event reporting system revealed that
packed items account for the majority of retained objects reported. In
response, the Surgical Advisory Group developed a "mini road map" of
practices related to preventing the retention of tucked and packed items. These
practices will help hospitals put in place effective systems to account for the
placement and removal of these items. MHA has distributed the Road Map to Preventing the Retention of Tucked and Packed Items to all SAFE ACCOUNT
participants and it is available on our website. Hospitals are asked to begin
submitting baseline data to MHA’s web-based portal beginning Nov. 1. If you
have any questions about this road map or data submission, contact Julie Apold,
MHA senior director of patient safety, 651-603-3538. return to top
Winona
Health names chief financial officer
Winona Health recently named Jan Brosnahan as chief financial officer.
Brosnahan has more than 20 years of experience in finance and has served on the
Winona Health Board and the Finance/Audit Committee. Prior to joining
Winona Health, Brosnahan was the controls division controller for Watlow, an
electronic manufacturing company in Winona. As part of Watlow’s top division
management team since 1993, she was recognized as a key process leader in
Watlow’s lean management transformation, a process which Winona Health began
implementing in 2005 to increase health care value and efficiency. return to top