Minnesota Hospital Association

Newsroom

June 01, 2015

MHA Newsline: June 1, 2015

In this issue 

Member spotlight: Lakewood Health System’s groundbreaking community health program

This past spring, Lakewood Health System, Staples, was recognized by MHA with the 2015 Community Benefit Award in the small hospital category. Through its Community Needs Health Assessment, Lakewood Health System identified childhood and adult obesity as two focus areas. Choose Health provides access to locally-grown, healthy foods to food-insecure families. Lakewood Health System partners with community agencies to identify families to receive a free Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership. Families pick up free, locally-grown commodities every other Thursday at the farmer’s market held at the hospital. They also receive free health screenings, nutrition education, free cooking and preparation demonstrations, recipes, and personal support and encouragement. The project’s first phase results in positive health outcomes and feedback from its participants, and 100 percent of participants said they would recommend the program to others. Read more about this year’s award recipients herereturn to top   

Safety program for infection prevention in LTCs

Sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and in partnership with the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET), MHA is developing and implementing an infection prevention and safety program to support long-term care facilities in adopting evidence-based infection prevention practices. This resident safety improvement program is designed for facilities with both short-stay residents or Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs), and long-stay residents or nursing homes.   More information can be found in this informational brochure, and an informational webinar will be presented on the following dates: 

For additional information, contact Tania Daniels, MHA vice president of patient safety, 651-603-3517. return to top   

PAC golf tournament Monday, Aug. 24

Registration is now open for the Minnesota Hospital Association Political Action Committee golf tournament. The tournament will be held Monday, Aug. 24 at Territory Golf Club in St. Cloud. Lunch will be served at noon, shotgun start at 1 p.m., with a dinner buffet and awards to follow at 5 p.m. Contact Carol Eshelman, MHA division assistant, 651-603-3539 to register. return to top   

DHS requires provider revalidation

Providers currently enrolled with Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP) must revalidate their enrollment records at least once every five years. Hospitals will begin revalidation this month. A detailed revalidation schedule by provider type is shown on the MHCP website here.   

When a provider’s revalidation occurs, MHCP will send a notice with instructions based on a provider’s risk level and type file to your PRVLTR folder of their MN–ITS mailbox. Providers without a registered MN–ITS account will receive the revalidation request in the mail. Providers have 30 days from the date on the notice to fax in all required documents. If MHCP does not receive all required information, it will send a Request for More Information notice asking for the remaining required information to complete revalidation. This information is due 30 days from the date on the notice. If MHCP does not receive all required information 30 days after that notice, it will send a 60-day notice of termination including provider appeal rights and options for re-enrolling after termination.   

More information about revalidation can be found herereturn to top   

Physician Quality Reporting System group practice deadline June 30

Physician groups wishing to participate in the 2015 Physician Quality Reporting System Group Practice Reporting Option must register by June 30. CMS will transition PQRS to its Enterprise Identity Management System on July 13, and strongly encourages groups intending to use the GPRO for PQRS reporting to register by June 26 to ensure a smooth transition. Satisfactorily reporting via PQRS GPRO is one way for groups of two or more eligible professionals to avoid automatic payment reductions of 2 percent for PQRS and 4 percent for the Value-Based Payment Modifier under the physician fee schedule. Group practices that meet PQRS reporting requirements also qualify for incentive payments under the value modifier. Group practices that choose not to register for the GPRO must ensure that at least half of their EPs meet PQRS reporting requirements for individual EPs to avoid the 2017 payment reductions and qualify for incentives.   

For more information, contact Joe Schindler, MHA vice president of finance, 651-659-1415. return to top   

SPRC to host webinar on suicide prevention in the ED

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) will be hosting a webinar highlighting emergency departments as a key setting for suicide prevention efforts. The webinar will bring together experts in emergency medicine, emergency psychiatry, and research to describe the rationale for ED-focused suicide prevention; discuss barriers and solutions to integrating suicide prevention in EDs and introduce resources to support implementation of suicide prevention approaches in EDs.   

The complimentary webinar will be held Tuesday, June 16 from 2-3:30 p.m. Click here for registration. For more information, contact Dominique Lieu, SPRC training coordinator, 617-618-2984. return to top   

Rural Palliative Care Networking Group addresses PTSD

The Rural Palliative Care Networking Group will be offering an education session on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how it may affect patients and veterans who are receiving care. Participants will learn how to describe PTSD and the population affected by the disorder and identify team specific interventions that can be offered to those with PTSD.   The session will be held Thursday, June 18 from 10 a.m. to noon at Fairview Lakes HomeCaring & Hospice in Chisago City. To register for in-person attendance, click here. To register for conference call attendance, click here. For more information, contact Janelle Shearer, Stratis Health program manager, 952-853-8553. return to top

MDH to host RCA training

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and partners will be hosting a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) training for those who are relatively new or need a refresher on issues related to facilitating an RCA or sentinel event review process in their facility.   

The day-long training will be held July 16, 2015 at the Wilder Foundation in St. Paul, MN. Space is limited, click here to register. More information about the training can be found here.   

For questions, contact Rachel Jokela, adverse health events program director, MDH, 651-201-5807. return to top