MHA congratulates members who received March of Dimes Nurse of the Year awards
Some 15 nurses from MHA member hospitals were honored Oct. 17 with the sixth annual March of Dimes Nurse of the Year awards. The awards honor nursing excellence and pay tribute to hundreds of nurses that are at the front lines of care and have had a tremendous impact on patients and their families. MHA congratulates:
- Distinguished Nurse of the Year - Thuy-Tien Truong, Fairview Southdale Hospital
- Advanced Practice – Melanie Kuelbs, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
- Care Management – Carmelita Nelson, Hennepin County Medical Center
- Education & Research – Diane Salentiny Wrobleski, Mayo Clinic
- Innovative & Non-Traditional – Janet Tomaino, Essentia Health-Duluth
- Leadership – Linda Chmielewski, St. Cloud Hospital CentraCare Health
- Mental Health – Angela Thomas, Regions Hospital
- Neonatal – Kimberly McFarlane, Fairview Ridges Hospital
- Pediatric – Meghan Braden, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
- Rising Star – Meghan Battista, Fairview Ridges Hospital
- Rural Health – Sharon Schwantz, CentraCare Health - Long Prairie
- Staff Nurse - Critical Care – Xiaomei Peng, Fairview Southdale Hospital
- Staff Nurse - General Care – Pamela DeWitt-Meza, Hennepin County Medical Center
- Surgical Services – Mary Matteson, Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare
- Women’s Health – Sue Steen, Maple Grove Hospital
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Workplace violence prevention resources available
Resources for implementing the new workplace violence prevention law are available on the MHA website as well as the MDH website. MHA members have provided sample plans, policies and other resources to help implement or sustain a violence prevention program. Other resources include the gap analysis tool (in both paper and online format) to help hospitals identify gaps and form an action plan for this work and a list of organizations that have signed on to this work. Sample training materials for health care workers will be added to the toolkit of resources as they are developed.
Hospitals and health systems that are completing the gap analysis should sign and submit the organizational pledge provided on the MDH website to ensure that they are included on the list of committed organizations.
MDH is hosting a webinar on Monday, Nov. 16, at 11 a.m. to review how to prepare prevention and response plans, how to complete the gap analysis and how to collect data under the new law. Register online to attend the webinar.
For more information, contact Nora Vernon, quality/safety clinical specialist, MHA, 651-603-3507. return to top
Annual community benefit survey issued to members
MHA requests hospitals submit data by Friday, Nov. 6
MHA has initiated the community benefit data collection for fiscal year 2014. The data is presented in MHA’s Community Benefit Report.
For systems that have multiple facilities in different geographic regions of the state, please provide site-specific details so data can be included in our statewide report by region. If all of your facilities are in one geographic region, you may report consolidated figures. We understand that you may file only one 990 Schedule H for your system; however, for community benefits reporting we provide information by region.
Chief executive officers, chief financial officers and communications point people should have received emails with instructions and a link to the survey system used to collect the data. Participation by all member hospitals is requested; the more hospitals that participate, the more representative and accurate the final report will be. The deadline for submitting data is Friday, Nov. 6.
If your hospital did not receive emails regarding the survey, please contact Bonnie Terveer, data operations assistant, MHA, 651-641-1121. return to top
Environmental safety recommendations for suicide prevention available online
MHA, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and Stratis Health have worked with Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) to develop recommendations for environmental safety to address suicide prevention. These Environmental Safety Recommendations for Suicide Prevention are now available for health care facilities.
MHA recommends members conduct an environmental assessment of your patient rooms, units and common areas. After the assessment, these recommendations will help identify potential gaps that can be addressed to increase patient safety at your facility.
MHA joined partners to develop these environmental safety recommendations in order to prevent “suicide, attempted suicide or self-harm resulting in serious injury while being cared for in a health care facility,” one of the Adverse Health Events categories.
For more information, please contact Jen McNertney, policy analyst, MHA, 651-659-1405, or Tania Daniels, vice president of patient safety, MHA, 651-603-3517. return to top
MHA to submit comments on 340B mega guidance
MHA is submitting comments to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) regarding potential changes to the 340B drug discounting program. This program is designed for hospitals with high Medicaid utilization, Children’s and cancer hospitals and, more recently, Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). The HRSA guidance proposed changes in definition of patient eligibility, limits on when 340B drugs may be prescribed, provider definition and eligibility of certain drugs. For example, HRSA proposes to exclude patients who are only receiving infusion therapy.
MHA is very concerned that the number and severity of proposed changes could decrease the number of patients eligible for the program, as well as restrict patient access to certain types of care. Comments are due to HRSA by Tuesday, Oct. 27. Read MHA’s comment letter. return to top
28 hospitals met PAC fundraising goal by Oct. 20
Congratulations to the 28 hospitals that have met their Minnesota Hospital Political Action Committee (PAC) fundraising goal for 2015:
- Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center
- CentraCare Health - Monticello
- CentraCare Health - Paynesville
- CHI St. Joseph’s Health, Park Rapids
- Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul
- Cook County North Shore Hospital, Grand Marais
- Cuyuna Regional Medical Center, Crosby
- Essentia Health-St. Joseph's Medical Center, Brainerd
- Essentia Health-Sandstone
- Fairview Ridges Hospital, Burnsville
- Fairview Southdale Hospital, Edina
- FirstLight Health System, Mora
- Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, St. Paul
- Granite Falls Municipal Hospital & Manor
- Johnson Memorial Health Services, Dawson
- Lakewood Health System, Staples
- LifeCare Medical Center, Roseau
- Maple Grove Hospital
- Mille Lacs Health System, Onamia
- North Memorial Medical Center, Robbinsdale
- Northfield Hospital
- Ortonville Area Health Services
- RC Hospital & Clinics, Olivia
- Redwood Area Hospital, Redwood Falls
- RiverView Health, Crookston
- Saint Cloud Hospital
- Saint Elizabeth's Medical Center, Wabasha
- Sanford Jackson Medical Center
These hospitals demonstrate the importance of supporting the PAC. For more information about the PAC or your hospital PAC goal, contact Carol Eshelman, PAC coordinator, MHA, 651-603-3539 or Kristin Loncorich, director of state government relations, MHA, 651-603-3526. return to top
DHS issues hospital inpatient policy and billing change notice
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has issued Minnesota Health Care Program (MHCP) policy and billing change notices for some hospital inpatient services. The changes are a result of the new fee for service payment system.
Effective Oct. 1, 2015, the billing policy for Newborn Birthweight and Covered Day has changed.
Newborn Birthweight (Value Code 54): With the implementation of the APR-DRG grouper, DHS now requires that all claims for babies less than 29 days old include a birth weight. Effective for discharges on or after Oct. 1, 2015, MHCP will deny claims that do not contain a valid birth weight.
Covered Days (Value Code 80): Include outpatient services immediately before an inpatient admission on the inpatient claim regardless of discharge date; however, the definition of Covered Days changed as of Oct. 1, 2015.
For discharges before Oct. 1, 2015, continue to include outpatient days as part of Covered Days.
Please visit the Payment Methodology for Inpatient Hospitals web page and scroll down to “Policy and Billing Changes” for more information on these changes.
Earlier changes to outpatient payments are available on the DHS website. Scroll down to “Hospitals.” return to top