DecisionHealth Helps Nation's Hospitals Avoid Conditions Not Covered by CMS Oct. 1 "Do-Not-Pay" Program
Hospitals will collectively lose billions of dollars in Medicare reimbursement once CMS implements its “do-not-pay” program Oct. 1. Health organizations such as DecisionHealth, are helping the nation's hospitals avoid these conditions.
Gaithersburg, MD, May 05, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Hospitals will collectively lose billions of dollars in Medicare reimbursement once CMS implements its “do-not-pay” program Oct. 1. According to HealthGrades, hospital-acquire conditions (HACs) and other patient safety incidents cost the federal Medicare program billions of dollars each year and result in tens of thousands of preventable deaths annually.
The lost revenue to hospitals could rise even higher. In April 2008, CMS announced plans to add nine more conditions to its “do-not-pay” list, bringing to 17 the number of HACs for which hospitals will not receive Medicare reimbursement if they occur during the inpatient stay.
That’s why health organizations such as DecisionHealth, and others, have chosen to host live and audio conferences to educate the nation’s health care workers on how to prevent conditions that can harm patients and result in death. One upcoming event will bring hundreds of health care professionals together this July in Denver to learn how some of the nation’s top performing hospitals are saving lives by dramatically decreasing, or even eliminating, hospital-acquired conditions, such as objects left in after surgery, pressure ulcers and ventilator-associated pneumonia.
“For our Hospital-Acquired Conditions conference, we recruited front-line clinicians to detail the best practices they’ve developed in their own institutions to prevent HACs,” says Wendy Johnson, Executive Editor of Inside the Joint Commission, published by DecisionHealth, lead sponsor of the conference. “Given the explosive impact CMS’s new program will have on hospital revenue, a sell-out is expected.”
Among the front-line providers who will share how they have successfully reduced or eliminated HACs at DecisionHealth’s conference is Meg Kim, operating room nurse manager at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. A nurse and longtime educator, she will detail how Loyola has vastly improved the accuracy of its surgical counts by using bar code technology. Loyola is one of the only hospitals in the nation to use cutting-edge bar coding technology to track all sponges during surgery.
Information presented at DecisionHealth’s July Building Immunity Against Hospital-Acquired Conditions conference will also include:
1. The unvarnished truth about CMS’s new “do-no-pay” initiative: Dr. Mark Levine, chief medical officer at CMS, will provide comprehensive, exclusive information about CMS’s new “do-not-pay” program, which could include as many as 17 conditions when it takes effect
Oct 1.
2. Pressure Ulcers: A clinical nurse specialist at Chilton Memorial Hospital in New Jersey shares what it takes to maintain a 0% pressure ulcer rate – hospital wide.
3. Injuries from falls: Learn how Iowa Health System eliminated nearly 3,000 falls in one year and reduced harm caused by falls to just 1 in 10,000 patient days.
4. VAP: CMS just announced plans to add ventilator-associated pneumonia to its do-not-pay list. Hear how frontline nurses, multidisciplinary care bundles, the latest equipment and tried-and-true strategies such as head-of-bed elevation and hand hygiene can effectively zap a hospital’s VAP infection rate.
5. How communication contributes to HACs: Stephen Harden, a former Top Gun fighter pilot, who is now a nationally renowned patient safety expert, reveals how to find hidden cracks in your communication processes that can lead to catastrophic consequences.
6. UTI infections: How University Specialty Hospital in Baltimore moved its UTI rate way down -- from a peak of 7.54 UTIs per 1,000 device days to just 1.77 – far lower than the national benchmark of 2.7.
7. CABG infections: Strategies for assessing a patient’s SSI risk factors; protocols that can reduce SSIs; proven ways to overcome staff’s resistance to change and how to involve patients in your efforts.
For more information about DecisionHealth’s Building Immunity Against Hospital-Acquired Conditions: A Blueprint for Success, on July 14 – 15 in Denver, visit www.decisionhealth.com/HACDenver.
About DecisionHealth
DecisionHealth™ serves the business and regulatory needs of health care practitioners, providers and their administrative staff nationwide. For more than 20 years, DecisionHealth has served as the industry's leading source for news, analysis and instructional guidance with brand names such as Inside the Joint Commission, Part B News and Medicare Compliance Alert. Their unique blend of award-winning on-staff journalists and unmatched access to health care executives, providers and their administrative staffs results in business management advice and operationally focused editorial that has captured the attention of nearly 100,000 home healthcare professionals and specialty physician practices. www.DecisionHealth.com
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The lost revenue to hospitals could rise even higher. In April 2008, CMS announced plans to add nine more conditions to its “do-not-pay” list, bringing to 17 the number of HACs for which hospitals will not receive Medicare reimbursement if they occur during the inpatient stay.
That’s why health organizations such as DecisionHealth, and others, have chosen to host live and audio conferences to educate the nation’s health care workers on how to prevent conditions that can harm patients and result in death. One upcoming event will bring hundreds of health care professionals together this July in Denver to learn how some of the nation’s top performing hospitals are saving lives by dramatically decreasing, or even eliminating, hospital-acquired conditions, such as objects left in after surgery, pressure ulcers and ventilator-associated pneumonia.
“For our Hospital-Acquired Conditions conference, we recruited front-line clinicians to detail the best practices they’ve developed in their own institutions to prevent HACs,” says Wendy Johnson, Executive Editor of Inside the Joint Commission, published by DecisionHealth, lead sponsor of the conference. “Given the explosive impact CMS’s new program will have on hospital revenue, a sell-out is expected.”
Among the front-line providers who will share how they have successfully reduced or eliminated HACs at DecisionHealth’s conference is Meg Kim, operating room nurse manager at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. A nurse and longtime educator, she will detail how Loyola has vastly improved the accuracy of its surgical counts by using bar code technology. Loyola is one of the only hospitals in the nation to use cutting-edge bar coding technology to track all sponges during surgery.
Information presented at DecisionHealth’s July Building Immunity Against Hospital-Acquired Conditions conference will also include:
1. The unvarnished truth about CMS’s new “do-no-pay” initiative: Dr. Mark Levine, chief medical officer at CMS, will provide comprehensive, exclusive information about CMS’s new “do-not-pay” program, which could include as many as 17 conditions when it takes effect
Oct 1.
2. Pressure Ulcers: A clinical nurse specialist at Chilton Memorial Hospital in New Jersey shares what it takes to maintain a 0% pressure ulcer rate – hospital wide.
3. Injuries from falls: Learn how Iowa Health System eliminated nearly 3,000 falls in one year and reduced harm caused by falls to just 1 in 10,000 patient days.
4. VAP: CMS just announced plans to add ventilator-associated pneumonia to its do-not-pay list. Hear how frontline nurses, multidisciplinary care bundles, the latest equipment and tried-and-true strategies such as head-of-bed elevation and hand hygiene can effectively zap a hospital’s VAP infection rate.
5. How communication contributes to HACs: Stephen Harden, a former Top Gun fighter pilot, who is now a nationally renowned patient safety expert, reveals how to find hidden cracks in your communication processes that can lead to catastrophic consequences.
6. UTI infections: How University Specialty Hospital in Baltimore moved its UTI rate way down -- from a peak of 7.54 UTIs per 1,000 device days to just 1.77 – far lower than the national benchmark of 2.7.
7. CABG infections: Strategies for assessing a patient’s SSI risk factors; protocols that can reduce SSIs; proven ways to overcome staff’s resistance to change and how to involve patients in your efforts.
For more information about DecisionHealth’s Building Immunity Against Hospital-Acquired Conditions: A Blueprint for Success, on July 14 – 15 in Denver, visit www.decisionhealth.com/HACDenver.
About DecisionHealth
DecisionHealth™ serves the business and regulatory needs of health care practitioners, providers and their administrative staff nationwide. For more than 20 years, DecisionHealth has served as the industry's leading source for news, analysis and instructional guidance with brand names such as Inside the Joint Commission, Part B News and Medicare Compliance Alert. Their unique blend of award-winning on-staff journalists and unmatched access to health care executives, providers and their administrative staffs results in business management advice and operationally focused editorial that has captured the attention of nearly 100,000 home healthcare professionals and specialty physician practices. www.DecisionHealth.com
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DecisionHealth
Wendy Johnson
301.287.2386
www.decisionhealth.com
http://www.decisionhealth.com/HACDenver
Wendy Johnson
301.287.2386
www.decisionhealth.com
http://www.decisionhealth.com/HACDenver
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