From the President’s Desk

It is hard to believe it is already 2015. The years just fly by now! This year, my first grandchild will turn 2 years old, my second is 3 months old, and the third will be welcomed in before the year is over.

I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to work with the distinguished board of Arkansas Association for Healthcare Quality. We have two members that have served in the past and are returning this year. They are Phyllis Dorrough from Baptist Health, who is president-elect, and Lynnette Jack, our professional development chair from MQRS, Inc. We have several new faces as well. These include Margaret Corbett from Conway Regional Medical Center, who will serve as secretary; Pam Cochran, member-at-large, from the Veterans Administration; and Dalana Pittman, member-at-large, from American Data Network. More information about this year’s board will be in the next newsletter.

There is a wealth of knowledge and a variety of backgrounds on the board, and they are available to help you in your quest for excellence. Please feel free to contact any member of the board if you have questions about health care quality or suggestions about what you would like to see from AAHQ this year. Our contact information is available at the end of the newsletter.

We are very excited to report that we will be co-sponsoring a Spring Patient Safety Conference on April 10th with American Data Network and Arkansas Association of Nurse Executives. We will have several guest speakers. Dr. Marty Makary will review some common sense interventions which are the focus of quality and patient safety efforts nationwide. He will describe new trends in healthcare, and offer insight to innovative care delivery. Paul Dwyer, Esquire, will discuss the Arkansas state statute that protects data collected for quality improvement. Ken Rhode will provide practical techniques to help better analyze occurrence reporting processes and how to use data to gain insight into errors. Information on how to register is in this newsletter. Don’t delay – the registration deadline is April 3.

We value your knowledge. Please send any articles outlining the great work you are doing with quality and patient safety in your organization to Janie Ginocchio at jginocchio@afmc.org and we will include them in our newsletter.

Sincerely,
Connie Taylor
AAHQ President

A Message from the Past President

I wanted to take a few minutes to say thank you for your continued support of AAHQ throughout my year as president. AAHQ finished 2014 in a strong position financially. We have been successful in continuing efforts to educate our members through our conferences, sponsorships and grants to NAHQ conferences and support of certification. AAHQ supported both members who applied for grants to attend NAHQ conference in 2014.

AAHQ continues to support the Healthcare Quality Foundation (HQF) through donations at the platinum level. We could not do this without your support of the silent auctions held during our educational conferences. These donations come back to us as grants to support AAHQ conferences or grants for individuals from NAHQ.

As a reminder, there will not be a fall NAHQ conference for at least the next two years as NAHQ revamps their processes. There is a quality summit in April this year. Details can be obtained via the NAHQ website.

Thank you for another great year as I move into the past president’s role on the AAHQ board. I wish you all the best for 2015.

Sincerely,
Sandra J. “Sandy” Grinder

Register Today for the 2015 Arkansas
Patient Safety Conference

This year, Arkansas’s leading quality, patient safety and nursing organizations have teamed up to host a world class Patient Safety Conference with an exceptional lineup of nationally acclaimed patient safety experts on Friday, April 10. The deadline to register is April 3.

For the 2015 spring conference, the American Data Network Patient Safety Organization, the Arkansas Association for Healthcare Quality, and the Arkansas Organization of Nurse Executives are joining forces to offer a collaborative conference that you don’t want to miss. Your organization’s leadership, quality, risk management and legal teams will want to hear what these experts have to say.

The keynote speaker will be Marty Makary, MD, MPH, Director of Quality and Safety for the Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Makary is a surgeon and researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD. Makary also serves as Associate Professor of Surgery with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Health Policy & Management with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Unaccountable, a book about modern medicine’s transparency revolution as well as co-author of “The Surgical Checklist.” In 2013, Makary was named one of America’s 20 most influential leaders in Healthcare by Health Leaders Magazine. Recognized as an international expert in patient safety practices, Makary writes for Newsweek magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The Daily Beast, and he is a frequent health policy commentator for NBC and Fox News.

To register, contact Cindy Harris at 501-224-7878 or email charris@arkhospitals.org.

Finance Action Team Report

By Louise Hickman
Finance Team Leader

 

 

 

 

The goal of the Finance Team is to manage funds to support the mission, vision, goals and objectives of AAHQ. Some of the objectives include:

• Establish corporate sponsorships to alleviate expenses of each education conference.
• Raise funds to submit a minimum of $500 donation to Healthcare Quality Foundation (HQF) annually and sponsor silent auction items at selected conferences each year.
• Provide stipends for delegates/alternates to NAHQ annual meetings if funds are available
• Oversee the availability of funds to support day-to-day operations of AAHQ (such as printing, AAHQ pins, postage, etc).
• Secure sponsors for development and maintenance of AAHQ website.

Strategic planning for the past couple of years has included investing in value-added programs and tools, recruiting new members while maintaining reasonable fees, offering cost-effective programs with continuing education credit, supporting National Quality Organization, and maintaining financial viability.

The value of strategic collaborations has truly proven to be an investment in the Arkansas Community. Partnerships have proven to be beneficial to the organization as demonstrated by provision of supplies and AV equipment, donations for door prizes, and representation on AAHQ Board by both American Data Network (ADN) and Arkansas Foundation Medical Care (AFMC).

Sponsorships are also available at various levels with various cost levels: Gold, Silver, and Bronze, along with advertising opportunities on the AAHQ website and the newsletter.

Reimbursement for CPHQ examination may be considered for members applying for this assistance if funds are available. If you are interested, you may contact any board member who will be able to respond to any questions you may have about this benefit.

Stipends and/or grants may also be provided to a minimum number of members who apply and are approved (pending availability of funds). This is an effort to involve the membership in attendance at National Association of Healthcare Quality annual conferences. Virtual conferences are now being considered as a part of this application process. If you are interested, you may contact any board member who will be able to respond to any questions you may have about this benefit.

The financial viability of the AAHQ is strong as evidenced with December 31, 2014, ending with a balance of $24,013.79. The AAHQ financial year begins in July and ends in June. Current balance as of February 28, 2015, is $28.623.49.

At our conferences, we plan to have a silent auction during the break times. If you are interested in donating any items for auction, please contact any member of the AAHQ board.

Our sponsors

ARKANSAS FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL CARE

 

 

 

Julie Kettlewell, RNP, AVP of Quality Programs 1020 West 4th Street, Suite 300
Little Rock, AR 72201 Phone 501-212-8740
E-Mail jkettlewell@afmc.org Website www.afmc.org

The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) was incorporated in 1972 as a private, nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the evaluation and improvement of health care. We are the federally designated quality improvement organization (QIO) for Arkansas. Our staff includes physicians, nurses, statisticians, educators, communicators – professionals with widely varied expertise, at various stages of life and career, who have been on both sides of the health care system. We work with staff in every health care setting and offer free tools and resources, such as educational materials for patients and providers and help with Medicare and Medicaid issues. We review certain types of health care paid for by Medicare and Medicaid to ensure high-quality, cost-effective care and to resolve beneficiary concerns. We help find evidence-based ways to improve preventive care as well as treatment and management of specific illnesses and conditions. We are also a health information technology regional extension center (HITREC), federally funded to provide technical assistance to health care providers as they make the transition to electronic health records. Our roles and responsibilities are constantly evolving, but they all serve the purpose of building support systems and partnerships, and helping focus the efforts of the health care community, agencies and organizations toward common goals. Together, we’re working to make health care safer, more effective and more efficient.

BANCORPSOUTH INSURANCE SERVICES, INC.
Tom Hesselbein, CPCU, Executive VP, Healthcare (Ramsey, Krug, Farrell & Lensing)
8315 Cantrell Road, Suite 300 Little Rock, AR 72227 Phone 501-614-1134
Email Tom_Hesselbein@rkfl.com

AMERICAN DATA NETWORK
Jamie Walden, Public Relations Manager
10809 Executive Center Dr., Searcy Building Suite 300 Little Rock, AR 72211 Phone 501-225-5533
Email jwalden@americandatanetwork.com Website www.americandatanetwork.com

Founded in 1994, American Data Network provides clinical, quality, safety and financial data applications and services to healthcare executives, allowing them to better manage costs and care quality, influence physician practice patterns and meet demands for public accountability and disclosure.

2015 Board of Directors

President
Connie Taylor
501-380-3291
501-380-2342 fax
cstaylor@wcmc.org

President – Elect
Phyllis Dorrough
501-202-1276
501-202-1159 fax
phyllis.dorrough@baptist-health.org

Secretary
Margaret Corbett
501-5135735
501-513-5312 fax
mcorbett@conwayregional.org

Past President
Sandra Grinder
501-257-6187
501-257-6179 fax
sandra.grinder@va.gov

Action Team Leaders

Protocol
Sandra Grinder
501-257-6187
501-257-6179 fax
sandra.grinder@va.gov

Professional Dev.
Lynette Jack
501-379-8980
501-407-9288 fax
mqrs@comcast.net

Membership Srv.
Karen Donaldson
870-382-7657
870-460-3597 fax
kdonaldson@deltamem.net

Finance
Louise Hickman
870-541-7773
870-541-7204 fax
hickmanl@jrmc.org

Communication

Janie Ginocchio
501-212-8644
501-374-2826 fax
jginocchio@afmc.org

AHA Liaison

Cindy Harris
501-224-7878
501-224-0519 fax
charris@arkhospitals.org

Members at Large

Dalana Pittman
501-537-7944
501-225-5539 fax
dpittman@americandatanetwork.com

Pam Cochran
501-257-3087
501-257-3110 fax
pamela.cochran@va.gov

 

 

Editor: Janie Ginocchio
Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care Little Rock, Arkansas

NAHQ Award for Association Excellence

 

2001 Bronze Level Award Winner

2002 Silver Level Award Winner

2003 Gold Level Award Winner

2007 Gold Level Award Winner

2006 NAHQ Award for Support of CPHQ Certification