From the President’s Desk

Submitted by: Pam Cochran

Welcome to Spring 2018 Healthcare Quality Colleagues!

The third week in March, I celebrated Spring Break 2018 with my young grandson, Jude.  We traveled to New York City, went to the Lion King on Broadway, rode a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, and visited the American Museum of Natural History near Central Park West.  We had a wonderful time together and one thing I will never forget was our climb to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.  Climbing the spiral stairs to the crown was a journey in itself.  There are 162 steps from the pedestal to the crown and all located in a very small, tight staircase. By the time I struggled to the crown, I was out of breath and shaking.  But, oh my goodness, the inspiration and patriotism I felt looking out toward the harbor!  It is a memory I will cherish forever.

When I attend a conference, I am likewise inspired.  Maybe not the same as spending four nights in New York City with a special grandson but, inspired all the same.  iCIMS, a company offering recruiting software solutions and tools for businesses, lists three reasons smart employers should sponsor employee’s attendance at business conferences. I have added my thoughts to their list.

1. It Will Make the Company Better. Employees attending conferences learn and network with individuals working in the same environment.  Employees attending conferences should be encouraged to share new information and provide insight and field updates with their colleagues.  In the ever-changing healthcare world, there is always so much to learn, and growing together enhances teamwork.
2. You Can Use It as a Recruiting Tool. Successful organizations realize the importance of providing a learning culture and job perks to actual and potential staff.  Just imagine the advantage you gain when you turn to the candidate of your choice and say, “Here at XYZ, we encourage employees to attend at least one local conference a year and will sponsor one national conference attendance every five years with your ongoing outstanding yearly evaluations. We help our employees be the best they can be.”
3. You Will Retain More Employees Over Time. Healthcare leaders are all too familiar with the cost of recruiting and training employees.  Often, leaders are reminded that employees leave their current jobs over the lack of opportunities for professional growth and development.  Employees value formal growth plans and mobility in large organizations, and visible growth found in smaller work environments.

There are two great opportunities for employees to attend healthcare quality conferences in 2018.

The first will be held in Little Rock at the Gilbreath Conference Center located on the campus of the Baptist Hospital.  The Arkansas Association for Healthcare Quality (AAHQ) is sponsoring the September 14^th event and has scheduled Liz Jazwiec to be the keynote speaker.  Liz authored Eat That Cookie!: Make Workplace Positivity Pay Off…For Individuals, Teams, and Organizations, which was awarded the 2010 AJN Book of the Year honor.  After the success of her first book, Liz went on to finish a book trilogy, speaking to leadership, engagement, and service excellence.  Google Liz Jazwiec and see for yourself!  Registration will soon begin and you will be able to register by visiting the AAHQ website found at www.arkahq.org or by dialing the Arkansas Hospital Association at 501.224.7878, asking for Cindy Harris.

The second conference quality professionals should plan to attend is the NAHQ NEXT 2018, scheduled for November 5-7, 2018 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) is the only organization dedicated to serving the healthcare quality profession through teaching, certification, and defining the profession.  Registration is now open at www.nahq.org  See you there!

Finally, as we enter spring and see summer on the horizon, I encourage you to make memories with family and with your healthcare quality colleagues.  And just a tip… if you want to journey to the Statue of Liberty crown, ticket reservations are now being taken well into August 2018.

Professional Development Round-up

Submitted by: Justin Villines

This year AAHQ is proud to announce Liz Jazwiec as our keynote speaker! With over 30 years in healthcare leadership, Liz is an authority on leadership, employee engagement and service excellence. Her combination of content and anecdotes make her thoughts and ideas memorable.

The 2018 AAHQ Education Conference is titled “Improving Clinical Integrated Networks and Patient Satisfaction throughout Arkansas!” which reflects AAHQ’s commitment to highlight and promote healthcare quality while improving patient satisfaction in our state.

This year’s speakers and presentations will cover a variety of topics on how organizations are improving patient satisfaction while improving their integrated networks and should give great insight into the current activities occurring in Arkansas.

Conference Location/Date: Baptist Health Medical Center – Gilbreath Conference Center, 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Little Rock, AR  72205 on September 14, 2018.

Please join us for a great day of learning, networking and AAHQ hospitality! Invite your friends!

Membership Services Update

Submitted by: Karen Donaldson

Member Spotlight: Pat Hamilton, Quality Director, 

Pat received her RN education at UCA in Conway, and received a certification in Lean Healthcare in 2012.  She has worked at Cross Ridge Community Hospital in Wynne since 2005.  She previously served at Baptist Memorial in Forrest City, first as Med-Surg Charge Nurse, Surgery Supervisor, Utilization Review Coordinator and then as Director of Medical Review.  Pat currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the Nursing Program at Crowley Ridge Technical Institute.

She says that she became interested in the Quality Field while working in Utilization Review (now Case Management), where she frequently helped the quality department with data collection.  Doing that enabled her to see an opportunity to make a difference in the way care was delivered and to work toward continuous improvement of care processes.  Her quality philosophy is to “strive to make things better for the patient”.

Membership in NAHQ and in AAHQ for over 25 years, has been invaluable in all aspects of her work.  The benchmarking opportunities have been exceptional and she has developed many wonderful friendships through the years.  Her membership in AAHQ has allowed her to be on the “cutting edge” of the many changes in her role as Quality Director and has helped to provide resources to make those changes successfully.

When not working, Pat enjoys shopping for antiques and being with her family.  They have a small place at Greer’s Ferry Lake which she tries to get to as often as possible.  Married for 46 years, she has 1 daughter, son-in-law, and 2 perfect grandchildren.  Also, she has played Bunco with the same group of women for the past 25 years.

Pat states:  “As I near retirement and reflect on the many changes in Healthcare, I hope I can leave with a feeling of satisfaction that things are better than they were when I started.  With the help of many co-workers, physicians, and friends throughout the state, I can honestly say that it has been quite a wonderful ride!  I think back on the first Joint Commission survey where I served as coordinator and have to smile when I remember in the opening conference, I was so nervous, I couldn’t even speak and the first question was directed to me.  There was a room full of people and I was selected to answer a very simple question and I couldn’t.  After stumbling around, I asked the surveyors if I could start over.  They got a good laugh and said that this was a first for them and it broke the ice to lead to a wonderful survey.”

External Relations Update

Submitted by: David Vrudny

CMS Issues Final Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2019

(Article cited from the American Hospital Association April 12, 2018 Special Bulletin) On April 9, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule and related guidance that will implement the standards governing health insurance issuers and the Health Insurance Marketplaces for 2019. In the rule, CMS provides details on the benefit and payment parameters for qualified health plan (QHP) issuers selling in the marketplaces. In addition, the rule finalizes policies intended to increase state flexibility and reduce regulatory burden.

Below are the top six things for hospital and health systems to know:

1. CMS will allow states a broader range of options in setting the essential health benefit (EHB) standard, which could result in reductions to the scope of what is covered under the 10 benefit
2. States also may request to change the medical loss ratio (MLR) if such a change would help support marketplace stability by encouraging insurers to sell in the The MLR reflects the minimum amount that must be spent on medical care versus administration and other costs, and reductions to the MLR would give insurers the ability to spend less on medical care.
3. The agency will allow for the continued sale of transitional health plans, which are not required to comply with the individual and small group market These plans may provide enrollees with less expensive coverage; however, they have been shown to keep healthier individuals out of the marketplace, negatively impacting the marketplace risk pool and, therefore, increasing the price of coverage.
4. CMS will allow additional individuals to claim an exemption from the individual mandate penalty in 2018, including individuals living in counties with one or fewer issuers on the Beginning in 2019, under federal law, the penalty will be reduced to $0 making such exemptions less necessary.
5. States will have more oversight of the marketplaces, including the ability for states relying on the federally-facilitated exchange (FFE orgov) to their own network adequacy rules.             
6. The maximum annual limit on cost sharing for 2019 is $7,900 for individual coverage and $15,800 for family coverage. These amounts include both deductibles and other cost-sharing, but not premiums.

In addition to the rule, CMS also released the final 2019 letter for issuers selling on the FFEs. The letter provides operational and technical guidance, including a timeline of key dates. The initial QHP application deadline for the 2019 plan year is June 20.

Free Stroke and STEMI Education Sponsored by the AR Department of Health

Heart attack is the leading cause of death in Arkansas, with stroke ranking in at number five. In an effort to optimize patient care, while reducing heart attack and stroke-related deaths, the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) is now offering web-based education. Utilizing the APEX system, ADH will provide comprehensive web-based education, free of charge, to all participating Arkansas hospitals. Through the program, hospital nursing, physician, and EMS staff, will have the opportunity to obtain education hours on the latest stroke and STEMI guidelines.

You may already have received this information from other sources, but we wanted to circulate it again just in case you weren’t on the original distribution list.  Please see the attached brochures for more information on the stroke and STEMI free provider education as well as specific outlines and descriptions for both courses.

If your hospital would like to participate in the ADH stroke and STEMI education program, please complete the six-question survey, located at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LQHK6K6, by Monday, May 7, 2018. The contact you identify within the survey will receive instructions on getting started in the system from APEX in the coming weeks.

For more information, please contact David A. Vrudny, Stroke/STEMI Section Chief, ADH at (501) 661-2096 or david.vrudny@arkansas.gov.

For information on the APEX system, please contact Jason Blalock, APEX Innovations at (337) 216-4599 x121 or Jason@apexinnovations.com.

Please feel free to share this message with others in your organization, including Medical Staff, nursing or staff educators, who may who may benefit from this free education.

Finance Action Team Report

Submitted by: Lynnette Jack

The financial outlook for 2018 is solid with some anticipated expenses related to the AAHQ Conference’s tremendous national speaker, Liz Jazwiec, and AAHQ leadership representation at the NAHQ Next conference.

Due to our strong financial standing, AAHQ is proud to announce six member scholarships for the 2018 Governor’s Quality Award Healthcare Seminar “Adapt and Overcome: Strategies for Agility in a Changing Industry,” to be held on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 in Little Rock.  The seminar has 5.5 CPHQ CE hours pending and is a terrific topic for healthcare quality professionals.  More information on the Seminar can be found at 2018 GQA Healthcare Seminar.  If you are interested in applying for the scholarship, please contact Lynnette Jack.

Reimbursement for the 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.

The financial standing of the organization remains strong.  Our financial balance as of February 28, 2018 was $35,251.07.  Thank you for all the member support that makes the work of AAHQ possible!

Quality Submission Articles

Patient Safety Awareness Week
Submitted by: Beth Schooley, Howard Memorial Hospital

As you all know, “Patient Safety Awareness” week took place March 11-17, 2018. Our patient safety committee took this time to review our top 10 patient safety concerns for our hospital. If you haven’t already done something like this, it is a great way to take a look at the patient safety issues that are affecting your facility the most and keep a current top 10 list in front of all staff as a reminder of your priorities in patient safety.

I found an article by Becker’s Hospital Review that listed the top 10 patient safety issues for 2018 which was a great article to review with our Patient Safety Committee to keep our top 10 list current and updated.  The top 10 patient safety issues for 2018 in the article are:

1. Disparate EHRs
2. Hand Hygiene
3. Nurse-patient Ratios
4. Drug and Medical Supply Shortages
5. Quality Reporting
6. Resurgent Diseases
7. Mergers and Acquisitions
8. Physician Burnout
9. Antibiotic Resistance
10. Opioid Epidemic

For more details and explanation of the top ten list, you can view the list at: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/10-top-patient-safety-issues-for-2018.html

Arkansas Hospitals Celebrate Year of Good Catches
Submitted by: Susan Allen, American Data Network

Quality and Patient Safety Professionals, along with physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and nonclinical staff gathered for American Data Network Patient Safety Organization’s 2018 Patient Safety Conference on March 28. Held at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, attendees heard from two nationally recognized presenters: Ken Rohde, who addressed the challenge of balancing the costs of Patient Safety endeavors, and Dr. Dan Diamond, who shared his insights related to shifting one’s mindset to that of a thriver who is fully invested in the work of the team.

The conference opened with a wrap-up of ADN PSO’s Good Catch campaign, through which 45 Arkansas hospitals worked to boost near miss reporting and learning during CY2017. ADN PSO revealed that participating hospitals reported a combined total of 9,445 Good Catches over the course of the campaign. Overall, the campaign achieved 95% of its goal with 81% of participating hospitals meeting or exceeding their CY2016 baselines.

Stephanie Iorio, Director of ADN PSO, explained that the total number of Near Misses reported reflects an aggregated 47% increase over CY2016 baseline. “In other words, as a whole, participants reported an average of 246 more Near Misses per MONTH in 2017,” Iorio said, “We are very proud!”

The value tied to Near Miss reporting and analysis was clear as Phyllis Ragland, Clinical Patient Safety Advisor with ADN PSO, announced the winners of the campaign’s quarterly and overall Good Catch Awards and shared a little bit about their work. The Good Catch Award winners were as follow:

 Quarterly Individual Winners:

Chloe Baldwin, Arkansas Children’s Hospital

Dean Carpenter, Baxter Regional Medical Center

Angie Powell, Baxter Regional Medical Center

Sheila Rather, Baxter Regional Medical Center

Quarterly Physician Winners:

Dr. Scott Harter, Baptist Health- Little Rock

Dr. Don Howard – St. Bernards Medical Center

Dr. Greg Kresse – Eureka Springs Hospital

Chloe Baldwin and Dr. Scott Harter received the overall annual awards in each of these categories. Additionally, ADN PSO presented Overall Good Catch Awards to one standout team that demonstrated remarkable progress in using Near Miss analytics to drive change and to the facility that achieved the greatest increase in reported Near Misses over baseline.

The Patient Safety Committee at Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden, Ark.,  received the team award for essentially rebuilding the facility’s Patient Safety Program. As a first step in implementing their campaign, OCMC redesigned its Patient Safety Committee to serve as the oversight champions for Near Miss activities. Lessons learned while participating in the Good Catch campaign fueled impactful actions associated with: Coumadin Protocol, Look Alike/Sound Alike Drug Storage, Vancomycin Troughs, Respiratory Therapy Orders and Follow-Up Bilirubin Orders. Their reported level of compliance and reductions in associated events are remarkable.

Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Walnut Ridge, Ark., earned the overall facility award. Lawrence Memorial’s work throughout the campaign resulted in a complete transformation of staff mindset in regard to event reporting. The education and communication that they performed were phenomenal, and ultimately, they increased their Near Miss reporting, over their 2016 Baseline, by 17,700%.

As the conference unfolded, it became clear that the Good Catch campaign transformed the way these Arkansas hospitals approach patient safety. Participating organizations witnessed how Near Miss reporting can serve as a bridge to building trust among teams and ultimately a catalyst for decreasing adverse events.

While ADN PSO was the sole sponsor for the statewide Good Catch campaign, the organization thanked the five entities that endorsed the campaign, bolstering the initiative’s visibility and interest: Arkansas Hospital Association, Arkansas Health Executives Forum, Arkansas Organization for Nurse Executives, Arkansas Association for Healthcare Quality and Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care.

 

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

AFMC’s purpose is solid: to help health care providers deliver the best quality of care at the lowest cost and to empower patients to take control of their own health and that of their families.

AFMC is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., with an additional office in Fort Smith, Ark.  We are dedicated to working with beneficiaries and health care providers in all settings to improve overall health and consumers’ experience of care, while reducing health care costs. We accomplish this through education, outreach, data analysis, information technology, medical case utilization and review, and marketing/ communications services provided by a staff of 270 employees. At the forefront of health care reform and practice transformation, AFMC is an established, trusted partner in private, state and federally led payment innovations by Medicare, Medicaid and commercial payers.

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
Sherry Bird, Director, Business Development 10809 Executive Center Dr., Searcy Building Suite 300 Little Rock, AR 72211
Phone 501-225-5533
E-mail sbird@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.

2018 Board of Directors

President
Pam Cochran
501-257-3087
501-257-3110 fax
autocontrols@att.net

 

 

Past-President
Teresa Jeffus
501-296-1009
501-686-8175 fax
JeffusTeresaM@uams.edu

 

 

 

President – Elect
Beth Schooley
870-845-8014
870-845-4178 fax
beths@howardmemorial.com

 

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

 

 

 

Action Team Leaders

Protocol
Pam Blake
870-718-1724
blakep@jrmc.org

 

 

 

Professional Dev.
Justin Villines
501-537-8924
501-978-3940 fax
Justin.Villines@hit.arkansas.gov

 

 

Membership Srv.
Karen Donaldson
870-382-7657
870-382-6555 fax
kdonaldson@deltamem.net

 

 

 

Finance
Lynnette Jack
501-379-8980
501-407-9288 fax
mqrs@comcast.net

 

 

 

Communication
Clayton Leigh
501-548-4693
501-257-5312
clayleigh.pi@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

External Relations
David Vrudny
501-661-2096
501-280-4207 fax
David.Vrudny@arkansas.gov

 

 

 

Member at Large
Steve Chasteen
501-212-8737
501-804-2432
schasteen@afmc.org

 

 

 

AHA Liaison

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

Editor: Clayton Leigh, MSN, CPHQ
Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
Little Rock, AR