Spring “Special Edition” 2014
From the President’s Desk
Happy New Year to all of our AAHQ members! As a result of a tie vote in the election of the president-elect in December and a run-off election, I was unable to announce the 2014 board as has been our past practice during our fall meeting. As the New Year is just beginning, the AAHQ Board wanted to issue this special edition newsletter to keep you informed about the status of our organization. As your 2014 AAHQ president, it gives me great pleasure to announce your 2014 board. If you have not already heard, Connie Taylor is your new president-elect. Connie brings a wealth of knowledge and new ideas to the Board. Gina Reves continues in her final year as AAHQ secretary. Janie Ginocchio joins the board as our new Communications Action Team leader. Sujay Kola is our member-at-large; Nancy Lowe is the team leader for our Protocol team; Karen Donaldson is the Membership Services Team leader; Terry Anderson is the Professional Development Team leader; Louise Hickman continues as our Financial Team leader and is keeping a watchful and detail oriented eye to our organization’s finances, as you’ll see in her report included in this special edition; and Susan Hapner is the past president. I hope you will all join me in thanking these wonderful and talented people as members of your board.
We held our first board meeting in January and working on plans for our spring conference in April. We have a great outline in store for you for that meeting. Mark your calendars now for April 25.
As many of you may know, I have been a supporter of the NAHQ’s Association Award for Excellence over the years and wanted to reapply this year. We have contacted NAHQ and it appears the award is on hold as NAHQ re-evaluates the award’s relevance to the organization. While disappointing, I know you all agree we continue to be an association of excellence.
As part of our changes for the New Year, we are working to become leaner as an organization and we need your assistance. We have tried for several years to get new blood involved in the board by creating co-team leaders and the member-at-large positions to the board, an effort at succession planning. While the intent was the best, the outcomes have not been as good as we had hoped. We continue to struggle to get new people involved. I have asked Karen Donaldson, Member Services Team leader, to tap into our past presidents to help us develop a more robust mentoring program for our members. I would also like to ask you, the members, to consider participating in workgroups/task forces that would be a short-term commitment to help the organization on projects so we can continue to flourish. Several of us currently on the board and many of those who have served before want to see this organization continue to serve future quality professionals by providing the education and tools they need to do their jobs far into the future – our legacy, if you will! Please let any member of the board know if you have an interest in serving on a task force or work group for your organization. We all look forward to serving you in 2014.
Sincerely,
Sandra J. “Sandy” Grinder, AAHQ President
Meet the 2014 AAHQ Board
Terry Anderson, MSN/HCA, RN, CPHQ, VHA-CM
Terry is the coordinator for the restraint program/patient safety for nursing at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. He has been at the VA for 13 years, and serves as the Professional Development team leader for AAHQ. He has two sons and five grandchildren, who range in age from 14 to 20.
Karen Donaldson, MT (ASCP), CPHQ
Karen is the chief operating officer at Delta Memorial Hospital, and has been involved in health care quality for the past 25. A member of AAHQ since more than 20 years, she currently serves as the Membership Services team leader. Outside of work, she enjoys painting, crocheting, reading and gardening.
Janie Ginocchio
Janie is the media and special projects specialist for the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC), and worked with AFMC’s Medicare quality improvement teams for two years. Before joining AFMC in 2011, she worked for 10 years as a newspaper reporter and editor. She recently joined AAHQ and serves as the Communications Team leader. She has a 4-year-old daughter.
Sandra Grinder, MSN, RN, CPHQ, NE-BC, VHA-CM, NEA-BC
Sandra is the associate nurse executive for operations at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. She has been involved with AAHQ and NAHQ since 1989, and has served AAHQ in every role with the exception of secretary. She is currently serving her third term as president. She is a VHA certified mentor and most recent recipient of the NAHQ 2013 Claire Glover Distinguished Member Award, the association’s highest honor. Sandra has been married to Stan for 40 years, has two children, four grandchildren and two very spoiled Labrador retrievers.
Susan Hapner, BSN, RN, CPHQ
Susan is currently the risk manager/patient safety officer at Baptist Health Medical Center- North Little Rock. She serves on the AAHQ board as past president this year, and is a member of the National Association for Healthcare Quality as well as the American Society for Quality (ASQ). She is currently completing her Masters of Science in Quality Assurance with California State University.
Louise Hickman, BSN, MHSA, RN, CLNC
Louise is the vice president patient care services/chief nursing officer at Jefferson Regional Medical Center. She serves as the Financial team leader for AAHQ and is also a board member for the Arkansas Organization of Nurse Executives. She serves on the Jefferson County Single Parent Scholarship Board as well as the Ridgway Christian School Advisory Board as a secondary elected parent representative.
Sujay Kola, MHSA
Sujay is a clinical effectiveness specialist at St. Vincent Health System and serves as member-at-large on the AAHQ board. With almost five years of experience as a quality professional, he feels it a great privilege to work in the field of health care quality. With so much focus on quality and finance as two key elements that are so closely intertwined that sustains health care organizations in the present day, he understands the role of a quality professional who can make a tremendous difference in delivering more efficient and effective health care.
Sujay is very appreciative of state’s active AAHQ membership and feels honored to be part of the board. He strongly believes the health care industry requires knowledgeable, smart, creative and innovative people in the quality profession who would be able to deliver models that would be in pace with the transformative delivery of health care.
Nancy Lowe, RRT, CPHQ
Nancy is the QI coordinator for Arkansas Children’s Hospital and is serving her second term on the AAHQ board this year as the team leader for the Protocol team. Nancy is a respiratory therapist, and has been involved in quality improvement at Arkansas Children’s Hospital for nearly 25 years.
Gina Reves
Gina is a quality management specialist at White River Medical Center and serves as secretary on the AAHQ board. She has an associate’s degree in business and is planning to go back to college and get a bachelor’s degree. She is also currently working on getting her CPHQ certification.
She is happily married to Lynn, and they have two wonderful boys: Zachery, 22, and Anthony, 21. Gina enjoys spending time with family, her dogs Vallie and Jesse, going camping, fishing, working in the garden, making candy and desserts, shopping, family dinners, or just relaxing.
Connie Taylor, RN, BHA, CPHQ
Connie is currently the director of performance improvement/case management at White County Medical. She has served as the AAHQ secretary, Communication Action Team leader and currently as the president-elect. She is also a member of National Association for Healthcare Quality. Connie enjoys cake decorating, sewing and machine embroidery.
AAHQ Member Benefits
- Show your commitment to health care quality and patient safety
- Stay connected with professional peers and enjoy many networking opportunities
- Be actively engaged in enhancing the profession of health care quality
- Statewide educational opportunities that provide CEUs for nursing, CPHQ and others
- Nationally recognized speakers at workshops
- Opportunities to share expertise and gain speaking and writing experience and contribute to the body of knowledge for health care and patient safety.
- Opportunities to stay current on the many regulatory and governmental changes impacting our profession
- CPHQ certification training locally and at a reduced rate compared to national trainings
- Members-only section of the website
- Opportunity for reimbursement of fees for CPHQ certification exam
- Stipends available to attend the NAHQ conference
- Affiliation with the Arkansas Hospital Association and AHA newsletter
- Affiliation with NAHQ
- Quarterly AAHQ newsletter with educational and professional recognition articles
- Other professional development and leadership opportunities
- Coming soon – a revamped mentor program
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 educational conference.
- Raise funds to submit a minimum $250 donation to Healthcare Quality Foundation (HQF) annually and sponsor silent auction items at the annual conference each year.
- Provide stipends for delegates/alternates to NAHQ annual meetings.
- 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 last 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 the 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 the Arkansas Foundation Medical Care (AFMC).
Sponsorships are also available at various levels with various cost levels: Associate, Affiliate and Friendship, along with advertisement opportunities on the AAHQ website and the newsletter.
Reimbursement for CPHQ examination may be provided to no more than two members annually (pending availability of funds) who submit and meet the necessary criteria for this policy. If you are interested, you may contact any board member; they 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. If you are interested, you may contact any board member; they 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, 2013, ending with a balance of $22,084.78.
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.
AAHQ Member of the Year Nominations
AAHQ strives to provide recognition to individual members who demonstrate leadership in the organization and a commitment to health care quality improvement in the state and nation. Nominations may be made by any current AAHQ member for any AAHQ member in good standing who meets the criteria outlined below.
AAHQ Member Recognition/Volunteer Point System
NOMINEE MUST BE A MEMBER IN GOOD STANDING.Association Member = 1 point per each year
Association Team Member = 1.5 points per each year
Association Team Leader 2 = points per each year
Association Officer = 3 points per each year
Submission of articles for newsletter = 2 points for each article submitted
Speaker for AAHQ meetings = 3 points for each presentation
Recruitment of new members = 3 points per member recruited
National Level Volunteer Point System
Quality Volunteer = 0.5 points if selected per year
NAHQ Leadership Experience = 2 points per year
Membership House of Delegates/Leadership Council = 1 point per year
Leadership Council Alternate = 1 point per year
Team Member/Task Team Member = 2 point per year
Speaker for NAHQ meetings = 2 points for each presentation
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION WILL BE REQUIRED FOR EACH CATEGORY
Nominations must be received electronically by March 15. Please send nominations to Karen Donaldson at kdonaldson@deltamem.net or call 870-382-7657 if there are questions. Nominees will be contacted to submit supporting documentation. The Member of the Year will be recognized at the Spring Conference.
Share Your Best Insights: AAHQ Spring Educational Conference Call for Poster Presentations
Are you ready to share your best strategies for improving health care quality with your peers? We’re seeking poster presentations from AAHQ members for the annual Spring Educational Conference, scheduled for April 25 at the Baptist Health Medical Center – Gilbreath Conference Center in Little Rock. We’re looking for interesting, exciting and informative poster presentations on health care quality improvement projects in your facility. The call for poster presentations runs through March 20. For complete submission details, contact a board member.
Voice your opinion!
In the near future, you will receive an invitation to participate in an online AAHQ membership survey. This survey will help the board plan future educational events as well as determine how members would like to be recognized (e.g., pins, membership cards). Your input counts, so please be sure to complete the survey when you receive the invitation.
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.
2014 Board of Directors
President
Sandra Grinder
501-257-6187
501-257-6179 fax
sandra.grinder@va.gov
President- Elect
Connie Taylor
501-380-3291
501-380-2342 fax
cstaylor@wcmc.org
Secretary
Gina Reves
870-262-1925
870-262-1050 fax
greves@wrmc.com
Past- President
Susan Hapner
501-202-4999
501-202-6469 fax
susan.hapner@baptist-health.org
Action Team Leaders
Protocol
Nancy Lowe
501-364-1778
501-364-4655 fax
lowenj@archildrens.org
Professional Dev.
Terry Anderson
501-257-6166
501-257-6179 fax
terry.anderson3@med.va.gov
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
Members at Large
Sujay Kola
501-552-3578
501-552-4533 fax
skola@stvincenthealth.com
AHA Liaison
Cindy Harris Cook
501-224-7878
501-224-0519 fax
charris@arkhospitals.org
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
