Ethics Briefing
In This Issue
Ethics Briefing
Survey Update
Abstractor Call
Share a Success Story
Upcoming Meetings
November Meetings
Past Meetings
Programs of Interest
CEO Searches
Special Ethics Briefing
Best Practice Breakthroughs in Healthcare Ethics: Awareness, Action and Self-Actualization will be the topic of a special breakfast briefing for Hospital Council members on November 14, 2012. The briefing will begin with registration at 8:15 a.m. followed by the program from 8:30 a.m.to 10:30 a.m. at Hospital Council's Conference Center. The briefing will be held prior to the Risk/Quality Committee meeting which will begin at 10:30 a.m. This special program is being sponsored by Hospital Council and the Institute of Consultative Ethics, one of Hospital Council's Allied Members.
The program facilitator is Kathy Gennuso, an expert in ethics and practical applications of ethics-related tools in clinical settings. She will discuss emerging tools in health care ethics, how best practices in ethics can produce winning results in healthcare organizations seeking accreditation and how ethics programs can impact efficiency in patient care excellence.
The briefing is designed for physicians, nurse managers and directors, social service directors, quality directors, risk managers, chief medical officers, and others involved in patient care. The program is free of charge for Hospital Council members, however, registration is required. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele or Kathleen Gennuso. To register for the program, contact Peggy Maxwell.
Hospital Council Survey Update
Flash Survey
Hospital Council will be releasing its year-end Flash Survey to participating members within the next few weeks. As in the past, members will be able to access data online and run different types of reports. For more information about the Flash Survey contact Denis Lukes or Carmela Breslin.
Collective Bargaining Update
Hospital Council is currently collecting information for the 2012 Collective Bargaining Update. The survey is a summary of each facility and any bargaining unit representing employees in each facility. Hospital Council is accepting information for the survey until October 31, 2012. The survey results will be shared with member Chief Executive Officers and Human Resources Executives in November 2012. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele or Carmela Breslin.
Abstractor Networking Call
Changes for 2013 will be the primary focus of Hospital Council's next Abstractor Networking Call. The call will be held on Tuesday, November 6th from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Julie Volz, project coordinator from Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, will join the conversation and add her expertise. The call will cover required new submissions as well as changes, both beginning in January 2013. Although the call is free of charge, registration is required and participating hospitals are asked to use one telephone line to join the call. The call-in information will be emailed to registrants on Thursday, November 1, 2012. For more information, contact Jane Montgomery or Kathy Wonderly.
Share A Success Story
Share a success story with the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) to share with federal and state lawmakers as a way to reinforce the hospital mission of Healing. Health. Hope. and to help advance the state and federal advocacy agenda. Each hospital is asked to share at least one example of compassion, innovation and community commitment. These stories will be used to help demonstrate why lawmakers should not cut hospital payments as they debate federal deficit reduction during the Congressional lame duck session and to help set the stage for the 2013-2014 state budget discussion. To share a story or for more information, contact Julie Kissinger at or Michael Strazzella.
Upcoming Meetings
Fund Development Committee
Planned Giving will be the primary topic of Hospital Council's Fund Development Committee meeting on October 25, 2012. The meeting will be held from 9:30 a.m. until noon at Hospital Council's Conference Center. Terry (Walter) Brown, senior executive director of Planned Giving for the University of Pittsburgh, will provide a presentation on Planned Giving and lead a discussion on the topic. The Committee will also share information on "grateful patient" programs and the meeting will conclude with a roundtable discussion. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele.
Compliance Committee
The Compliance Committee will focus on the 2013 OIG Work Plan at its October 31st meeting. The meeting will be held from 9:30 a.m. until approximately 1 p.m. at Hospital Council's Conference Center. Roger Gopalan, the vice president of Compliance for the Western Pennsylvania Allegheny Health System (WPAHS), and Sandy Sessoms the director of Compliance for WPAHS, will provide an overview of the 2013 OIG Work Plan and facilitate a discussion on the Work Plan. In addition, the group will discuss a number of audits, including a recent meaningful use audit of Brookville Hospital, part of the Penn Highlands Health System. Brookville Hospital was the first critical access hospital in the country to undergo a meaningful use audit. The Committee will also hold a roundtable discussion. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele.
November Meetings
CFO Committee
Medical Assistance Modernization and the Medicare Wage Index are two issues which will be discussed at the November 9, 2012 meeting of the Chief Financial Officers Committee. The Committee will also discuss charge capture and compliance, highlights from the Flash Survey and review a revenue cycle opportunity. For more information, contact Denis Lukes.
Risk/Quality Committee
The Risk/Quality Committee will meet on November 14, 2012 beginning at 10:30 a.m. at Hospital Council's Conference Center. The Committee meeting will follow the special member briefing on ethics, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. The Committee will focus on an overview of the 2013 OIG Work Plan, the outpatient proposed rule and also hear an update from the recent conference of the American Society of Healthcare Risk Managers. For more information, contact Jane Montgomery or Kathy Wonderly.
Past Meetings
CNO Committee
The Chief Nursing Officers Committee met on September 7th at Hospital Council. The agenda included a presentation by Tier 1 regarding their accelerated learning and competency based programs. Roundtable discussion items included recent stroke legislation and hospital vaccination programs. For more information, contact Jane Montgomery.
HR Committee
The Human Resources Committee met on September 13th at Hospital Council. The meeting started with a discussion with Art Sponseller, president and chief executive officer of the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California on an agreement signed by the California Hospital Association and SEIU called Partnership for a Health California. Art joined the meeting via a videolink. W. Scott Hardy, an attorney with the firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Steward, gave a presentation on the Risks and Responsibilities on Hiring Independent Contracted Employees. Gary Naugle, senior vice president of HR for Altoona Regional Health System led a discussion on flu vaccinations. The Committee also reviewed a draft of Hospital Council's new Physician Practice Survey. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele.
AR Committee
The Accounts Receivable Committee met on October 11th at Hospital Council. Participants heard presentations from Health America as well as Novitas Solutions. The Committee also discussed charity care and self pay under the Affordable Care Act as well as other issues such as meaningful use, ICD 10 status, presumptive charity and the disproportionate share formula under the Affordable Care Act. For more information, contact Denis Lukes.
Physician Practice Managers Committee
The Physician Practice Managers Committee met on October 18th at Hospital Council. The Committee reviewed a draft of the Physician Practice survey and provided comments as well as discussed the process for the survey implementation. The Committee also discussed the possibility of developing a physician productivity survey as well as staff educational needs. For more information, contact Jane Montgomery.
Health Information Management Committee
Hospital Council's HIM Committee met on October 24, 2012 from 9:30 a.m. until noon at Hospital Council's Conference Center. Martin Ciccocioppo, vice president of Research for the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) provided an update on the Pennsylvania State Health Information Exchanges and an overview of Stage 2 Meaningful Use as well as related challenges. In addition, Michael A. Cassidy and Lee Kim, attorneys with the firm Tucker/Arensberg discussed privacy and security issues related to online patient portals and patent enforcement; hybrid electronic health records and claims submissions: paper vs. electronic. The meeting included a roundtable discussion. For more information, contact Denis Lukes or Jane Montgomery.
Other Programs of Interest
Jackson Lewis Program on the False Claims Act
Jackson Lewis, a Hospital Council Allied Member, will host a program on the False Claims Act and Qui Tam Litigation in the Healthcare Industry on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at their Pittsburgh Office in One PPG Place in Pittsburgh. The program is free of charge, but registration is required. The program will be conducted by Jackson Lewis practitioners with regulatory, law enforcement and healthcare backgrounds regarding compliance priorities and effective defense against health care fraud and abuse claims. The program is approved for 2.0 (general) HRCI recertification credit hours. To register or for more information, contact Joyce Dreeland or Jo Ann Mazza at Jackson Lewis.
Governance Briefing at the Health Policy Institute
The Health Policy Institute at the University of Pittsburgh will hold a special governance briefing on October 30, 2012 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the University Club in Pittsburgh. The program is being held in collaboration with The Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) and Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania. Emerging Issues in Healthcare Governance will be the keynote address presented by John Combes, M.D., president of the Center for Healthcare Governance. Local perspectives will be provided by Nick Beckwith, chairperson of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Board of Directors, Rus Evans, chair of the Allegheny Valley Hospital Board of Directors and Garry Hogan, chair of the Heritage Valley Health System Board of Directors. For more information, contact the Health Policy Institute.
ACHE of Western Pennsylvania Program
The American College of Healthcare Executives western Pennsylvania chapter will hold their next program on November 7, 2012 from 8 a.m. until noon at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe. The program will feature two panel discussions. The first is on the "Triple Aim" initiative to improve population health, improve the patient experience and reduce the cost of care. The second panel discussion is on key components on implementing healthcare reform legislation as it relates to health status and disease status in communities. Click here for more information.
CEO Searches
Select Medical has two openings for a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in western Pennsylvania. One is for a CEO for Select Specialty Hospital in McKeesport, Pennsylvania and the other is for Select Specialty Hospital in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The McKeesport facility is located within UPMC McKeesport Hospital and the Latrobe facility is located within Excela Health in Latrobe. Select Medical operates 111 long-term acute care facilities in 28 states and 12 medical rehabilitation hospitals in 5 states as well as 950 outpatient rehabilitation centers in 34 states. For more information about these two CEO positions contact Connie Newell at Select Medical.
Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania is a strategic partner with health care providers and affiliated organizations, enabling them to realize their mission while maintaining their status as economically viable entities.
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