CONGRATULATIONS!
MCAHRMM is a 2008 AHRMM Gold Chapter!
In this Issue:
AHRMM REPORT
LOCAL HOSPITAL IN THE NEWS
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
This newsletter is sponsored by the Minnesota Chapter of ARHMM.
2008 Board of Directors
Gail Zehnder, President
VHA, Inc.
(p) 952-837-4725
Mark Thoe, President-Elect
Olmstead Medical Center, Rochester
(p) 507-529-6566
Sue Eastman-Hegge,
Past President
Mayo Clinic Supply Chain Management,
(p)507-266-9733
Brandy Erickson, Treasurer
Albert Lea Medical Center
(p) 507-377-6244
Roberta Ronchetti, Secretary
Fairview Range Regional Services, Hibbing
(p)218-362-6601
2008 Board of Directors (cont.)
Don Smalley-Radar, Region #1
IHC/Amerinet
(p)800-999-4610 x6988
Region #2 is Vacant for 2008
Mike Buccanero, Region #3
Virginia Regional Medical Center, Virginia
(p) 218-742-8620
Jerry Holm, Region #4
Children’s Hospital and Clinic
(p)612-813-6901
Linda Duchscherer, At-Large
North Memorial Health Care, Robbinsdale
(p) 763-520-1799
Kelly Wagner, Vendor
Centicare Corporation
(p) 1-800-433-0348
Membership Team:
Danette Brandstrom
Patrick Marier
Chuck Roeloff
Mike Schmidt
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AHRMM Report November 2008…
Urgent!!!!CMRP: This is a great way to get your certification. You have 90 days after you receive notification you qualify to take the exam. This is how I got mine.
AHRMM is pleased to offer scholarships for testing and renewing the nationally recognized CMRP credential. The first 100 eligible AHRMM members who apply to take or renew the CMRP Certification between November 17 and December 17, 2008 will receive a full CMRP Exam or Renewal Scholarship. This is a limited-time, exclusive offer only available to active AHRMM members.
Interested applicants, please review the CMRP Exam Scholarship Application or the CMRP Renewal Scholarship Application for qualifications and instructions. The deadline to submit all scholarship materials is December 17. Late applications will not be accepted. Scholarships will not be offered to any existing applications or to members that have already taken the exam.
For more information on the CMRP, please visit the AHA Certification Center at
It is not to earlier to start making plans for next year’s national conference:
-Paul Hagan, CMRP (Region Six AHRMM Representative)
Director of Materials Management
Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare
1600 North Second Street
Clinton, MO. 64735
660-890-7090
Local Hospital in the News…
Small Hospital Provides Big Lesson in Quality of Care
On 9/9/08 Greg Schoen, MD, regional medical director at Fairview Northland Medical Center in Princeton, MN (50 miles north of Twin Cities) presented to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. His Testimony provides a blueprint for success for improving patient outcomes.In its first year of participation in CMS' Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration project, Fairview Northland found itself ranked among the bottom 10% of participating hospitals. Within three years, after identifying and correcting a number of problems, the 54-bed hospital was ranked among the top hospitals in the program.In my job, I've had the pleasure of speaking with executives and physicians from some of the nation's most successful hospitals and healthcare systems. So, there really isn't anything in Schoen's testimony that I haven't read or heard before. That's the beauty of it. It turns out, there is a recipe for success.
Yes, of course, no two hospitals are the same. Each hospital has a different set of challenges, some greater than others. However, there is a handful of common sense strategies that I have heard from every hospital executive and physician I've ever interviewed, strategies that all hospitals can undertake to measurably improve patient outcomes. And you can find them all in Schoen's testimony.
Lesson No. 1: Understand what your problems are. When Fairview Northland decided to take part in the HQID project, Schoen says he was "surprised by our poor performance." The tiny hospital scored in the bottom 10% of the 250 participating hospitals of varying sizes in the six areas that were being measured: heart attack, heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft, pneumonia, and hip/knee replacement. "The scores were a wake-up call that we had work to do," Schoen told the committee. The moral of the story: It's hard to correct a problem when you don't know you have a problem.
Lesson No. 2: Don't rule by fiat. Involve administrators and medical staff, and give them incentives. "The quest to improve quality started with a straightforward approach to physicians and staff: we can and will do better," Schoen told the committee. "Our employees—particularly physicians—responded positively to the fact that our hard work would not only improve patient care but it would also be rewarded with incentive pay from the demonstration project."
Lesson No. 3: Find workable solutions. Some problems are more nettlesome than others, but they can be solved. Schoen says Fairview Northland immediately found that some of its low scores were attributable to documentation errors. The care was being delivered but it wasn't documented either on charts or in billing.
After pruning that "low hanging fruit," Schoen says, Fairview Northland took on the more complicated problem of "good people using bad processes." Interdisciplinary care teams comprised of physicians, nurses, x-ray and lab technicians, support staff and administrators were told to fix the problem. "These were the best people to create new processes, since they would have to use them every day," Schoen testified. "They created new and better ways to provide care and then hardwired those processes into place." Those processes can be as simple as ensuring that chest pain patients receive an EKG and a dose of aspirin before seeing a physician.
Lesson No. 4: Monitor your progress. Changing the way you deliver healthcare is pointless if you don't continually monitor yourself to ensure compliance. Fairview Northland, for example, added prompts in paper documents and order sets for physicians, and hired additional staff to monitor compliance.
There you have it. Four steps to improving quality and patient outcomes at your hospital.
-John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, September 10, 2008
Membership News…
/ Annual Board of Directors Meeting…The Board of Directors held their annual meeting on Friday, December 5th in Hinckley, MN.
In this meeting, the BOD reflects on the current year, and plans topics for the upcoming one.
In addition to what has been planned, if you have a topic or know of a speaker who has expertise, please contact any board member with your suggestions or requests.
The Upper Midwest Health Expo was an enormous success!
Over 120 attendees gathered at the Upper Midwest Health Expo on October 2 & 3 in Mounds View, MN. Materials Management and Central Sterilization professionals participated in educational sessions with topics such as generational differences in the workplace, water quality and decontamination, capital planning, and identify theft.
A vendor fair with 50 booths was well attended. Plans are under way for next year’s conference, which will be held on October 1 & 2, 2009. A big ‘Thank You’ goes out to the planning committee:Tim Olson, Chris Hansen, Kathy Ivanca, Judy Gubbins, Barb Oye, Andra Hall, Rebecca Ryskamp, and Jim Moeller.
Job Opportunities…
There are currently a number of Job Opportunities through many of the facilities within MCAHRMM. Please go to our website at for further information.
You can also check out the Career Center at for local and national position openings.
Membership News..
Do you have any events you would like to share with the other MCAHRMM Members? Please contact Kelly Wagner at 952-937-8933 or with any pictures/information/etc.
What Region are you in?