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Nurse staffing ratios could save Illinois hospitals $1.4BFDA Flu reclassification leads to opportunityNEW episode - Road Warriors and Their Untold Stories podcast with Chris VerhulstToday is the hotel deadline for JHC's IDN Insights EastMedical Illumination acquires Vidashield line from American Green TechnologyTheranos founder Elizabeth Holmes granted delay in trial date decisionCMS proposes $4.7 billion hike to inpatient spending, change wage indexVizient forms agreement with Medisolv Inc| Market Research | Nurse staffing ratios could save Illinois hospitals $1.4B
A study by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute found that proposed legislation establishing limits on the number of patients that can be assigned to registered nurses would save Illinois hospitals about $1.4 billion. The study examined economic and public health research and concluded the limits would reduce RN turnover in Illinois, saving hospitals $401 million; decrease injury rates for RNs, saving hospitals $7 million; improve patient health outcomes, saving hospitals $876 million from reduced care costs; and lower readmission rates within 30 days of discharge, saving hospitals $75 million. Researchers said the savings would offset 75% of the increased labor costs hospital lobbyists say would be needed to implement the proposed legislation. If passed by Illinois lawmakers and Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the proposed legislation would limit hospital nurses to four patients or fewer. Patient-to-nurse ratios would vary by unit. The Illinois Health and Hospital Association opposes the proposal and called the IEPI report “deeply flawed.” The Illinois Nurses Association, whose executive director serves on the IEPI board, supports the legislation, saying it would reduce healthcare errors and nurse burnout and save lives. Read the report here. | | | -back to top- | | Sponsored | FDA Flu reclassification leads to opportunity
Opportunity presents itself in strange ways. Often, it comes disguised as a challenge. Forward-looking organizations are eager to embrace it. Lehigh Valley Physician Group (LVPG) in Allentown, Pennsylvania – part of the Lehigh Valley Health Network – is such a forward-looking organization. Last year, it transformed a challenge into an opportunity and, ultimately a clinical, financial and operational win for the organization and its patients...
The FDA reclassification [of rapid influenza antigen detection tests (RIDTs)] presented a decision point for LVPG, as it did for physician groups around the country. On one hand, they could have consumed all their existing Class I tests and then switched to another visually read test that met the FDA’s new standard.
"But Lehigh Valley believed this was a great opportunity to stay best-in-class in their market and provide high-quality patient care as well as operational efficiencies,” says Patrick Bowman, director, health systems – lab, McKesson Medical-Surgical.
LVPG lab coordinators believed that molecular testing might be a way to do all of those things... (continue reading) | | | -back to top- | | From the Publisher | NEW episode - Road Warriors and Their Untold Stories podcast with Chris Verhulst
| In this episode, Scott Adams interviews Chris Verhulst, former NFL player and current Eastern Area VP, Medical, for Henry Schein. Scott drills down on some great NFL and sales topics with Chris, including a great story Chris tells about his rookie season playing for Jerry Glanville in Houston as well as tips for how young reps can be successful. If you missed episodes 1-6 with Brian Taylor, Eddie Dienes, Brad Connett, Tony Melaro, Ty Ford, and Jay Keene, the library can be found in the podcast section on Repertoiremag.com. |
| | | -back to top- | | From The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | Today is the hotel deadline for JHC's IDN Insights East
IDN Insights East is taking place in Nashville on May 16-17! The deadline to book your hotel room at the group rate is today. The IDN Insights meeting highlights some of the largest and most progressive healthcare systems in the East. Come network with your peers and customers while learning how large IDNs measure successful contracts, the challenges these health systems are facing, what successful supplier/provider relationships look like, and much more!
Speakers include:- Michael Berryhill, COO, HealthTrust Purchasing Group
- Sandy Wise, System Director, Baylor Scott & White Health
- Mike Gray, System Vice President, and Chief Supply Chain Officer, SSM Health System
- Jennifer Alvey, Executive Director Sourcing, IU Health
- Christine Torres, System Vice President, Supply Chain Management, Main Line Health
- Richard Yonker, VP Supply Chain, Tenet Health
- Li Ern Chen, MD, Physician Executive and Surgeon
- Karen Conway, Vice President, Healthcare Value, GHX
- Kreg Koford, SVP, Supply Chain and Sustaining Care Services, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Tim Marlette, Healthcare Supply Chain Consulting Executive
- Bob Taylor, SVP Supply Chain, RWJ Barnabas Health
- Mark Dixon, President, The Mark Dixon Group
- Bill Kellar, CEO, Nashville Supply Chain Services, HealthTrust, representing TriStar
- Joe Walsh, Founder, Coach, Educator, Supply Chain
- More to come!
Space is limited!
Questions? Contact Anna McCormick at amccormick@sharemovingmedia.com. | | | -back to top- | | Manufacturer News | Medical Illumination acquires Vidashield line from American Green Technology
Medical Illumination (San Fernando, CA) completed its purchase of the Vidashield product line from American Green Technology (AGT) (South Bend, IN). Medical Illumination previously partnered with AGT to provide its UV24 overhead air purification system (also known as Vidashield in selected markets). Medical Illumination will now be the owner and exclusive manufacturer of the patented technology that continuously provides, in occupied or unoccupied spaces, UV-treated air, shown to reduce up to 99.9% of airborne pathogens. The acquisition will allow Medical Illumination to bring additional product improvements and greater manufacturing efficiencies to the UV24/ Vidashield line. | | | -back to top- | | Provider Services News | Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes granted delay in trial date decision
A U.S. District Court judge in San Jose, California granted the request of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to put off setting a trial date. Attorneys for Ms. Holmes and Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, former Theranos president and COO, reportedly cited the millions of pages of evidence and difficulties in recruiting high-profile witnesses as justification for the need for a delay in beginning the trial. The Judge reportedly discussed a potential April 2020 start for the trial but ruled not to make an official decision until July. The trial is expected to last at least 40 days. | | | -back to top- | | Government News | CMS proposes $4.7 billion hike to inpatient spending, change wage index
A new CMS proposal would increase the wage index that sets the nation's hospital payments to address a disparity in the system. The rule aims to change the formula to pay rural hospitals which have some of the lowest reimbursement rates in the country. The agency yesterday released its annual proposed update for the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) for federal fiscal year 2020 that starts in October. CMS projected total Medicare spending on inpatient hospital services, including capital, to climb by $4.7 billion in fiscal 2020. The CMS called for hospitals that have a wage index value below the 25th percentile to get an increase that is "half the difference between the otherwise applicable wage index value for that hospital and the 25th percentile wage index value across all hospitals." CMS also proposed a 5% cap on any decrease to the wage index for fiscal 2020 compared with 2019. A federal provision currently ensures that the wage indexes applied to urban hospitals cannot be lower than the rural area wage index. The intent was to prevent some urban hospitals being paid less than the average rural hospital in their state. However, the CMS said that "hospitals in a limited number of states have used urban and rural hospital reclassification to inappropriately influence the rural floor wage index value." To address this disparity, the agency proposed removing the urban to rural hospital reclassifications for calculating the rural floor wage index value starting in federal fiscal year 2020. Read the full report here. | | | -back to top- | | GPO News | Vizient forms agreement with Medisolv Inc
Vizient Inc (Irving, TX) announced an agreement with Medisolv Inc (Columbia, MD) for its ENCOR Quality Management Platform, an integrated suite of applications designed to measure and improve performance on more than 500 national quality and safety measures using EHR and other health system data. This new agreement builds on Vizient’s existing, successful relationship with Medisolv for its electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) management solution. Submission of chart-abstracted core measures to the CMS and The Joint Commission (JC) is mandatory and a complex process for hospitals. Providers who do not successfully meet reporting requirements put Medicare reimbursement or accreditation status at risk. The ENCOR Abstracted Measures application and the accompanying dashboards offered by Medisolv will help alleviate Vizient members’ burden by improving the efficiency of core measures reporting while also offering insights for performance improvement, Vizient said. | | | -back to top- |
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