Legislative Update

The 2016 Utah State Legislative Session is underway and a number of healthcare-related bills are up for debate. UHA's Government Relations Committee took positions on the following bills at its most recent meeting:

• SB 32, Hospital Assessment Reauthorization, has passed the Senate and is on track for debate in the House. This bill is supported by UHA and extends the sunset for the hospital assessment in its current form with minor technical modifications.
• SB 61, Smoking in Public Places Amendments, modifies current provisions of the Utah Clean Air Act, removing certain smoking exceptions for Salt Lake International Airport's passenger terminal. The UHA Government Relations Committee has voted to support this bill. SB 61 has passed out of Senate committee with a favorable recommendation.
• In other smoking-related bills, HB 157, Age Limit for Tobacco and and Related Products, increases the age limit for the purchase, possession, and use of tobacco and related products from 19 to 21 years of age and makes related changes. UHA Government Relations Committee also supports this bill.
• HB 18, Medicaid Preferred Drug List Amendments, was also supported by the Committee. This bill authorizes the Department of Health to include additional drugs on the Medicaid program's preferred drug list.
• HB 114, Controlled Substance Reporting, amends the requirement for a general acute hospital to report to the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing admissions for poisoning or overdose
  involving a prescribed controlled substance. This bill was also supported by the committee.
• SB 88, Reauthorization of Administrative Rules, modifies administrative rules related to Birthing Centers, striking existing language. The UHA Government Relations Committee opposes these changes and is not in support of the bill.

Please plan to join us for UHA's 2016 Legislative Reception, taking place Tuesday, February 9th, 5-7 p.m. at Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City. All hospital administrators and UHA board members should have received information regarding this event. For questions or to RSVP, contact Jackie Wilkinson at UHA, 801.486.9915.

You can follow the action on the Hill online at le.utah.gov . A complete schedule of committees and floor debate is provided, as well as an audio and/or video link to meetings in progress.

Dave Gessel and Greg Bell continue to be your eyes and ears on Capitol Hill. If you have questions about this year's top legislative issues, please contact either Dave or Greg at 801.486.9915.

UHA Spring Meeting Reminder

Be sure to mark your calendar now for UHA's Annual Membership Meeting, set for April 20-22nd at the Courtyard by Marriott in St. George.

This year will offer an all-day retreat on Wednesday for members of the Rural Independent Hospital Network; more information on this meeting will be sent to RIHN members directly from UHA's Rural Hospital Director/FLEX Coordinator Greg Rosenvall. This meeting will take the place of the lunch meeting usually held on Thursday.

Thursday morning will offer optional golf for interested individuals, with UHA's Rural Hospital Council to convene in the afternoon of April 21st. The Chairman's Dinner is set for 6 p.m. on the Courtyard patio, weather permitting.

Friday's program will begin with a breakfast sponsored by Utah Healthcare Executives, followed by a morning of educational programming for UHA members.

UHA has reserved a block of rooms at the Courtyard. Lodging at the Courtyard can be arranged by calling 435.986.0555 and mentioning Utah Hospital Association to receive the group rate of $139. The UHA block will expire on March 15th. 

Registration information will be available later this month.

AHA Annual Meeting May 1-4

Registration is now open for the American Hospital Association's Annual Membership Meeting, set for May 1-4 in Washington, DC. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain perspectives that will help hospitals continue to build a better healthcare system for the future.

AHA’s Federal Forum plenaries offer a national perspective on healthcare, featuring viewpoints from such diverse voices as member of Congress to Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League.  A deep-dive on the presidential race will be offered by Politico’s Mike Allen and Megyn Kelly of Fox News will provide a fresh take on today’s political climate.

This year’s meeting features more than a dozen specialized briefings on topics including the 340B program, emerging governance and diversity practices, as well as ways to manage cybersecurity risk and increasing drug prices. 

Team discounts are available for four or more registrations and early bird discount expires March 18.  Register at aha.org today!

Happenings Around the State

Jordan Valley Medical Center, West Valley Campus has been named to The Leapfrog Group's annual list of Top Hospitals. The Top Hospital Award is given to hospitals that publicly report their performance through the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey and meet the high standards defined in each year's Top Hospitals methodology. The hospital is the only Utah facility to receive this award for 2015.

Marc Probst, CIO of Intermountain Healthcare, has been named to Becker's Hospital Review's list of "100 Hospital and Health System CIOs to Know."

Equity of Care Webinar on Social Determinants Offered

The American Hospital Association's Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (HPOE) initiative is hosting a free webinar in February entitled Going Beyond Real Data Collection: Collecting Social Determinants of Health. The program, taking place February 23, 10 am-11:30 am Mountain Time, will discuss strategies and approaches implemented by hospitals and healthcare systems to collect the social determinants of health, with the understanding that this information will be critical for population health efforts of health plans, hospitals and health centers nationwide. For more information or to register, click here.

The webinar is part of HPOE's Equity of Care effort supported by UHA and the American Hospital Association, the American College of Healthcare Executives and others. For more information on how to add your hospital to the list of facilities supporting this initiative, go to http://www.equityofcare.org.

Pricepoint Update

The Utah Pricepoint website update has now been completed and available for viewing. The website provides consumers with comparative inpatient charges data for all hospitals in Utah. For more information on Utah Pricepoint or Utah Checkpoint, the quality comparison website for Utah, contact Scott Horne at UHA, 801-486-9915.

Education Update

The latest Project ECHO – Burn and Soft Tissue Injury educational series is set for February 17th. The Urban Myths and Legends topic is “It’s only a flesh wound!’ (relatively small wound, big long-term problems) in addition to case presentations which will discuss necrotizing fasciitis and treadmill injuries.This event is open to providers (all levels) who are interested. Live-connection information will be updated through the Crisis Standards of Care Website under the ECHO tab. Providers are eligible to claim up to 1.0 hour of cost-free Category 1 CME credit and nurses are eligible to claim 1.0 hour of CEU per session attended. EMS may claim 1.0 hour of CME.

The 20th Annual Western Regional Trustee Symposium is scheduled for June 8-10, 2016 at the Arizona Grand Resort and Spa in Phoenix. Registration materials will be available in March.

Registration for the 2016 Congress on Healthcare Leadership, taking place March 14-17 in Chicago, is now open. View the brochure or register online at http://www.ache.org/Congress/.

Carelearning Webinar Calendar--UHA continues to partner with Carelearning to provide a variety of educational sessions online for the convenience of our members. Go to http://carelearning.com/ to view the available programs.

UHA calendar for February

February 4
Utah Leaders for Health Board Meeting, 11:30 a.m., UHA Board Room

February 9
UHA Board Workforce Subcommittee, 3 p.m., UHA Board Room
UHA Legislative Reception, 5-7 p.m., Little America Hotel, Salt Lake City

February 10
Government Relations Committee, 12:15 p.m., UHA Board Room

February 15
President's Day Holiday; UHA offices closed

February 16
Behavioral Health Committee, Noon, UHA Board Room

February 19
UHA Executive Committee, 9 a.m., UHA Board Room

February 23
Utah Disaster Advisory Committee, Noon-2 p.m., UDOH Highland Drive
Medicaid Program Task Force, Noon-2 p.m., UHA Board Room

February 24
Government Relations Committee, 12:15 p.m., UHA Board Room

News from HealthInsight

HealthInsight Quality Awards for 2016

Since the initiation in 2004, the HealthInsight Quality Awards have recognized providers who demonstrate high quality health care via the publicly reported quality measures. This is still the goal; however, over time the emphasis on process measures (core measures) does not seem to reflect the current healthcare environment. In order to more closely align with other national efforts to reform healthcare delivery, the criteria for the awards are flexing to support the nationwide priorities/trends. The awards are based on the publicly reported data on Hospital Compare.

Hospital HealthInsight Quality Award Criteria for 2016:

• HealthInsight calculates and publishes on our website national rankings based on hospitals' performance on inpatient and outpatient process of care measures and a national survey of patients' experience of hospital care.
• The process of care and survey ranks are combined into a single overall performance ranking, with the process of care measures contributing 30% and the survey results 70% to the overall rank. Previously, the rankings were based on 70% process of care measures and 30% HCAHPS.
• Hospitals at or above the 75th percentile nationally in this combined ranking receive a HealthInsight Quality Award.

In the future, outcome measures will become a part of the criteria as well as risk-adjusted HAIs, readmissions and risk-adjusted mortality. Other “best practices” such as patient and family advisory councils are potential criteria in the upcoming years. As a reminder, the awards are determined by data that is 9 to 21 months old. So, now is the time to begin efforts that will be reflected in future quality award determinations.

If you would like help on improving your hospital’s performance, HealthInsight would love to assist/support you in your efforts. And remember, that any assistance of a process improvement nature comes at no cost to you for HealthInsight services. Contact Linda Egbert, project manager, HealthInsight Utah at legbert@healthinsight.org or 801-892-6670 for assistance.

FREE Training Opportunity!

The Utah Department of Health grant to increase the number of Infection Preventionists (IPs) who are certified in Infection Prevention and Control is in process. The CIC review course to help prepare IPs to certify is finalized for 2016. It will be held on March 16-17, 2016 and a second course will be scheduled in September 2017. We are currently taking applications for interested parties. Please contact Linda Egbert if you or someone you know is interested.

As always, HealthInsight is here to support your work and can coordinate resources to impact your quality improvement efforts. If we can serve you in any way, please contact Linda Egbert.