ASHHRA eNews Pulse
ASHHRA
ASHHRA eNews Brief: March 2013
ASHHRA NEWS
ASHHRA members can access this report, which includes an analysis of national, regional, and state representation petitions and elections (RC, RD, and RM) as reported by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) during 2012 as well as articles written by labor experts about relevant and timely labor issues impacting employers and the workplace.
Visit http://www.ashhra.org/resources/labor_activity.shtml to view the full article online.
By Lee Byrd ASHHRA Board member Kristen Fox, MBA, SPHR, from Kadlec Health System Richland, Wash., and I, member of the ASHHRA Advocacy Committee, had the opportunity to attend the AHA Advocacy Day representing ASHHRA on February 13, 2013. Mr. Rick Pollack, AHA executive VP, advocacy and public policy, and Tom Nickels, AHA senior vice president, federal relations, gave us a brief update on the fiscal cliff and the potential implications to health care facilities with sequestering. Our mission was to urge our legislators to reject any additional cuts to Medicare and Medicaid payments for hospital services.
Visit http://www.naylornetwork.com/ahh-nwl/pdf/AHA_Advocacy_Day_by_Lee_Byrd.pdf to view the full article online.
All of the best efforts in creating a culture and high workplace standard of excellence are only as effective as the employees you recruit and hire that fit that culture. Join this webinar to learn from what other world-class organizations are doing to recruit candidates that fit their visions of Service Excellence.
Visit http://www.ashhra.org/learning/webinars.shtml#031313 to view the full article online.
To help you prepare for ICD-10, CMS has released new checklists and timelines for small and medium provider practices, large provider practices, small hospitals, and payers. These resources are designed to give you a high-level understanding of what the ICD-10 transition requires and how your ICD-10 preparations compare with recommended timeframes.
Visit http://www.ashhra.org/toolkits/a-e/business_healthcare_toolkit.shtml#tools to view the full article online.
ASHHRA has been featured on the list of 100 Health Care Organizations to Watch in 2013 that was published on MHAPrograms.org. This list was built to acknowledge some health care organizations that are handling the changes with grace, and to show what it looks like when health care companies get it right. View the complete article here.
Visit http://www.ashhra.org/resources/news/press_releases.shtml to view the full article online.
WORKFORCE
By John Commins The health care sector created 32,000 jobs in February despite the specter of 2 percent Medicare cuts mandated by sequestration, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Within the health care sector there was a gain of 14,000 jobs in ambulatory health care services, which include physicians' offices and outpatient care centers. Hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities each created 9,000 jobs for the month. SOURCE: HEALTHLEADERS MEDIA
Visit http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/HR-289964/Healthcare-Hiring-Strong-Despite-Looming-Sequester-Cuts to view the full article online.
By Rick Pluta Democrats in the Michigan Legislature and a nurses’ union are calling for a state law that would require hospitals to maintain staff levels without resorting to mandatory overtime. Sixteen states currently have rules regarding staff-to-patient ratios. Right now, California is the only state with a law that sets minimum staffing levels in hospitals. SOURCE: MICHIGAN RADIO
Visit http://www.michiganradio.org/post/nurses-say-they-want-minimum-staffing-levels-prevent-mistakes to view the full article online.
COMPENSATION
The influx of patients spurred by health care reform as well as today’s shortage of primary care physicians is creating enormous demands on an unprepared health care system. In the wake of nurses redefining and expanding their roles, more men are entering the profession—and earning higher salaries than their female counterparts. SOURCE: PHYSICIAN’S WEEKLY
Visit http://www.physiciansweekly.com/male-nurse-salary/ to view the full article online.
By Bob Herman The average compensation of hospital employees—including nurses, managers, service workers, and others, but not physicians—rose 0.4 percent from March 2012 to September 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In March 2012, hospital employees made $38.81 per hour on average, and according to the most recent figures from BLS, hospital employees made $38.97 per hour in September 2012. SOURCE: BECKER’S HOSPITAL REVIEW
Visit http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/hospital-employee-pay-holds-steady-at-39-per-hour-in-2012.html to view the full article online.
GENERAL HR
The U.S. Department of Labor recently released an updated version of its Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Advisor. The FMLA Advisor has been updated to reflect the expansions of FMLA protections that became effective on March 8, 2013. The Family and Medical Leave Act was amended to provide families of eligible veterans with the same job-protected FMLA leave currently available to families of military service members and allow more military families to take leave for activities that arise when a service member is deployed. The expansions also address the application of the FMLA to airline personnel and flight crews. SOURCE: THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Visit http://www.dol.gov/elaws/fmla.htm to view the full article online.
By Aimee Lucas Highly engaged employees are easy to spot. They try harder on the job and drive business results. According to Temkin Group’s 2013 Employee Engagement Benchmark Study, they are twice as likely both to work after their shift ends and to do something good for the company that is unexpected of them.
Visit http://www.naylornetwork.com/ahh-nwl/pdf/Tap_into_the_Power_of_Engaged_Employees.pdf to view the full article online.
By Laura Putre Hospitals must reach out to Gen Xers and Gen Yers—also known as Millennials—in the medical workforce, while keeping boomers on the job as long as possible. That means rethinking recruitment strategies and figuring out what today's job hunters want, offering certain incentives that appeal to current employees and others that appeal to young professionals, adjusting management techniques to handle staff from multiple generations, and providing training to make up for gaps in experience or technological know-how. SOURCE: HOSPITALS & HEALTH NETWORKS
Visit http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag/jsp/articledisplay.jsp?dcrpath=HHNMAG/Article/data/03MAR2013/0313HHN_Feature_staffingissues&domain=HHNMAG to view the full article online.
When hospitals hire more nurses with four-year degrees, patient deaths following common surgeries decrease, according to new research by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research as reported in the March issue of the policy journal Health Affairs. Less than half the nation’s nurses (45 percent) have baccalaureate degrees, according to the most recent data available (2008). SOURCE: INFECTION CONTROL TODAY
Visit http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news/2013/03/bsn-prepared-nurses-connected-to-fewer-patient-deaths.aspx to view the full article online.
PHYSICIANS
By Kevin B. O’Reilly Achieving superior clinical outcomes often depends less on physicians making the right diagnosis and recommending the correct treatment and more on their patients' willingness to take the necessary steps to maintain or improve their health. Heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes together kill more than 1 million Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it is patient choices—to give up smoking, shed pounds, exercise, and faithfully take prescribed medications—that are essential to making a meaningful dent in that deadly toll. SOURCE: AMERICAN MEDICAL NEWS
Visit http://www.amednews.com/article/20130218/profession/130219951/4/ to view the full article online.
By Sandra G. Boodman At a critical point in a complex abdominal operation, a surgeon was handed a device that didn't work because it had been loaded incorrectly by a surgical technician. Furious that she couldn't use it, the surgeon slammed it down, accidentally breaking the technician's finger. "I felt pushed beyond my limits," recalled the surgeon, who was suspended for two weeks and told to attend an anger management course for doctors. SOURCE: KAISER HEALTH NEWS/THE WASHINGTON POST
Visit http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/March/05/crackdown-on-angry-doctors.aspx to view the full article online.
By Alicia Caramenico As emphasis on delivering high-quality care increases, hospitals' patient safety success stories can offer best practices to improve care. The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, for instance, monitors progress on quality measures such as hand hygiene, central line-associated blood stream infections, and patient satisfaction, according to UCSF News. Thanks to monitoring and data collection, the medical center increased hand-hygiene compliance to about 90 percent, its highest level. SOURCE: FIERCE HEALTHCARE
Visit http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/performance-tracking-enhanced-data-help-hospitals-improve-care/2013-03-07 to view the full article online.
By David Pittman As evidence accumulates that more engaged patients have better outcomes, more resources need to be invested in getting physicians and health care systems to increase patients' involvement in decisions about their care, advocates said here. SOURCE: MEDPAGE TODAY
Visit http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/MedicalEducation/37539 to view the full article online.
By Christopher Bjorke Before being hired by Altru Health System last year, Dr. Jason Go saw Grand Forks as just another town along the interstate between Nebraska and Winnipeg. "I’ll be honest with you, I had no plans to be in North Dakota," said Go, a doctor in interventional cardiology. "I said, ‘I’ll never go back to winter weather.’" But when personal and professional interests aligned to bring him to the city, he turned to advice he had heard from other doctors about hospitality in the more empty parts of America. SOURCE: GRAND FORKS HERALD
Visit http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/258531/ to view the full article online.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP
By Marty Stempniak So your hospital is putting a bunch of physicians on the payroll? Isn't it time to find a doctor extraordinaire to lead them all and drive the push toward value-based care? Is it even in the best interest of your hospital to pull a hardworking doc away from his patients and put him in a suit and tie? SOURCE: HOSPITALS & HEALTH NETWORKS
Visit http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag/HHNDaily/HHNDailyDisplay.dhtml?id=9730008966 to view the full article online.
By Julie Bird Caring leaders make better leaders, says the new chairman of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Diana Smalley, a registered nurse and regional president of Mercy in Oklahoma City, talked about three ways to become a more caring leader during her opening remarks at the ACHE's Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago. SOURCE: FIERCE HEALTHCARE
Visit http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/new-ache-chair-caring-leaders-make-better-decisions/2013-03-12 to view the full article online.
By Michael Bakerman, M.D. There is little doubt that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is inspiring major changes in health care delivery. Perhaps the most significant is the transition from a fee-for-service reimbursement model to one that rewards cost savings and quality outcomes. Health care organizations understand that their best chance for operational success lies in physician alignment, a sentiment recently summed up by AHA Senior Vice President John Combes, M.D.: "Hospitals are recognizing that they need to partner with physicians to improve the delivery system and increase health care value to better serve patients across the continuum of care." SOURCE: HOSPITALS & HEALTH NETWORKS
Visit http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag/HHNDaily/HHNDailyDisplay.dhtml?id=3540005170 to view the full article online.
Quality is a central component of any discussion around health care and one of the key dimensions and measurements of quality care is the patient experience. However, many health care organizations struggle to become 'patient focused' and fail to score well on patient satisfaction surveys. New research from Brigham and Women's Hospital, published in the March edition of British Medical Journal Quality and Safety, offers a potential explanation—insufficient support from hospital management to improve the patient experience by engaging physicians and nurses in the process. SOURCE: BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL/SCIENCE DAILY
Visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130301123044.htm to view the full article online.
By Molly Gamble Sally Jeffcoat, president and CEO of Saint Alphonsus Health System in Boise, Idaho, discussed "six leadership imperatives that have stood the test of time" at the ACHE's 56th Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago. Jeffcoat has led four-hospital Saint Alphonsus, part of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, since it formed in 2010 when Trinity brought four of its hospitals under one umbrella. The organization includes more than 4,300 associates and a medical staff of more than 1,000. Before she was named to lead the system, Jeffcoat led 387-bed Saint Alphonsus Medical Center since 2009. Jeffcoat said she's adapted her own leadership style throughout her health care career, which exceeds 30 years. "You learn what works and what doesn't. These are the six imperatives I think are important," she said. SOURCE: BECKER’S HOSPITAL REVIEW
Visit http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/6-timeless-leadership-imperatives-from-saint-alphonsus-ceo-sally-jeffcoat.html to view the full article online.
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