May / June 2008
NEWS ITEMS FROM SOURCES WORLDWIDE
Pulse
ANA and AORN Agree to
Affiliate Partnership
The American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Association of perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) are pleased to announce a new agreement that will provide all AORN members with individual affiliate, non-voting status membership to ANA, effective July 1, 2008.
"As individual affiliate members of ANA, our members will have the chance to unite with registered nurses across specialties and advocate for common nursing issues that impact legislation at the local, state and national level. By coming together we have greater influence on the issues that matter most to the nursing community," said AORN President Mary Jo Steiert, RN, BSN, CNOR.
"It's essential that ANA continue its long tradition of representing the interests of all nurses, including perioperative nurses," said ANA President Rebecca M. Patton, RN, MSN, CNOR. "America's 2.9 million registered nurses make up the largest group of health care professionals, and this new partnership ensures that ANA will have a stronger voice on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures as we advocate for much needed reform in nursing and in health care." Patton announced the ANA affiliate membership agreement at AORN's recent 55th annual Congress conference.
"This is a critical time for the nursing community, and we recognize the need to foster close ties with our ANA partners. AORN is committed to strengthening the nursing community, but to make an impact we need to work together across specialties. An affiliation with ANA will not only benefit the perioperative community, but all nursing specialties as a whole," said AORN Executive Director Linda Groah, RN, MSN, CNOR, FAAN.
AORN will continue to pursue direct positions on its legislative priorities," continued Groah. "However, we also feel it is important to support the efforts of ANA initiatives, including safe staffing and workplace safety, because these are important issues that impact all nurses, including perioperative nurses."
"We're nurses first. Standing together as nurses, with a united presence, we are committed to improving patient safety in all settings. We believe this is the right time for what we know will be a powerful collaboration. ANA looks forward to working with AORN's dedicated perioperative nurses to advance nursing's agenda and to gain the momentum of the greater good on behalf of our profession and the public we serve," remarked ANA CEO Linda J. Stierle, MSN, RN, CNAA, BC.
AMA Supports Coalition's Call for Transparency and Accurate Reporting
The American Medical Association applauds efforts by the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project to raise the bar on the reliability and validity of information that health insurers provide to patients.
The Patient Charter drafted by the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project (http://healthcaredisclosure.org) requires health insurers to be more transparent and balanced when providing information to patients. These crucial principles offer hope that patients will be able to trust the information to make informed health care choices. Safeguards must ensure that physician rating information does not result in reduced access to care or disrupt patients' longstanding relationships with their physicians.
Efforts by health insurers to rate physicians must not be driven solely by costs and economics. The primary goal of these programs must be to promote quality care using meaningful measures. The AMA has long been involved in these efforts through the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement and National Quality Forum.
Instead of tiered and narrow networks, the AMA believes that providing valid data to physicians and patients will better improve the quality and efficiency of care.
The work of the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project reinforces the need to protect access to care and the patient-physician relationship by requiring insurers to open their physician rating programs for careful evaluation to assess accuracy, integrity and fairness.
Although additional work must be done to accurately and fairly evaluate the individual work of physicians, the AMA sees the Patient Charter as an important step in the right direction and we offer our assistance in ensuring its criteria are appropriate and measurable.
Statement by Nancy Nielsen, MD, AMA President Elect.
New Web Site Helps Patients
Shop for Hospital Care
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has posted new survey information at the Hospital Compare consumer web site offering consumers more insight about the hospitals in their communities.
In addition to adding the new information from Medicare patients about their hospital stays, CMS is adding information about the number of certain elective hospital procedures provided to those patients and what Medicare pays for those services. For the first time, consumers have the three critical elements — quality information, patient satisfaction survey information, and pricing information for specific procedures — they need to make effective decisions about the quality and value of the health care available to them through local hospitals.
"By enhancing these resources, Medicare is strengthening its commitment to use the transparency of quality information to help give consumers more choice about the quality of their health care and how they may be able to lower their health care costs," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "To achieve goals around providing consumers with the information necessary, and the incentive, to choose hospitals based on quality and value, HHS is continuing work with partners such as the Hospital Quality Alliance to drive quality up and the cost down."
The Hospital Compare web site currently provides information on 26 quality measures, which include process of care and outcome measures. Process of care measures report how well a hospital provides care, and outcome measures reflect the results of the care that beneficiaries received while in the hospital. With the addition of the 10 new patient experience-of-care topics, consumers will now be able to get a better picture of the quality of care delivered at their local hospitals.
The patient experience-of-care information on Hospital Compare is part of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospital Survey, know as HCAHPS. HCAHPS is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patient perspectives on care they experience during a hospital stay. More than 2,500 hospitals around the country have been collecting information from a random sample of discharged patients who were treated for a wide range of conditions between October 2006 and June 2007. These patients were asked about their experiences of care (including topics such as responsiveness of hospital staff and pain management) and how they rate the hospital overall. CMS worked with the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and with support from members of the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) to develop the HCAHPS survey.
The new pricing and volume information at Hospital Compare looks at the acute care hospital payments Medicare made for treatment of beneficiaries with certain illnesses from October 2005 through September 2006. This information reflects what Medicare pays the hospital for these services, not what beneficiaries pay. CMS has posted this information for the public to see the cost to Medicare of treating beneficiaries with certain illnesses in their community. A better understanding of the cost of care leads to more informed decision making, one more way beneficiaries can help improve their health and support the longer term financial health of Medicare.
This summer, CMS will add an additional outcome mortality measure for pneumonia, which will accompany the mortality measures for heart attack and heart failure that are currently posted on the Hospital Compare Web site. CMS will also provide more information in the display of the mortality measures with the ability to focus on the mortality measure rates, interval estimates, and number of cases. Also, two pediatric asthma measures that were collected by The Joint Commission, a national accrediting organization, will now be posted on the Hospital Compare Web site.
To access the Hospital Compare web site, please visit: www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. Other provider compare web sites are available through www.medicare.gov or directly at www.medicare.gov/NHCompare for nursing home information, www.medicare.gov/HHCompare for information about home health agencies, and www.medicare.gov/Dialysis for information about End Stage Renal Disease facilities. CMS also provides comparative resources about Medicare Advantage (www.medicare.gov/MPPF) and Medicare prescription drug plans (www.medicare.gov/MPDPF).
Quantros to Sponsor MITSS HOPE Award
MITSS (Medically Induced Trauma Support Services) is pleased to announce that Quantros will be sponsoring the Inaugural MITSS HOPE Award to be presented at the MITSS Annual Dinner on Thursday, November 6, 2008, at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel. This award is for people (medical and non-medical individuals, teams, departments, healthcare institutions, long-term care facilities, community health centers, etc.) who exemplify the mission of MITSS — Supporting Healing and Restoring Hope to those patients, families, and clinicians affected by adverse medical events. The recipient will demonstrate this through leadership, promoting awareness, education, advocacy, support, and action in their healthcare community. As part of its sponsorship, Quantros will provide the $5,000 cash award that will be presented to the deserving winner.
Quantros, a leading provider of software solutions and services for improving patient safety, is led by Sanjaya Kumar, MD. In addition to his CEO and CMO duties at Quantros, he has also written a book, Fatal Care — Surviving the U.S. Healthcare System, that is scheduled for release on April 10, 2008. The book features 11 stories of people adversely affected by preventable medical errors. In addition, it offers advice for patients and families on ways to protect themselves from these types of events.
"I am honored that Quantros has the opportunity to sponsor and support the Inaugural MITSS Hope Award," said Dr. Sanjaya Kumar, CEO and CMO of Quantros. "As the healthcare community continues to band together to dramatically reduce the presence of preventable medical errors, this award will recognize a true humanitarian who goes above and beyond to help and care for those impacted by these tragic circumstances. I both applaud and endorse these values as does our entire company."
"We truly appreciate the support Quantros is providing as a sponsor of the MITSS Hope Award," reflected Linda Kenney, MITSS president and executive director. "This award will be a testament to the ongoing commitment of everyone working within our healthcare system to improve patient safety."
Applications for the HOPE Award are available on the MITSS web site at www.mitss.org. If you would like further information, contact Winnie Tobin at 617-232-0090 or e-mail wtobin@mitss.org.
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