Tag: quality

PSO Annual Meeting to Focus on Well-being and Workplace Violence

Member News
PSO

The MHA Keystone Center Patient Safety Organization (PSO) Annual Meeting brings together national safety and clinical experts each year to discuss hot topics in healthcare. It will be held virtually from 9 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. March 9.

During the past several years, there has been an increasing prevalence of workplace violence in healthcare, and COVID-19 has contributed to violent behavior. That is why a key focus for the 2022 meeting is workplace violence and well-being.

Ken Smith, CHSP, CIE, CHCM, vice president at Healthcare Safety Services, will assist hospitals and health systems in complying with The Joint Commission’s new standards on workplace violence that took effect in January. Additionally, he will identify prevention strategies and action plans to assist health systems and hospitals with increasing workplace violence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bryan Sexton, PhD, director of the Duke Center for Healthcare Safety and Quality, will outline the WELL-B webinar series that will begin March 29, demonstrating the efficacy of bite-sized interventions to sustain improvements in healthcare worker well-being.

Additional presentations will focus on anticoagulation-related adverse medication events and the intersection of health equity and safety.

Registration is free and available to MHA Keystone Center PSO members. Continuing education opportunities will be offered. Members with questions may contact the MHA Keystone Center PSO.

Proposal Would Delay Quality Reporting for Long-term Care, Inpatient Rehab Facilities

Member News

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently included proposals related to the quality reporting programs for long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) and inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) in its proposed rule to update the Medicare fee-for-service prospective payment system for home health agencies (see related article). LTCHs and IRFs were initially scheduled to begin reporting two new quality measures Oct. 1, 2020, including Transfer of Health Information to the Provider and Transfer of Health Information to the Patient, as well as several standardized patient assessment data elements (SPADES).

Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the CMS declined to release updated versions of the patient assessment tools necessary for reporting this information and delayed the compliance date for reporting these items until Oct. 1 of the year that is at least one full fiscal year after the end of the COVID-19 PHE. The CMS proposes to require reporting of these measures and SPADES beginning Oct. 1, 2022, since COVID-19 cases and deaths have declined. The MHA encourages LTCHs and IRFs to submit comments to the CMS regarding this provision by Aug. 27. Members with questions should contact Vickie Kunz at the MHA.

“Ask the Question: Did They Serve” Initiative Supports Health Equity

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The MHA and the MHA Keystone Center have long been committed to addressing health disparities, a foundational concept that shapes the organizations’ quality improvement and safety efforts.

One effort in ensuring equitable outcomes for all has been supporting hospitals to address health disparities through consistent collection of accurate demographic data, such as race, ethnicity and language, in addition to disability and veteran status. By creating a standardized process for collecting this information, health systems can take strides to ensure all patients can reach optimal treatment outcomes.

A simple, yet critical, action healthcare organizations can take to improve patient demographic collection is implementing a screening question to identify service members and veterans. This ensures they get connected with appropriate and important resources available to them.

The most effective way to accurately identify patients’ military service is to ask the question, “have you or a member of your household served in the military?” It is part of the “Ask the Question: Did They Serve” initiative championed by the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA) in collaboration with the Veterans Health Administration and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to prevent suicide among service members, veterans and their families.

Using “have you served?” instead of “are you a veteran?” allows those who may not consider themselves a veteran or are uncomfortable identifying as such to answer yes, ensuring they receive access to services and support they earned.

The MVAA will connect service members, veterans and their families to critical benefits and programs including healthcare and mental health, education and employment, legal aid and other resources. All services are free and confidential and can be accessed by calling (800) 642-4838 (1-800-MICH-VET).

This simple question is a critical screening tool for the medical community and may provide an opportunity for a referral to be made to benefits veterans have earned. Flyers are available that healthcare providers can distribute to these patients.

The MHA Health Disparities webpage offers information about data collection. Members with questions may contact the MVAA.