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September 10, 2007 |
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IN THIS ISSUE
Editor's Column: Medicare Will Not Pay-What Does That Mean To
Us?
WSU SOM
Docs In The News
HFHS Finishes
Wing; Lands School Health Grant
Make A Difference
Massachusetts Expert To Talk Universal Coverage
Flu Pandemic
No Longer An 'If'
Continuing Education |
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Click Here To Contact Us
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Editor's Column: Medicare Will Not Pay-What Does
That Mean To Us?
By JOSEPH
WEISS, MD
The big buzz in medical circles is the announcement by CMS (Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services), that beginning on October 1,
2008, Medicare will no longer pay hospitals for the cost of
“preventable errors.”
Conditions coming under the category of “preventable”
include bed sores, falls and catheter-related infections of urinary
or intravascular origins. Other hospital problems Medicare considers
preventable are transfusion reactions and sponges or other objects
left in a patient at the time of surgery.
Analysts of medical costs predict, quite reasonably, that 1)
hospital costs will increase as hospitals spend more to establish
whether urinary tract infections or septicemia are present in a
patient at the time of admission; and 2) private insurers will
initiate the same CMS regulations as ways of saving “medical loss.”
We will continue to receive reimbursement as usual, for the
evaluation, management, and procedures we undertake in treating
these preventable errors. However, our practices will not be the
same.
We will find hospitals, in preparation for the new CMS
rules, imposing a series of requirements on all admissions such as a
catheterized urine to establish if a urinary tract infection is
present, or, blood cultures x 3 will be required of all admissions
to confirm the absence of a septicemia. More stringent rules on
patient activity in hospital and on OR procedures are also likely as
hospital administrators lean toward extreme lengths to avoid
Medicare defined preventable errors with its resulting loss of
income.
We must continue to dialogue with CMS on the nature of
“preventable errors.” To decrease the number is worthwhile; to
demand perfection is punitive.
Finally, we should be aware that Medicare, in not paying
hospitals for preventable errors, may some day extend this policy to
us as well.*
Going to the CMS website and reading their commentary is
instructive.
A reader can sense that the determination by CMS to implement these
no-reimbursement policies was in place before making requests for
comments and critiques. The period set up for dialogue was a
formality, not an opportunity to alter ideas.
Accommodation is our responsibility. The new hospital rules
will cost us dearly even if our reimbursements remain unchanged.
*see New York Times, Editorials A22, August 21 2007, Not
Paying for Medical Errors
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WSU SOM Docs
In The News
Dr. Casey appointed co-chair of Trigeminal Neuralgia Association
The WSU Department of Neurological Surgery recently announced that
Dr. Kenneth Casey,
associate professor and chief of neurotrauma at Detroit Receiving
Hospital and WCMSSM member, recently was appointed co-chairman of
the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association. Trigeminal neuralgia, also
called
tic douloureux,
is a chronic facial pain condition that is probably caused by a
blood vessel pressing on the trigeminal nerve in the brain as it
exits the brainstem.
Dr. Rossi To Moderate Cardiovascular Research Collaborative
WCMSSM member and WSU School of Medicine Professor Noreen Rossi, MD,
will moderate a seminar hosted by the medical school’s Office of
Graduate Programs in partnership with the Henry Ford Health System.
The event the first in a series of seminars on Friday, Sept. 7, to
foster collaboration among investigators from both institutions to
further research and stimulate training of a new cadre of inter- and
multi-disciplinary researchers across the cardiovascular field.
Each
seminar will be presented by two researchers: a Moderator who
will introduce the topic, followed by the featured Speaker who
will present his/her specific research and discuss potential
collaboration and training opportunities in the area. The seminars
will be held from 3:00-4:00 PM on the first Friday of the month.
The first seminar will be held on Friday, September 7 at 3:00 PM
in 2268 Scott Hall.
Seminar Theme:
Current Research on Hypertension
Speaker:
Oscar A. Carretero, MD, Division Head, Hypertension and Vascular
Research, Henry Ford Hospital
Title:
"Hypertension: Inflammation and Target Organ Damage"
Moderator:
Noreen F. Rossi, MD, FACP, Professor, Department of Internal
Medicine, and John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Wayne State
University
Please click here for seminar notice and further details.
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HFHS Finishes Wing; Lands School Health Grant
The last steel beam inscribed with the names of hundreds of Henry
Ford Hospital employees will be hoisted in place to commemorate the
completion of the steel structure of a two-story building addition
on the Henry Ford II (West) Pavilion.
Slated to open in Spring 2009, the $35 million addition will include
80 private patient rooms including 20 intensive care unit beds
(ICU), bringing the total number of ICU beds at Henry Ford to 162 –
the largest ICU in Detroit.
“This expansion could not come at a better time as it will allow for
additional private rooms for our patients and enhance the
environment for our physicians, nurses, clinical professionals and
support staff to provide the highest quality of care,” says Nancy
Schlichting, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health System.
The hoisting of the last steel beam, or topping off, is a tradition
among steel workers at construction sites. An American flag and
evergreen tree also will be attached to the beam, symbolizing the
building addition is made in America and is built to last.
The building addition is part of a five-year, $300 million expansion
and renovation at the hospital campus. Nearly $90 million has been
spent in the last two years, including the expansion and renovation
of the Emergency Department last year.
“The addition of these two floors to the pavilion is the largest
expansion project we have undertaken since the pavilion opened in
1998,” says Anthony Armada, president and CEO of Henry Ford Hospital
and Health Network.
Demand for services downtown has significantly increased in recent
years and is anticipated to grow faster over the next decade. From
2003 to 2005, Henry Ford Hospital had the highest admission growth
in southeast Michigan, with an increase of 13.4 percent.
HFHS Gets $250,000 Toward School Health Center
Henry Ford Health System has received a $250,000 grant from The
Skillman Foundation to open a school-based health center in
Southwestern High School this fall.
Southwestern is the 11th site in which Henry Ford has a health
center under its widely-successful School-Based and Community Health
Program. It will offer a full-range of health services to nearly 900
enrolled students as well as to their siblings and community
members. The clinic works with most insurance plans and services are
free to uninsured students.
“Henry Ford’s school-based and school-linked health centers provide
primary and preventive care for the area’s neediest youth, many of
whom neither see a physician regularly, nor receive needed treatment
for episodic or chronic problems,“ says Kathleen Conway, director
for Henry Ford’s program and administrator for its Pediatrics
Department.
Henry Ford operates more school-based health centers than any other
metro Detroit health care organization. The centers receive 15,000
patient visits annually. Henry Ford operates school-based health
centers in nine Detroit schools and one Warren school, and runs a
community health center at YouthVille-Detroit.
Like other centers, Southwestern will provide basic primary and
preventive care in a youth-friendly setting under the care of a
physician, nurse practitioner and medical assistant. Services will
include diagnosis and treatment of minor injuries and illnesses and
management of chronic illnesses, such as asthma or diabetes.
Other services to be provided are sports physicals; dental, vision
and hearing screening; health education; pregnancy testing and
testing, diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases;
individual mental health services and referrals; physical/sexual
abuse counseling and referral; and group and family education and
counseling.
According to a Henry Ford study, Detroit schools with health centers
recorded a 23 percent improvement on standardized test scores when
measured against schools without health centers. One Detroit school
that participated in a pregnancy prevention program saw its teen
pregnancy rate decline 62 percent.
“Studies show that there are multiple connections between learning
and health,” says Conway. “Attendance, test scores and grade point
averages have improved when a school-based health center is
present.”
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Make A Difference
Every year, as
part of the national “Doctors & Their Families Make a Difference”
project, MSMS recognizes Michigan physicians who have volunteered in
their community, in the state, or around the world. Their stories
will be featured in the October/November issue of Michigan
Medicine magazine. (Organized by the MSMS Foundation, the Make a
Difference effort also consists of a drive to collect personal care
items for crisis shelters. Make a Difference Day will take place on
Saturday, October 27.) If you or a physician you know deserves
special recognition for his or her volunteer efforts, please submit
a recognition form at
www.msms.org/makeadifference by September 20. For more
information, contact Brenda Denbow at (517) 336-5745 or
bdenbow@msms.org.
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Massachusetts Expert To Talk Universal Coverage
MSMS invites physicians, their spouses, medical students, medical
group managers, and other health care professionals to attend the
annual
MSMS Capitol Check-Up on
Wednesday, September 19, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., at the Radisson
Hotel in Lansing. The event will provide
participants with up-to-the-minute information about the current
state of affairs in the Capitol, the latest legislation being
considered, and what impact current and future legislation could
have on the medical profession. Featured speaker
Jack Evjy,
MD, will discuss the struggles faced by
Massachusetts on its road to pioneering universal health care
access. For more information or to register, visit
www.msms.org or contact
Angie Kemppainen at 517-336-5724 or
akemppainen@msms.org.
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Flu Pandemic No Longer An 'If'
In 1918 an influenza pandemic swept around the world, killing an
estimated 30 to 50 million people. Now health experts predict that
mankind faces the probability of another, perhaps equally or more
serious, pandemic of global proportions. The most likely pandemic
threat is a highly pathogenic avian H5N1 virus, commonly known as
bird flu, now progressing slowly through Asia and other countries.
In the U.S., an influenza pandemic could have a devastating impact
on businesses, schools, public services and the health care system.
Steps can be taken now to benefit the entire health care system and
prepare the medical and overall community for health- and
disaster-related challenges.
Hear from national and regional experts at a conference at Wayne
State University School of Medicine. Areas to be explored include
the characteristics of pandemic influenza, its medical implications
and possible ways to minimize its effect on business, the economy
and everyday life. Conference information appears below.
The Coming Pandemic
Preparing For a Worldwide Outbreak of Influenza
Friday October 5 – 8 a.m.-Noon
Wayne
State University
Gordon H. Scott Hall of Basic Medical Science
For more information, visit:
www.pandemic.wayne.edu
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Continuing Education
WSU School of
Medicine CME
4th
Annual Search For Treatment In Early Psychoses
(STEP) Symposium
October 10, 2007
9 a.m. to 4:45
p.m.
Novi Sheraton
Hotel
For more
information visit:
www.med.wayne.edu/psychiatry/cme
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