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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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