Dear Healthcare Intelligence Network Client,
President Obama's declaration of H1N1 as a national emergency late last week allows healthcare systems to quickly implement disaster plans if necessary. As health officials worldwide strive to separate H1N1 hype from reality, hospitals, governments, businesses and schools are bracing for swine flu fallout. England's CMO reported that H1N1 cases doubled last week to 53,000 from 27,000 the previous week, during the same period when thousands of U.S. citizens queued up for a shot at a swine or seasonal flu vaccine. A Boston high school is closed through tomorrow due to high numbers of sick students. (The school Web site recommends that "students NOT co-mingle with each other" during this period.) Citing the vaccine shortage, New York last week backed away from mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers, who had earlier protested that the mandate was a violation of civil rights and put them at risk of serious illness and even death.
In a featured story this week, nearly all ER docs who responded to an American College of Emergency Physicians survey are worried that their ERs won't be able to handle an influx of additional flu patients.
While flu vaccines may be in short supply, H1N1 and seasonal flu information and resources are not:
- Weekly influenza surveillance report at CDC's flueview.
- H1N1-specific data from the CDC.
- Flu shot locator at flu.gov.
- Patient self-assessment tools from the American Medical Association at AMAfluhelp.org. Cool feature: patients can share data with providers or family members so others can monitor progress remotely and even help determine if someone should seek medical attention.
Your colleague in the business of healthcare,
Patricia Donovan
Editor, Healthcare Business Weekly Update
Please send comments, questions and replies to pdonovan@hin.com.
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Jessica Papay, jpapay@hin.com
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October 26, 2009
Vol. XI, No. 40
Sponsored by:
Healthcare Trends and Forecasts in 2010 — Marketplace and Health Reform Drivers
This week's industry news:
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Healthcare Trends in 2010
This week's industry news
1.) 3 Pillars for a Medication Adherence Strategy
Connie Commander, past president of the Case Management Society of America and president of Commander’s Premier Consulting Corporation, suggests guidelines to improve patient motivation for medication adherence.
Case management adherence guidelines from the Case Management Society of America (CMSA®) use validated tools to improve adherence. We’ve gotten many variations; some are disease-specific. This tool
has concepts presented by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Get the full story.
>>Return to this week's industry news
2.) Retooling Care Transitions to Reduce Hospitalizations in Medicare Patients
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This is an essential resource for healthcare organizations wishing to evaluate their care transition efforts against best practices in the industry. This 40-page resource delivers current trends in care transition programs
as well as advice and guidance from industry thought leaders on key elements of care transition programs — from enhancements to the hospital discharge process to medication reconciliation ideas to better
utilization of home visits during care transitions.
Learn more about this resource.
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3.) Most Emergency Physicians Worry about ER's Ability To Care For Flu Patients
As the nation begins what could become a widespread H1N1 flu outbreak, a new poll by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) finds nearly 90 percent of more than 1,000 emergency physicians
responding to a poll expressed concerns about their ED’s ability to care for additional patients.
Get the full story.
>>Return to this week's industry news
4.) Pandemic Influenza: Preparedness in the Healthcare Facility
This program focuses on preparedness in the event of an influenza pandemic. It gives an overview of the definition of a pandemic as well as how the influenza virus mutates to become a pandemic virus. It also goes over
some of the recommended preparedness measures so healthcare staff will be ready to assist wherever possible. Special emphasis is given to CDC’s “Cough Etiquette” or respiratory hygiene program, to healthcare
workers’ getting their regular flu season immunizations and to the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE). This program has been written so that it is appropriate for staff in all departments, although the
emphasis is on the clinical caregiver.
Learn more about this resource.
>>Return to this week's industry news
5.) Healthcare Business White Paper: Improving Patient Care with Identity and Access Management
After evaluating proposals from several leading vendors, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City selected RSA ClearTrust® Web access management software as the central component of its identity and
access management strategy. The RSA Security solution provides administrators with fine-grained capabilities for managing users’ access to mission-critical applications and sensitive information, based on an
individual’s role and unique user profile.
Download this complimentary white paper.
>>Return to this week's industry news
6.) Social Media Influences Adolescent Behavior
Parents have long believed — and research bears out — that teenagers are more apt to pursue risky behavior if they believe “everybody's doing it.” Now, in a first-of-its-kind study, a University of Wisconsin
(UW)-Madison research team found that young adolescents (those under 16 years old) believe depictions of underage drinking on social networking sites, such as MySpace or Facebook, are real.
Get the full story.
>>Return to this week's industry news
7.) Health Coaching IT Tools: Dashboard for Driving Coaching Sessions Toward Behavior Change
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In this special report, two innovators in health coaching run through the ideal roster of features and functionality for a health coaching IT platform — from coaching support tools to tips on integrating with other systems.
Learn more about this resource.
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8.) Updated Rules Improve Accuracy of Nursing Home Payments
Federal Medicare payments to the nation’s nursing homes will more accurately match the different levels of care that elderly patients require under rule changes that have just been announced for implementation in 2010.
Get the full story.
>>Return to this week's industry news
9.) Medical Home Reimbursement ABCs: Funding Care Delivery through ACOs, Bundled Payments and Concrete Contracts
This resource profiles three healthcare organizations that are redefining healthcare reimbursement with their pilots of new payment models and contracting strategies.
Learn more about this resource.
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10.) HHS Releases New Tips to Prevent Medical Identity Theft and Medicare Fraud
HHS has released new tips and information to help seniors and Medicare beneficiaries protect themselves against medical identity theft and Medicare fraud. The new tips and a printable brochure include practical
steps to help “deter, detect and defend” against medical identity theft.
Get the full story.
>>Return to this week's industry news
11.) New Opportunities and Approaches for Patient De-Identification in Healthcare
This 90-minute seminar can help healthcare organizations understand and take advantage of new opportunities in de-identification. It explains new approaches to de-identifying records for research, public health
activities, EMRs and healthcare administration, including free open-source software. Participants will be briefed on regulatory and legal developments governing data de-identification, new methods for record linkage
after de-identification, how data de-identification reduces compliance problems and more.
Learn more about this resource.
>>Return to this week's industry news
12.) HealthSounds Podcast: Care Model for Comorbidities
Differentiating between the patient-centered model of care and the comorbidity-focused Guided Care Model, Dr. Chad Boult, professor of public health, medicine & nursing and director of the Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, describes nurses' response to the Guided Care Model. He also offers an advance look at the training, information and Web-based support that his organization will deliver in 2009 to selected medical practices hoping to transform themselves into medical homes and enhance care for Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.
Listen to this podcast.
>>Return to this week's industry news
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