Announcement

President's Report
by: Rod Betit (August 04, 2006)

Summary: Alaskas New Regional Health Information Organization Moving Forward -- Dont Miss Out on Having Input Into its Design!! The recently formed Alaska RHIO is looking for broad input into the design of an Alaska-wide electronic health information system

Full Story: Alaska’s New Regional Health Information Organization Moving Forward -- Don’t Miss Out on Having Input Into its Design!! In preparation for development of an Alaska statewide electronic health information exchange system, recently formed Alaska RHIO is looking for broad input into the design of an Alaska-wide electronic health information system. Input is particularly sought from four areas: IT, Medical Records, Administration and Compliance/Quality. Input sessions are being offered at the following locations and dates: o Fairbanks, August 28, 2006 – Fairbanks Memorial Hospital o Anchorage-Rural, September 11, 2006- pending o Anchorage - Urban, September 12, 2006 - pending o Juneau, September 18, 2006 – Centennial Hall o Funding is available to pay some travel expenses. If you or your key staff can attend one of these sessions please register right away by contacting Linda Boochever at (907) 337-6218 or at lbooch@gci.net to confirm your attendance and to request travel assistance if needed. ________________________________________ Update on ASHNHA’s Efforts to Extend Nursing Home Approvals to 12 Months A formal request was submitted on August 1, 2006 to the Office of the Attorney General by Preston, Gates & Ellis, ASHNHA’s legal counsel, requesting “that long-term care facilities not be obligated to submit reauthorization requests more often than once a year. This request follows a series of meetings between ASHNHA, DHSS, the AG’s Office and ASHNHA legal counsel. The basis for the request is that more frequent reauthorization requests is redundant of the information already available to the Department in the Minimum Data Set forms submitted by all nursing homes for each patient on a regular basis. The ASHNHA request contains detailed description and flow charting of how the MDS process now works to further explain the basis for our request. The next step is for the Alaska AG’s Office to discuss the proposal with Department officials. We will keep you posted on further developments. ________________________________________ 2006 Annual Preparedness Conference in Homer The 5th Annual Hospital Preparedness Conference will be held in Homer on September 11-12, 2006. This year’s conference will focus on best practices in hospital’s emergency management. This year’s conference will feature lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, Hospital Evacuation and Exercise Design. Travel reimbursement funds are available. For information on this conference, contact Katy Branch at katy@ashnha.com. ________________________________________ HHCS 2006 - 2007 National Hospital Salary & Benefits Report is now Available for Purchase The 2006-2007 Hospital Salary & Benefits Report is now available. Published by Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS), the Report had 374 participants and covers salary and bonuses for 145 hospital positions. A press release detailing CEO salary increases for 2006 is attached. The cost is $350. In conjunction with the Report, you can also purchase regional or national data in Excel. To order go to www.hhcsinc.com, or by call HCS at (201) 405-0075. ________________________________________ ASHNHA’s Amicus Brief in Brown v. L.D.G. helps secure ruling in important non-economic damages case In an earlier Alaska Supreme Court Decision (Evans 2002), the court split 2-2 on the constitutionality of non-economic caps in general. Further, the two justices in favor of caps said there might be cases where, as applied, the caps were unconstitutional. One very specific area of vulnerability is caps in death cases where all the survivors have to share the cap. Another is where the injured party has a spouse and kids, all of whom must share their consortium claims with the injured party's pain and suffering all under one cap. Brown v. L.D.G. is the first case to address multiple persons who must share one cap. It was important to win this decision at the lower Superior court level. It was especially important to win with this judge who is particularly well respected. Each time we are able to uphold the non-economic cap it bodes better for the eventual direct challenge of the new medical non-economic damages limits passed in the 2005 Alaska Legislative Session. Congratulations to Roger F. Holmes for his brilliant writing of the amicus brief in this case on behalf of ASHNHA and our partners in the Alaskans for Access to Health Care company. If you are interested in a complete copy of this decision please let Rod Betit know at rbetit@ashnha.com ________________________________________ Upcoming ASHNHA Meetings: • ASHNHA 2006 Annual Meeting – to be held in conjunction with education sessions August 28 through August 31, 2006 in Sitka. The ASHNHA meeting will take place on August 30 & 31. The Shee Atika Totem Square Inn has no hotel rooms left in ASHNHA’s hotel block. ASHNHA has reserved several backup rooms at another hotel so call ASHNHA in Juneau at 586-1790 and we will help connect you with housing in Sitka. If there are other meetings you would like posted please let Rod know at rbetit@ashnha.com

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