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Category Archives: Health Care

Kimberly-Clark Health Care's 2011 HAI WATCHDOG Awards Recognize Champions In The Fight Against Healthcare-Associated …

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ROSWELL, Ga., June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Kimberly-Clark Health Care today announced the recipients of the second annual HAI WATCHDOG Awards, created to recognize the efforts of dedicated healthcare professionals working together to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The awards program, an initiative of the HAI WATCHDOG Community, facilitates the sharing of best practices among clinicians and recognizes four exceptional participants with an educational grant.

"This year we expanded the reach and recognition of the WATCHDOG Awards by creating independent awards programs in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and once again the response and quality of submissions exceeded our expectations," said Joanne Bauer, president, Kimberly-Clark Health Care. "The entries address a variety of issues that healthcare facilities encounter, and we hope that by sharing these proven best practices on haiwatchdog.com, healthcare providers feel empowered to share and learn from each other, andcontinue to challenge themselves to strive for and maintain the highest levels of infection control."

The 2011 WATCHDOG Award winners, judged by a panel of infection prevention healthcare professionals, demonstrated measureable results in the area of infection control and addressed a range of issues including ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The Clinician's Choice category recognizes education and awareness programs with non-measureable results and the winner was selected by online public voting of fellow healthcare professionals.

"I was thoroughly impressed with the winners this year. There was a real change in culture and attitude and that's ultimately what made the programs so successful," said Dr. William Jarvis, former Director of the Office of Extramural Research at the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases. "It is my hope that other healthcare professionals learn from these innovative HAI prevention and reduction strategies and are motivated to take action within their own facilities."

2011 Award Recipients

Panel Judged Entries

Fewer than 300 beds:

More than 300 beds:

Healthcare System:

Clinician's Choice:

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Kimberly-Clark Health Care's 2011 HAI WATCHDOG Awards Recognize Champions In The Fight Against Healthcare-Associated ...

PolitiFactNH: Obamacare is not being financed by student loan borrowers

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College loans and universal health care might not seem to be related, but U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte says there is an unusual linkage. Ayotte, a Republican, tied the two issues together last month in a May 8, 2012, email that her office sent to the press titled, “We Can Prevent a Student Loan Rate Increase Without Raising Taxes.” The message, meant to convey Ayotte’s stance on temporarily extending ...

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PolitiFactNH: Obamacare is not being financed by student loan borrowers

Nineteen Extendicare Health Centers Earn National Recognition for Continuous Quality Improvement

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MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN--(Marketwire -06/04/12)- Extendicare Health Services, Inc. announced today that 19 of its health centers are the proud recipients of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living's (AHCA/NCAL) Bronze - Commitment to Quality, National Quality Award in recognition of their strong commitment to continuous quality improvement.

The AHCA/NCAL Quality Awards - comprised of three levels, Bronze - Commitment to Quality award; a more rigorous Silver - Achievement in Quality award; and a comprehensive Gold - Excellence in Quality award - are the most prestigious recognition of quality within the long-term care profession. "Each one of the award recipients has proven its dedication to improving lives through quality care, and it is a privilege to honor them with this year's award," said Governor Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. "We congratulate these Extendicare centers on their achievement." The Bronze - Commitment to Quality award recognizes dedicated frontline caregivers, administrators, nurses and physicians, who demonstrate their commitment to quality of care in order to meet the needs for our nation's most vulnerable population.

As a Bronze award recipient, these health centers demonstrated their organization-wide commitment to a customer-focused facility mission, defined its principal customers and their expectations, and indicated ways that they are striving to meet their needs.

"The Quality Award program is an independently judged, criteria-based, award program. This year, only 399 long-term care centers nationwide received this noteworthy award and we are pleased to be counted among them. As a company, Extendicare now has 107 centers who have received this award, representing over 65% of our United States operations. We are proud of this accomplishment and thank our team members for their strong commitment to excellence," said Tim Lukenda, Chairman and CEO of Extendicare Health Services, Inc.

AHCA/NCAL's Quality Award is modeled after the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's premier award recognizing distinguished achievements. AHCA/NCAL's award is designed to support both continuous quality improvement efforts in long-term care by promoting quality awareness and education and to recognize quality achievements.

About Extendicare

Extendicare Health Services, Inc. located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Extendicare Real Estate Investment Trust, or Extendicare REIT, (TSX symbol "EXE.UN"). Extendicare REIT is a leading North American provider of long-term and short-term senior care services through its network of owned and operated health care centers. We employ 37,900 qualified and experienced individuals dedicated to helping people live better through a commitment to quality service that includes post-acute care, rehabilitative therapies and home health care services. Our 263 senior care centers in North America have capacity for approximately 28,200 residents.

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Nineteen Extendicare Health Centers Earn National Recognition for Continuous Quality Improvement

Atossa Genetics to Participate in 5th National Breast Centers of Excellence Conference in Dallas, Texas

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SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire -06/04/12)- Atossa Genetics, Inc., a privately-held health care company focused on the prevention of breast cancer through the commercialization of diagnostic tests that can detect precursors to breast cancer, and through the research, development, and ultimate commercialization of treatments for pre-cancerous breast lesions, today announced that Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., FCAP, Chairman, President & CEO of Atossa Genetics and Director of the National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health, will conduct a workshop at Active Communications International's 5th National Breast Centers of Excellence conference, June 6-8, 2012, in Dallas, Texas.

The workshop, titled "Using Unique Molecular Tests to Grow Your Breast Center of Excellence Patient Base," will take place on Friday, June 8, from 2:15-3:15 pm Central Time. Workshop attendees will learn how to:

"I am pleased to have the opportunity to conduct a workshop on molecular tests at this prestigious event," stated Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., FCAP, Chairman, President and CEO of Atossa Genetics and Director of the National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health. "Our suite of new molecular tests can provide Breast Centers of Excellence with a unique offering to help set them apart in their local markets. By partnering with a national reference laboratory for breast health, Breast Centers of Excellence can show their commitment to best practice and can set the stage for their participation with the next generation of breast cancer prevention, intraductal pharmaceutical treatment of DCIS and related pre-cancerous lesions."

About Atossa Genetics, Inc.

Atossa Genetics, Inc. is a privately held health care company based in Seattle, Washington, that provides a comprehensive set of innovative breast health evaluation products and services that provide accurate and actionable results for personalized cancer prevention and breast health. Atossa has established the National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health, a specially equipped, CLIA-certified laboratory located in Seattle that provides comprehensive test results to guide personalized breast cancer prevention and treatment solutions.

About the National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health

The National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health, a division of Atossa Genetics, Inc., is focused on developing novel, clinically relevant tests for evaluating Breast Health in all women. The National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health, located in Seattle, Washington, is the only CLIA-registered laboratory focused exclusively on breast health. The National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health provides comprehensive test results to guide personalized breast cancer prevention and treatment solutions. For additional information on the ForeCYTE Breast Health Test and the ArgusCYTE Breast Health Test, please visit http://www.NRLBH.com.

About the Breast Center of Excellence Designation

The Breast Imaging Center of Excellence (BICOE) designation is awarded to breast imaging centers that achieve excellence by seeking and earning accreditation in all of the American College of Radiology's voluntary breast-imaging accreditation programs and modules, in addition to the mandatory Mammography Accreditation Program.

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Atossa Genetics to Participate in 5th National Breast Centers of Excellence Conference in Dallas, Texas

Health Council of Canada releases annual progress report on health care renewal

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Progress Report focuses on innovative practices that are achieving results

TORONTO, June 4, 2012 /CNW/ - Today, the Health Council of Canada releases Progress Report 2012: Health care renewal in Canada, highlighting the progress achieved by governments to date in five key areas: home and community care, health human resources, telehealth, access to care in the North, and comparable health indicators since the 2003 health accord was signed.

The report finds that, overall, provinces and territories have met most of what was expected of them in these five areas. They met their commitments to expand home care coverage, to increase the supply of health care providers, to expand use of telehealth services, to improve access to care in the North and to improve public reporting.

Key findings related to five of the accord commitments include:

Although, the report finds that most provincial and territorial governments met their commitments, it also questions whether it was enough to move health care forward. The evidence suggests that since the accords contained vague commitments with few targets, there was more emphasis on putting provinces and territories on similar footing than to push them towards achieving more change and advancements in health care delivery.

"Real progress is made when comprehensive strategies with concrete targets are put in place," said Dr. Jack Kitts, Chair of the Health Council of Canada. "An improved approach to goal-setting and performance measurement in the health system will provide greater impetus to change and achieve higher levels of progress."

The report found that the accords established a series of comparable health indicators for the provinces and territories to report on to the public beginning in 2004. However, comparable reporting only lasted a few years, largely because provinces and territories began to develop reporting frameworks to address their respective planning needs. As a result, the provinces and territories have not consistently reported on progress in the same manner, particularly in a way that is comparable and useful to other governments, the health system and the public. This lack of clear, consistent and comparable information about health system performance makes it challenging for agencies such as the Health Council to provide a national picture to Canadians on progress being made in health systems across Canada.

"What we found this year is that there is more work to be done, especially on comparable indicators. But there is good news. We found a wide array of innovative practices like telehealth services for First Nations in Manitoba or a model of care initiative in Nova Scotia, said John G. Abbott, CEO of the Health Council of Canada. "If practices like these are adopted more widely, they could accelerate progress across Canada."

Progress Report 2012: Health care renewal in Canada describes overall progress in Canada highlighting innovative practices from across Canada demonstrating how this progress has been achieved. The Health Council website provides additional details on the progress being achieved by each of the federal, provincial and territorial governments on these five themes. And, for the first time, the report includes activities from Alberta which recently joined the Health Council this year.

About the Health Council of Canada Created by the 2003 First Ministers' Accord on Health Care Renewal, the Health Council of Canada is an independent national agency that reports on the progress of health care renewal. The Council provides a system-wide perspective on health care reform in Canada, and disseminates information on innovative practices and innovation across the country. The Councillors are appointed by the participating provincial and territorial governments and the Government of Canada.

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Health Council of Canada releases annual progress report on health care renewal

State Announces Intent to Award Four Medi-Cal Contracts to Health Net of California Subsidiary

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LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The California Department of Health Care Services has announced its intent to award contracts to Health Net Community Solutions, Inc. to provide Medi-Cal benefits in the Central Valley counties of Kern, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare. Health Net Community Solutions is a subsidiary of Health Net of California, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Health Net, Inc. (HNT).

Under the two-plan Medi-Cal managed care model, Health Net Community Solutions would serve as the commercial health plan in each of the four counties.

Health Net Community Solutions would be the new commercial Medi-Cal plan in San Joaquin County; it already serves beneficiaries in Kern, Stanislaus and Tulare counties.

Were delighted the state intends to award us the four contracts, said DavidFriedman, vice president of State Health Programs for Health Net of California. We are committed to collaborating with doctors and hospitals to help provide Medi-Cal beneficiaries with access to quality care.

Distinctions

About Health Net

Health Net, Inc. is a publicly traded managed care organization that delivers managed health care services through health plans and government-sponsored managed care plans. Its mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. Health Net, through its subsidiaries, provides and administers health benefits to approximately 5.6million individuals across the country through group, individual, Medicare (including the Medicare prescription drug benefit commonly referred to as Part D), Medicaid, U.S. Department of Defense, including TRICARE, and Veterans Affairs programs. Health Nets behavioral health services subsidiary, Managed Health Network, Inc., provides behavioral health, substance abuse and employee assistance programs to approximately 4.9million individuals, including Health Nets own health plan members. Health Nets subsidiaries also offer managed health care products related to prescription drugs, and offer managed health care product coordination for multi-region employers and administrative services for medical groups and self-funded benefits programs.

For more information on Health Net, Inc., please visit Health Nets website at http://www.healthnet.com.

Cautionary Statements

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State Announces Intent to Award Four Medi-Cal Contracts to Health Net of California Subsidiary

Bogged down by health care in Mass.

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Gov. Deval Patrick wants Massachusetts to crack the code on health care costs, a punchy slogan he uses when hes promoting nationally the Bay States cost-containment efforts. But transforming his ambition into policy has produced some messy sausage-making in his state Legislature.

Key stakeholders arent sure whether the springtime rush to craft a state approach to health care costs will create a national model much the way Massachusettss 2006 coverage expansion signed by Gov. Mitt Romney helped create a framework for President Barack Obamas 2010 national health law. In fact, some are wondering whether the cost-savings effort will even work in Massachusetts.

That remains to be seen. Hopefully, the final product is reasonable and we can all adjust, said Richard Aghababian, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Hospitals, doctors and insurers have ferociously lobbied to protect their industries, and lawmakers crafting the bill are feeling the effects of the tug of war.

One thing we have learned so far is that its a lot more complicated than just expanding access to health coverage, said Sen. Richard Moore, a Democrat who helped negotiate the contours of the 2006 law signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney and is now helping shape the second stage of Massachusetts reform.

Lawmakers in both the Massachusetts House and Senate say their plans could save $150 billion over the next 15 years, slowing health care cost growth to a speed that matches or even trails the states economic growth rate. To achieve this, the proposals nudge the health care industry to embrace new payment models, de-emphasizing the current fee-for-service system that rewards doctors for the volume of services they provide.

But deep fissures have developed. Unlike the Senate, for example, the House would slap a luxury tax on hospitals that command higher reimbursement rates and use the money to boost providers that are underpaid. The House bill also sets a more aggressive cost-control target and forces hospitals to negotiate individually rather than in groups to set reimbursement levels with insurers.

Patrick, an Obama campaign surrogate, has argued that solving soaring health costs in Massachusetts could vindicate the national health law. Romney, on the other hand, has taken flak from conservatives for fathering Massachusettss health care law particularly its individual mandate. And while he has vowed to repeal the federal health law, hes defended the state reform, arguing that its popular and hasnt added much to the states fiscal burden. A successful cost-control effort could lend credence to those claims.

But that doesnt solve the question of whether the effort will be successful.

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Bogged down by health care in Mass.

How ’Death Panels’ Can Prolong Life

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Illustration by Bloomberg View

By the Editors 2012-06-03T22:00:06Z

Average life expectancy is one of two statistics commonly used to compare the health-care systems of different nations. (The other is infant mortality.)

One of the puzzles about the U.S. system is that we spend far and away the most money per capita for health care, but we rank 50th in average life expectancy -- after Macau, Malta, and Turks and Caicos, among others.

We are all familiar with statistics about how much of health-care spending takes place in the last year of life, and with stories about old people who are tortured with costly treatments they dont want and which prolong dying but dont extend life in any meaningful sense. (Michael Wolffs confessionary tale about his mother in New York magazine is a vivid example.)

Certainly, ailing old people should be allowed to die in peace, if thats what they want, and not be subject to excruciatingly painful surgeries and drugs that will do nothing for them. These are more the fault of lawyers than doctors. In our experience, doctors can be all too cool and rational in their thinking about the end of life. Its fear of lawsuits (or, in a few cases, trolling for customers) that prevents doctors from behaving rationally when prescribing treatment for the old and terminally ill.

But not providing treatment to people who dont want it wont save enough money to rescue the U.S. health-care system. Nor will eliminating new and expensive pills, and other therapies, that do no good at all or are no better than existing therapies.

So what do we do about old people who, on balance, would rather get even older -- whatever that means in terms of quality of life -- than give up? This is one of the indelicate, unmentionable questions in the health-care debate.

The slope here is slippery indeed. You start by obeying the wishes of someone with at best two months to live, who wants to trade them in for one month with no pain and no intrusive treatments. Next youre assuming that this is what someone who had expressed no preference (and is now demented or sedated) would have wanted. Then you are subtly, or not so subtly, pressuring her, or her children, to get with the program. Or you are even enacting regulations that deny Medicare reimbursement for treatments that dont meet some criterion of benefit.

In short, all the Republican talk during the health-care- reform debate about death panels was melodramatic and unfair, but not ridiculous. One way or another, holding down health-care costs will require policies that deny treatment to people who want it. And want it because it will extend their lives.

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How ’Death Panels’ Can Prolong Life

Health care: June 4

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East Tennessee Medical Group's Diagnostics Department has received accreditation from the Intersocietal Accreditation for Computed Tomography.

Gaye Fortner has been promoted to CEO of Healthcare 21 Business Coalition. She was previously senior vice president and chief operating officer.

Kevin Miller has been promoted to vice president of supply chain management for Covenant Health, succeeding Gaye Jolly, who has taken the position of chief administrative officer at Roane Medical Center. Miller was previously director of materials management at Parkwest Medical Center.

Dr. John Osborn has been named president of the Tennessee Dental Association. He practices in Maynardville.

Select Specialty Hospital has earned Quality Respiratory Care Recognition from the American Association for Respiratory Care.

Jennifer Speigner has joined Homewood Residence Deane Hill as executive director. She was previously executive director of Galleria Woods in Bimingham, Ala.

Tony Spezia has been named one of the 200 Non-Profit Hospital, Health System CEOs to Know by Becker's Hospital Review. He is president and CEO of Covenant Health.

Dr. Bhavana Vora has joined Summit Medical Group and will practice family medicine in Harriman. She previously practiced at Ambulatory Care Center of Wartburg.

The University of Tennessee Medical Center announces its 2012 Nurse Excellence Award winners: Donna Coffey, Rachel Cooley, Jeanne Downing, Joan Fedrigon, Diane Harper, Connie Harrill, Jami Johnson, Clay Kyle, Carrie Linebaugh, Anthony Parton, Randi Ray, Tammy Seay, Jennifer Sexton, Jessica Whaley, Kristy Williams and Andrea Young.

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Health care: June 4


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