This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

What’s happening: This month, the Collaborative Healthcare Patient Safety Organization (CHPSO) is hosting three separate webinars that address patient safety, health care professional suicide, and maternal sepsis.  

What else to know: Each webinar is designed to equip health care professionals with the latest research, practical solutions, and tools for improving patient outcomes and supporting clinician well-being — and CHA/CHPSO members who attend may earn continuing education credits with the California Board of Registered Nursing. 

(more…)

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

In communities throughout our state, Californians instinctively know one thing: Their local hospital is part of the fabric of their lives. 

The daily miracles that hospitals perform — lifesaving emergency surgeries, cancer care, premature baby deliveries, and more — are what many are reminded of when they think of their local hospital. But there’s so much more. 

Hospitals also provide a broad range of critical health, social, and other programs that advance the health and well-being of individuals and communities. These programs, known as community benefits, strengthen the people and places hospitals serve well beyond their four walls. 

Last month, a new analysis by international accounting firm EY (Ernst and Young) showed that nonprofit hospitals and health systems delivered $10 in benefits to their communities for every dollar’s worth of federal tax exemption in 2020, the most recent year for which comprehensive data are available. 

This underscores the commitment hospitals have to their communities. Nationally in 2020, the estimated federal tax revenue forgone due to the tax-exempt status of nonprofit hospitals was $13.2 billion, while the benefits that tax-exempt hospitals provided to their communities was estimated to be $129 billion — almost 10 times greater than the value of the tax revenue.  

Here in California, according to Community Benefit Insight, hospitals provided nearly $9 billion in community benefits in 2021, the most recent year for which data are available.  

These benefits go directly to support the most vulnerable Californians, including financial assistance for patients in need, charity care, services for Medi-Cal patients that are otherwise unreimbursed, housing support, food programs, vaccination clinics, and much more. 

Truly, the stuff that makes a community’s fabric all that much stronger. 

Looking ahead, it’s vital that we not only recognize and appreciate this outsized commitment on the part of hospitals to keep their communities strong but also protect their ability to continue to do so. 

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

What’s happening: CHA has issued a members-only summary of the Mental Health Parity Final Rule that aims to improve access to mental health services by requiring health plans to make changes when inadequate access is provided.    

What else to know: The regulations are effective Nov. 22.  

(more…)

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

What’s happening: The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) has taken enforcement actions, including a total of $8.5 million in fines, against Blue Cross of California Partnership Plan and Anthem Blue Cross for their failure to address payment disputes with health care providers in a timely manner.  

What else to know: In addition to paying the fines, the plans must improve response times by removing barriers that create delays, monitoring provider disputes more regularly, and adding staff to handle provider disputes. Per two letters of agreement, Blue Cross is expected to complete the corrective actions before Dec. 31.      

(more…)

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold a webinar to bring hospitals up to speed on the price transparency machine-readable file (MRF) requirements.  

What else to know: The webinar takes place on Oct. 21 from 10-11:30 a.m. (PT).  

(more…)

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

What’s happening: CHA DataSuite, in partnership with DataGen, has released a hospital-specific summary analysis for the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM).  

What else to know: CHA is distributing reports to members who have been selected for mandatory participation in TEAM. 

(more…)

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

What’s happening: Starting Jan. 1, 2025, California State Board of Pharmacy licenses eligible for renewal will be processed solely online. 

What else to know: The Board of Pharmacy will no longer mail a paper renewal application for the following licensees: pharmacist, advance practice pharmacist, pharmacy technician, and other designated representatives.  

(more…)

2022 Disaster Conference

This presentation helps Joint Commission-accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals implement newly revised emergency management chapter standards and elements of performance and understand the new survey process.

(more…)

2023 Disaster Conference

The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services require that health care entities maintain “all-hazard” emergency preparedness and response capability and capacity. Leveraging virtual reality (VR) as a training modality for emergency management training holds great promise as an effective, realistic, immersive, and scalable health care training strategy.

This session discussed adult learning theory, emergency management training challenges and strategies, and how virtual reality provides an efficient alternative to traditional training methods. 

(more…)

This tool is designed to assist hospitals in the development of an Incident Action Plan (IAP) for each operational period. The IAP uses a combination of Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) Forms; it is minimally comprised of HICS 201 Incident Briefing, HICS 202 Incident Objectives, HICS 203 Organization Assignment List, HICS 204 Branch Assignment List, and HICS 215A Incident Action Safety Analysis.

(more…)