The newsroom includes access to CHA News, which provides timely information to members every Thursday and is at the core of CHA benefits. In addition, it is also home to resources such as toolkits and talking points designed to help member hospitals and health systems communicate with internal and external audiences on a range of current health care-related issues. Links to CHA media statements and press releases can also be found here.
Newsroom
CDC Issues Influenza A Health Advisory
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued the attached official health advisory about seasonal influenza virus with treatment recommendations for patients, including those who are hospitalized. According to the advisory, influenza activity has increased nationwide and should be high on clinicians’ list of possible diagnoses. The predominant virus so far this season has been influenza A(H3N2), which has previously been associated with more hospitalizations and deaths in people over 65 and very young children. In addition, vaccines are less effective against A(H3N2) viruses than other influenza viruses.
The advisory recommends providers treat all hospitalized and high-risk patients suspected to have influenza with a neuraminidase inhibitor antiviral. It also includes detailed information about the clinical implications, antiviral drugs approved for treatment this season and background information for patients.
Diana Dooley to Deliver Keynote Address at CHA’s Health Policy Legislative Day
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
Diana Dooley, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, will address members at Health Policy Legislative Day, set for March 20-21 in Sacramento. Secretary Dooley will offer remarks on California’s health care landscape and implications for hospitals in light of federal policy changes.
As part of the event, hospital executives will meet with state legislators from their districts. It is critical that lawmakers hear directly from hospital leaders about how legislation impacts hospitals and patients in their communities. Participants are also invited to the Wednesday breakfast reception with members of the state Assembly and Senate.
Hospital Wage and Hour Class Certification Defeated in Published Decision
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
Earlier this year, a California Court of Appeal issued a victory to a hospital defendant in a wage and hour class action that was originally filed in 2011. In Lampe v. Queen of the Valley Medical Center, the trial court denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification on various claims including meal and rest periods, regular rate calculation and overtime and paystub compliance. The trial court concluded that individualized issues predominated, and the claims could not be proven efficiently as a class. In a recent decision, the appellate court affirmed the trial court’s ruling. While the decision was not originally designated for publication, the defendant, along with CHA, petitioned the court to publish the decision. The Court of Appeal promptly did so, and the decision is available online.
This decision is extremely helpful for hospitals both in litigation as well as operationally because it provides insight into the policies and procedures the hospital had — and did not have — that supported defeat of class certification. Specifically, with respect to the overtime claim, plaintiffs alleged alternative work schedule employees who were asked to leave work between the eighth and 12th hours of their shift were not paid overtime wages (“short shift premium”) in accordance with Labor Code 511. In opposition to the motion for class certification, the hospital submitted evidence that Lampe signed an agreement that provided for the short-shift premium; the hospital’s alternative work schedule policy also referred to the short-shift premium; and other employees were aware they were entitled to such a premium. The hospital also submitted evidence that it paid the short-shift premium under the overtime pay code and did not have a separate code. Therefore, it would have to review individual timecard edit sheets to determine when the short-shift premium was paid.
New Legal Requirements, Policy Changes Impact Physician Reporting
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
New physician reporting requirements established in California Business & Professions Code Section 805.01 by Senate Bill 798 (Chapter 775, Statutes of 2017) expand the scope of liability for hospital leadership and significantly increase potential fines — up to $100,000 per incident — for failure to report specific physician professional review actions and findings, and certain privilege-related actions, when imposed or voluntarily accepted for a medical disciplinary cause or reason. CHA will hold a webinar Feb. 13 from 1:30-3 p.m. (PT) to discuss how these new requirements, as well as updates to National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) policy, impact physician reporting obligations.
Program faculty include representatives from the Medical Board of California, NPDB and Arent Fox LLP, who will discuss how the new law and policy changes affect the reporting process; the legal implications for hospitals and their leadership; when reporting is necessary; and what can happen if a report is not submitted to the NPDB or the medical board.
For more information and to register, visit www.calhospital.org/physician-reporting-web.
Web Training to Focus on Outpatient Therapy Billing
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
Noridian, the Medicare administrative contractor for California-based hospitals, will host a web-based workshop on Jan. 25 from 11 a.m. to noon (PT), addressing coding and billing requirements for outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language/pathology. This presentation will include information on therapy changes, therapy caps and coding requirements. Registration is available online.
Draft Trusted Exchange Framework Released for Electronic Health Information
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology has released its draft Trusted Exchange Framework. As required by the 21st Century Cures Act, the proposed framework outlines policies, procedures and technical standards for the trusted exchange of health information between networks. Under the proposal, ONC would recognize a private sector coordinating entity to incorporate the framework into a common agreement, to which qualified health information networks and their participants voluntarily agree to adhere. Qualified health information networks would need to upgrade their technology to support an expanded core data set for interoperability, require participants and end users to provide proof of identity, and could charge reasonable allowable costs to other qualified health information networks. Comments on the draft framework are due Feb. 20 by 8:59 p.m. (PT).
Hospital Building Safety Board Posts 2018 Meeting Schedule
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development Hospital Building Safety Board has released its meeting schedule for 2018. Dates for Education and Outreach, Structural and Nonstructural Regulations, and Energy Conservation and Management committee meetings are among those included in the schedule. The agency’s next full board meeting is June 21 in Sacramento. For more information, including a complete list of committees and a board roster, visit www.oshpd.ca.gov/Boards/HBSB/.
Training Available for Post-Acute Care Quality Reporting
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is offering web-based training modules on Section GG of the patient assessment instruments for each post-acute care setting: long-term care hospital, inpatient rehabilitation facility, skilled-nursing facility and home health. Section GG, implemented as a result of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act, focuses on patients’ functional abilities and goals.
The interactive training includes background information on the Act and requirements for standardized data collection, as well as specific guidance for completing Section GG for each post-acute care setting.
CHA Releases DataSuite Report on Medicare Quality Programs
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
CHA DataSuite has released hospital-specific reports providing a one-page historical summary of hospital quality performance and impacts for each of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services three Medicare inpatient quality programs — Value-Based Purchasing, Readmissions Reduction and Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction — from federal fiscal years 2016-18. The report also shows the overall impact of the three programs for each program year.
Payment adjustment factors for each of the programs are the actual, final factors for all three years. Dollar impacts include changes due to correction notices, and are estimated based on financial information in the source data. More information is available in the attached analysis description.
Guidance Reiterates Flu Prevention, Control in Long-Term Care Facilities
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today released the attached All Facilities Letter 18-08 addressing the state’s high rate of influenza activity. The guidance emphasizes infection control measures for long-term care facility residents with suspected or confirmed influenza and includes steps to take for implementation of droplet precautions. The department advises that residents should stay in their own rooms as much as possible, employees and visitors should be screened for illness, ill health care personnel should be furloughed and ill visitors discouraged from entering the facility. The guidance refers providers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines titled “Interim Guidance for Influenza Outbreak Management in Long-Term Care Facilities,” and the CDPH “Recommendations for the Prevention and Control of Influenza – California Long-Term Care Facilities.”
CDPH has also issued a subscriber alert on influenza antiviral recommendations and strategies to obtain influenza antivirals, reporting there does not appear to be a nationwide antiviral shortage. Pharmacies are encouraged to contact their wholesaler’s customer service desk to request drop shipments of antivirals from the manufacturers if the wholesaler is unable to supply needed medications in a timely manner.
