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October-December 2004
Newsletter
AHRQ HIT Grant Award: We were awarded
the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) $196,274 Health Information Technology (HIT) planning grant. This grant period is 9/30/04 – 9/29/05. What this grant will pay for is a benchmarking
process to see where everyone is currently at with their own computer system and then perform a comprehensive regional planning effort to determine what we think we need to do along the lines of a regional HIT
system that would improve the quality of patient care. This HIT system may include, among many options, a regional Electronic Medical Record (EMR), an electronic prescription capability, better health information
coordination between clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, public health etc. In essence, this is “clean slate” planning where we get to determine what we think will make the most sense for us and our patients. Once we
develop this plan we may choose to continue on with this project by applying for the follow-up $1.5 million HIT implementation grant for 2006-2008.
We are forming a 7-9 member committee, which has hopefully
fairly balanced clinic and hospital representation, to meet monthly to develop this plan. The 30+ MRHC member entities that sent letters of support during the grant application will be receiving a ballot soon to
vote on the make-up of this committee that will meet on their behalf. Committee member time and mileage expenses will be reimbursed. Other implications of this grant include our plans to utilize Paula Soine’s
terrific coordination and organization skills by moving her from her current Quality Manager role to being the full time HIT Coordinator. We will in turn hire a new staff member within the month to assume her
various current duties. She will be assisting her replacement to ease the transition. Chuck Ness is obligated to spend 30% of his time on this grant project for the next 12 months. Thanks again to George Gerlach,
Administrator of Granite Falls Municipal Hospital and Manor, for being our fiscal agent for this grant.
Pharmacy membership project: There has been a slight delay regarding the vote as to whether we should add the pharmacy member class. How this proposed addition may impact the current membership has encouraged us to give this further consideration. Therefore, we have cancelled the initial vote and will regroup as a Board to review some issues more carefully. Another vote may be called during October.
Central Minnesota Health Information Network (CMHIN): MRHC is also involved in another regional EMR project. This project is a newly resurrected effort with 2 years and $400,000 remaining. Chuck Ness is now a
Board Member of this organization. Currently the plan is to jump start this project by tapping the region-wide health information network expertise of CentraCare of St. Cloud. There may be some overlap with the AHRQ
HIT grant mentioned above but for now we will pursue both tracks to see where they lead.
CME event: We are currently pursuing a mega CME event that may provide up to 18 CME, be located locally, and provide local physicians or hospitals an opportunity to present information regarding new or previously little known services they provide. Tentative date is April 2005. A member feedback and needs assessment survey is currently being processed.
Pharmacy Rural Residency Grant: While
that isn’t exactly the name of the grant we did become a supporting partner with the University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy that is trying to develop a program similar to the University of Minnesota Rural
Physician Associate Program (RPAP) that many of you may be familiar with. The idea is to have pharmacists become familiar with, and interested in, working in rural Minnesota.
Owens Minor Special Pricing: We met with representatives of AmeriNet, Owens Minor and the Rural Health Alliance (RHA) and believe they have a program that will save our members money. AmeriNet is willing to combine volumes of entities through this agreement to get the best possible tier pricing (greatest cost savings) and share-backs. RHA currently has $2.5m in annual purchases. We estimate that if MRHC members currently with AmeriNet switched they would add $900k to the purchasing pool. Note: RHA has 290 total beds while MRHC has 669 beds. The benefit to these participants is that if one participating group purchases $100k they would be placed in volume based tiers as if they purchased $3.4m. This will almost certainly save facilities money. I am confident we can negotiate a reduction or elimination of the $600 annual membership RHA charges from members to join this pool. All we ask is that we get access to an average month of invoices focusing on Med-Surg, Pharmacy, Lab, Dietary, Radiology, and Office Supplies. We will do the analysis and give you firm numbers of potential savings. This is also available to member clinics.
Reason Computers: We are looking at a group purchase agreement with Reason Computers (www.reasonco.com)
from Minneapolis that currently supplies PCs, laptops, and servers to Rice Hospital. Rice uses this vendor because they like the reliability and price. Many people use Dell but if you deviate from the standard
specifications the previously good deal deteriorates. Our tech support preferred vendor Mobile Computer Support Inc (MCSI) (www.mobilecomputersupport.com) also sells Nobilis computers at cost
and may still be the better buy but we will compare the two and let our members know. Many of our members are happy with the Nobilis computers they have purchased through MCSI.
Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative Meeting Schedule
- October 6 Medi-Sota
- October 7 Contracting Committee Meeting
- October 20 Quality Council Quarterly Meeting
- October 21 Compliance Quarterly Meeting
- October 25 Credentialing Teleconference
- October 28 Board of Directors Meeting
- October 31 Daylight Savings time ends
- November 3 Medi-Sota
- November 4 Contracting Committee Meeting
- November 9 Clinic Managers Meeting
- November 11 Veterans Day
- November 15 Credentialing Teleconference
- November 18 Board of Directors Meeting
- November 25 Thanksgiving
- December 1 Medi-Sota
- December 2 Contracting Committee Meeting
- December 13 Credentialing Teleconference
- December 16 Board of Directors Meeting
- December 21 Winter Begins
- December 25 Christmas
- January 1 New Year’s Day
- January 5 Medi-Sota
- January 6 Contracting Committee Meeting
- January 11 Clinic Managers Meeting
- January 19 Quality Council Quarterly Meeting
- January 20 Compliance Quarterly
- January 24 Credentialing Teleconference
- January 27 Board of Directors Meeting
MRHC Health Plan Contracting Update:
NOTE: Due to the confidential nature of MRHC contracts with the various health providers, we can’t put contract negotiation information on this web site.
Please contact the MRHC office for this information.
2004 Board Members
- Brendon Cullinan, M.D., Montevideo Clinic - Chair
- Larry Grong, D.O., Lac qui Parle Clinic– Madison– Vice Chair
- Leroy Meyering, CFO, Rice Memorial Hospital – Secretary /Treasurer
- Glenn Haugo, Administrator, Johnson Memorial Health Services - Dawson
- Mark Huntington, M.D., Northside Medical Center – Ortonville
- Romulo Kabatay, M.D., Appleton Clinic
- Dale Kruger,
Administrator, Tyler Healthcare Center
- Richard Mulder, M.D., Ivanhoe Clinic
- Tom Richter, Administrator, Madison Hospital
- Alan Roiseland M.D., Family Practice Medical Center-Willmar
- James Schulte, Administrator, Redwood Area Hospital
Compliance Corner – Paula Soine, psoine@mrhc.net
The Compliance Committee will be taking a different format beginning with their gathering on Thursday
morning, Oct. 21st at 9:00 am at the Chippewa County Montevideo Hospital. Four different speakers will speak on a variety of topics, among them a MN OSHA Senior Safety Investigator and a Vice President of Corporate Integrity and Corporate Compliance Officer. Just a sampling of the topics that will be discussed are reasons why a facility would be chosen for an OSHA inspection and issues being seen now; the basics of a compliance program from the ground up, what issues keep coming up and getting over those obstacles, code of conduct, and documentation. Should be an interesting and informative morning with something for everybody.
Having outside speakers for one or two half-day sessions per year came out of a questionnaire sent to compliance committee members back in May. Members indicated they wanted the meetings
to continue but perhaps twice a year, in the spring and fall. If you have suggestions for the spring gathering – either a panel discussion or another group of outside speakers, or have a speaker you could recommend,
please let me know; this is your cooperative.
This from the HCCA 6th annual Profile of Health Care Compliance Officers: On average the time an employee spends in compliance training each year: 38% said 1 hour or less and 50% said 1 to 3 hours.
Quality Corner – by Paula Soine, Quality Manager psoine@mrhc.net
Clinic site visit audits, a requirement of our ongoing quality assurance plan and credentialing process, were
conducted this summer. I put on 1847 miles and visited 39 facilities over nine days from the end of June to mid-August. Whew! I was as far north as Ashby, as far south as Chandler, as west as Browns Valley, and as
east as Sartell, and seemingly all points in between. It was great to finally attach faces to some names and voices, to check out your “second homes,” and get a feel for your communities. Very nice! Audit results
were sent out within days to clinic managers, with hopes areas would be found to make improvements or changes.
The second quarter reward winners, determined by noting the top five clinics
that submitted various paperwork into the MRHC first and then noting which of those clinics appear the most times with a final tally, were Appleton Clinic, Murray County Clinic, and Prairie Medical Associates (a
three-way tie for second place), and Montevideo Clinic, which placed in four out of five categories, emerging as the top winner. A big thank you to all the clinic quality members who send in their paperwork on time.
The second half of the Clinic Patient Satisfaction survey was conducted the end of July. The survey compared all clinics with each other and with a MRHC average, and also compared
individual providers at each facility and the MRHC average for all providers, on all 18 questions. Some common problem areas seen across most clinics were keeping patients informed if appointment time is delayed;
test results reported in a reasonable amount of time; payment policies not fully explained; and awareness of how to access care after hours.
A hospital survey team met Sept. 15th to integrate the 32 question HCAHPS survey into our current survey instruments. The HCAHPS effort is currently a voluntary initiative to collect and publicly share with consumers standardized quality of measures of patient care in our nation’s hospitals.
The next Quality Council meetings are Wednesday, October 20th, with the Hospital meeting at 10:30 am and the Clinic at 1:00 pm. Attendance at both meetings has doubled comparing the
first three quarters of 2003 with first three of 2004. Come check us out!
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