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MRHC NEWSLETTER
JANUARY - MARCH 2005
New employee:
Shirley Anderson
is our new Quality Manager replacing Paula Soine while she works on HIT grant related activities. She lives in Granite Falls and comes to us with a strong background in bookkeeping, construction, contracting background. Paula will be assisting her in the short term while she gets familiar with the various QM duties and committee meetings.
Contracting:
We can’t report on any contract information on our website. Please contact Chuck for any specifics.
We will be sending out a survey
to each of our clinic & hospital members to reexamine our contracting philosophy and goals. We want your feedback on this. Also, we will be holding a couple of contracting
informational meetings
for clinics & hospitals during early 2005.
AHRQ HIT Grant Award Update: A Planning Committee election was the first order of business upon learning that the Coop received
a $196,274 Health Information Technology planning grant. Becky Arndt, Tim Beske, Rick Blauvelt, Jan Kreie, Nathan Louwagie, Gary McDowell, Leroy Meyering, Mark Paulson, Darlene Spletter, and Barbara Voecks, as
representatives of the collective Coop, serve an advisory role in the development of the HIT Strategic Plan. The first meeting was held Nov. 8th (see minutes on our website). Important points that came out of this meeting are that everybody should remember that this project may or may not result in EMR’s being the project of choice and to remain open to anything; the goal would remain what is best for all facilities within the coop even if it meant that some facilities would not benefit from the grant while others did; and only those members who cooperate will be able to reap the rewards. That being said, Needs Assessment surveys were sent out to all facilities Nov. 29th,
and as of this writing, 90% (46 out of 51 facilities) were turned in by the due date. These surveys will be analyzed and at the next meeting (Jan. 11th) one of our two consultants will lead the Committee
to prioritize needs and possible solutions of sites and the group. In the meantime, Chuck and Paula have been busy meeting with a variety of people and organizations whom we can learn from or who want to help us out
in various capacities in our effort to make the best use of resources. For instance, we visited an organization in Duluth that offers a unique approach to providing high quality, cost effective information
technology for rural hospitals and clinics. Their cooperative model works well for those who believe that it’s okay to have the same computer system as your neighbor, because it’s what you do with a computer system
and not the system itself that distinguishes you from your competition. Finally, our original timeline for this grant has to undergo a massive time crunch as we learned the Implementation grant applications are due
April 14th and not next fall. There will only be 14 Implementation grant awards for $7 million dollars total, with $5 million of it geared to rural communities.
Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative Meeting Schedule
January 5 Medi-Sota Meeting
January 6 Contracting Committee Meeting
January 11 HIT Committee Meeting
January 17 Credentialing Teleconference
January 18 HIT Committee Meeting
January 19 Quality Council Quarterly Meeting
January 20 WCHPA Meeting
January 26 CMHIN Board Meeting
January 26 SWEPT Meeting
January 27 Board of Directors Meeting
February 3 Contracting Committee Meeting
February 4-5 Medi-Sota Annual Trustee Meeting
February 17 WCHPA Meeting
February 21 Credentialing Teleconference
February 24 Board of Directors Meeting
March 2 Medi-Sota Meeting
March 3 Contracting Committee Meeting
March 8 Clinic Managers Meeting
March 10 Annual Audit
March 17 WCHPA Meeting
March 21 Credentialing Teleconference
March 24 Board of Directors Meeting
March 27 Easter
April 6 Medi-Sota Meeting
April 7 Contracting Committee Meeting
April 20 Quality Quarterly Meeting
April 21 WCHPA Meeting
April 21 Spring Compliance Gathering
April 25 Credentialing Teleconference
April 28 MRHC Annual Meeting
Visit our website for meeting times and places at www.mrhc.net.
If you need a user ID and password,
please contact Paula Soine
at (320) 564-9118 (ext. 12) or psoine@mrhc.net.
Current Membership
Clinics
Allergy & Asthma Specialty Clinic, Willmar
Appleton Medical Clinic
Counseling Associates of West Central MN, Benson
Divine Providence Clinic, Ivanhoe
Divine Providence Minneota Clinic
ELEAH Medical Center, Elbow Lake
Family Practice Medical Center of Willmar
Glencoe Regional Health Services
Hendricks Medical Clinic, P.A.
Ivanhoe Clinic
JMHS Dawson Clinic
Lac Qui Parle Clinic, Madison
Lakeview Medical Clinic, Sauk Centre
Marshall Eye Clinic
Minnesota Pathologists Chartered, Willmar
Montevideo Clinic, P.A.
Murray County Clinic, Slayton
Northside Medical Center, Ortonville
Peter B. Meier, M.D., St. Paul
Prairie Family Practice Renville County, Olivia
Prairie Medical Associates, Morris
Rice Institute for Counseling & Education, Willmar
Sioux Valley Canby Campus Clinic
Sleepy Eye Medical Center, Sleepy Eye
Starbuck Clinic, Robert Bosl
Southwest Ophthalmology Associates, Marshall
Stanley C. Gallagher, D.O., P.A., Wheaton
The Rose Center for Women, Willmar
Tyler Medical Clinic
West Central Radiological Associates, Willmar
White Family Practice, White, SD
Williams IntegraCare Clinic, Sartell
Hospitals
Appleton Municipal Hospital & Home
Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center, Marshall
Chippewa County Montevideo Hospital
Divine Providence Health Center, Ivanhoe
ELEAH Medical Center, Elbow Lake
Glencoe Regional Health Services Hospital
Granite Falls Municipal Hospital & Manor
Hendricks Community Hospital & Home
Johnson Memorial Health Services, Dawson
Madison Lutheran Home, Inc.
Meeker County Memorial Hospital, Litchfield
Murray County Memorial Hospital, Slayton
Ortonville Area Health Services
Redwood Area Hospital
Renville County Hospital, Olivia
Rice Memorial Hospital, Willmar
Sioux Valley Canby Campus Hospital
Sleepy Eye Medical Center, Sleepy Eye
Swift County Benson Hospital
Tyler Healthcare Center
Wheaton Community Hospital
Non-Voting Members (NV)
Cheryl Hanson, LICSW, Willmar - NV
Great Plains Eye Clinic, Ltd., Sioux Falls, SD-- NV
Hennepin Faculty Associates, Minneapolis – NV
Kenneth H. Rogotzke, Watertown, SD --NV
LCM Pathologists, Sioux Falls, SD – NV
Lyle Munneke, MD, Willmar – NV
Michael J. Fischer, LICSW, Willmar - NV
Michael J. Vener, MD, PC -- NV
Patrick M. Malone, MD -- NV
Rick L. Nissen, MD, Bloomington – NV
Quality Corner - Paula Soine
It’s been a very busy fall for us at the Coop with lots of changes everywhere. Some of the hospital surveys will be seeing big changes as the Home Care and Acute Care surveys were completely revamped. The Acute Care survey incorporates the HCAHPS required questions along with a few questions of our own. The HCAHPS survey is designed to meet the rigorous needs of public reporting and the quality improvement needs of today’s hospital. Hospitals will begin using the Acute Care survey January 1st and will be distributing them continuously throughout the year (versus one quarter a year in prior years). Nationally, a dry run of the HCAHPS survey is anticipated for spring/summer of 2005 and implementation to follow in late 2005. MRHC hospitals wanted to get a jump on the surveys to make improvements to their quality programs before the survey data becomes published publicly.
2005 Quality projects will be Preventive Services and a continuation of the Hyperlipidemia project started last year. The Hyperlipidemia project again allows the clinics to use the Diabetes Care software they purchased some years back. Coincidentally, Medical Directors that conducted clinic site visits this past summer said that Preventive Services is an area that MRHC clinics needed work on. Thanks to Judy Carruth, Linda Ahrndt, Becky Arndt, Peg Schumacher, and Sue Schneider for volunteering to be on the Preventive Services team.
The third quarter reward winners, determined by noting the top five clinics that submitted various paperwork into the MRHC first and then noting which of the clinics appear the most times with a final tally, produced a 5-way tie. Congrats to Family Practice Medical Center, Montevideo Clinic, Northside Medical Center, ELEAH Medical Center, and Hendricks Clinic! A really big thank you to everyone who gets their paperwork in on time and make our work a little easier!
One more big change to the Coop is the addition of Shirley Anderson as the Quality Manager. Shirley started the end of October and has been busy with all the survey changes. We’re sure you’ll like Shirley; we sure do!
Compliance Corner - Paula Soine
“Thank you for arranging this wonderful meeting. The speakers were great! It was a morning filled with a wealth of
information.” This was a comment from one of the 25 attendees of the October 21st Fall Compliance Gathering. Tobi Tanzer, Vice President of Corporate Integrity and Corporate Compliance Officer at HealthPartners, gave a presentation on “Building an Effective Compliance Program…If I’d Only Known”. Jill Hollermann, OSHA Senior Safety Investigator with the MN Dept. of Labor and Industry, spoke on what you need to know in regards to an OSHA Workplace Inspection. Amy Bloomquist, Senior Health Improvement Coordinator at Blue Cross Blue Shield, presented on Blue Plus Provider Participation Expectations. And finally, Maggie Elander, Regional Contract Manager with Medica, gave an overview of compliance requirements. Many handouts were provided; many questions were asked - The morning truly offered something for everybody.
The Spring Compliance Gathering is set for Thursday, April 21st at the Chippewa County Montevideo Hospital again. As of this printing date, Dr. Gordon and Kathy Hunt from Rice Memorial Hospital will be giving a presentation on EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act), and tentatively have a speaker from StratisHealth to talk on HPMP (Hospital Payment Monitoring Program). Mark your calendars now! Should be another information filled morning!
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
Pharmacy: Membership packets were sent out in December for our new class of membership: Pharmacists. While we have limited our membership to roughly a 90-mile radius of Granite Falls, we are going
state-wide, with the exception of the seven county metro-area, with pharmacy membership. Given this large area and the interest we have generated so far we anticipate an initial membership of 332 pharmacists in
approximately 170 locations covering every corner of out-state Minnesota. The initial pharmacy stock will be about $100,000 and the annual dues should be around $150,000. This will pay for staff time, legal,
consulting, dedicated supplies, and other costs. Additional staff will be hired to help accomplish everything that needs to be done with this project. The first priority will be a review of their PBM and other
reimbursement contracts. We will also look for ways to improve their viability via group purchase or other collaboration projects. We have already assisted the U of M College of Pharmacy in applying for a grant to
develop an RPAP-like program for rural pharmacy. Incorporating pharmacists into MRHC will be the top project for us in 2005.
Education Event: MRHC is planning an Education Event for our physicians, mid-levels, RNs, and other interested staff. This event is scheduled for Saturday May 14th and will be held at the Prairie’s Edge Convention Center near Granite Falls. It will be held from 7:30 am to 8:30 pm with meals included.
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) 101 information session: MRHC is working with Stratis Health regarding our HIT project to bring a consultant out sometime, hopefully in January, to help everyone
understand EMR, EHR, etc, terminology and how those systems could impact their facilities. The better we understand this topic the better decisions we will be able to make. We are tentatively planning two meetings
to be held in a central location with one meeting in the afternoon and one in the evening with administration, staff, and providers attending as they are able. We will get information out on this meeting as soon as
we can.
UCare Distributions Higher than average:
We just received UCare’s 2003 Final Settlement and the Board will consider a recommendation in January 2005 to distribute excess premiums of approximately double those of last year and returning withholds.
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