Committee advances legislation on site-neutral payment cuts and reporting on 350B drug pricing program

Legislative Update

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 49-0 to advance legislation that would impose billions of dollars a year in additional site-neutral payment reductions to services provided in off-campus hospital outpatient departments. In addition, the legislation would delay $8 billion in annual Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital payment reductions scheduled to begin in October by two years. It would also modify hospital price transparency requirements and need mandatory reporting regarding certain health-related ownership information. The committee also passed legislation that would impose difficult reporting requirements on hospitals participating in the 340B drug pricing program.

HRSA introduces new, updated number: 1-833-TLC-MAMA

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) celebrates the first anniversary of its National Maternal Mental Health Hotline this month. Since its launch on Mother’s Day 2022, the hotline’s professional counselors have provided emotional support, resources and referrals to almost 12,000 pregnant and postpartum individuals who struggled with mental health concerns. Recently, HRSA introduced an updated toll-free number for the hotline: 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262). The former number (1-833-9-HELP-4-MOMS or 1-833-943-5746) will continue to work for another year. Learn more about the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline.

Addressing equity, diversity and inclusion in healthcare – AHA’s new dashboard

While health disparities are not a new challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated healthcare needs and widened the inequity gap among many minority groups, especially those living in rural communities. Hospitals and health systems are actively engaged in addressing inequities, reducing disparities and increasing opportunities for diversity and inclusion to strengthen their connection to the communities they serve. The American Hospital Association (AHA) Institute for Diversity and Health Equity created a dashboard which provides guidance on engaging stakeholders and offers supporting resources to facilitate progress toward advancing health equity. As part of our work, AzHHA has teamed up with key stakeholders statewide to reduce healthcare disparities in rural Arizona hospitals, federally qualified health centers and post-acute care facilities through the Arizona Health Equity Organizational Assessment (HEOA) Collaborative. The Arizona HEOA Collaborative focuses its efforts on collecting and reviewing data within participating facilities and uncovering current health disparities. Find out more information on AzHHA’s website.

AzHHA Member Alert: revenue recovery opportunities through MCAG

As your advocate, AzHHA has endorsed Managed Care Advisory Group (MCAG) with filing class action settlements on behalf of its membership. MCAG’s Settlement Recovery Service delivers the most on class action claims with the least amount of effort. Once a claim is filed on your behalf, settlements are typically paid out within 12 to 18 months. Depending on the number of settlements that your hospital participates in, engaging with MCAG can result in two to three settlements each year. There are a number of upcoming settlements from which you can still benefit. The next filing deadline is June 13. Join seven other AzHHA members in recovering revenue for your respective hospital. Click here to visit MCAG’s website for AzHHA members.

HIRING: Transition to Practice Program Director

AzHHA is pleased to announce that we have a contract with AHCCCS to administer a state-wide Transition to Practice program for new graduate RNs. As a result, we will be recruiting facilities that employ new graduate nurses to participate in our statewide program and will engage a vendor for evidence-based content and will provide a year-long program for 100 people per year. We will also deliberately incorporate emergency preparedness in the curriculum and experiential training.  As part of the program, we are hiring a new position: Transition to Practice Program Director: view the job description and apply here https://lnkd.in/gYKT-2gy.

Congratulations to AzHHA member Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center on receiving 2023 Sepsis Honor Roll Participant for Commendable Sage Sepsis Care

Cynosure Health recently recognized close to 100 hospitals from across the United States for their commitment to the reliable implementation of practices designed to improve the early recognition and response to sepsis. The Cynosure Health Sepsis Honor Roll recognizes hospitals identified through a rigorous self-assessment process of their sepsis response strategies. This process provides inspiration and a roadmap to improve processes further. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare workforce, supply chains and access to care, it is critical to celebrate exemplary hospital practices in sepsis care. This year, Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center has been recognized as having commendable practices in the 2023 Cynosure Health Sepsis Honor Roll.

Sponsorship opportunities open for the AzHHA Foundation’s 2023 Arizona Hospital Leadership Conference 

Sponsorship opportunities are now available for the 2023 Arizona Hospital Leadership Conference, October 25-27 at the beautiful Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson. View our sponsorship prospectus to learn more about our bundled options or stand-alone sponsorships. The number of sponsors is limited to maintain the personal nature of this experience while also maximizing opportunities for sponsors to have face-time engagement with attendees.  

UPCOMING EVENTS

May & June – Critical Incident Stress Management Peer Team Training for Crisis Intervention 

As crises in the workplace and community disasters are becoming more frequent, the need for effective psychological crisis response capabilities becomes obvious. As a result, AzCHER will be offering Group and Individual Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Peer Team Training for Crisis Intervention in May and June, in the Tucson area. CISM represents a powerful, yet cost-effective approach to deal with the resultant psychological, emotional and spiritual effects from a crisis. This training will help your facility create and maintain a CISM Peer Team for both Individual and Group debriefing. Lunch will not be provided, so please plan accordingly.   

Abrams Public Health Center: 3950 S. Country Club Rd, Tucson, Arizona, 85714 

• May 30-31, 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. - capacity for 25 people
• June 13-14, 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. - capacity for 25 people

To register, contact Cheryl Hewlett at [email protected]. 

June 1 - OPEN DISCUSSION: Securing Temporary Staff during a Hospital Surge

As part of the Arizona Health Improvement Plan (AzHIP) pandemic recovery and resiliency efforts, AzHHA and the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) invite you to share your feedback on how we can collectively improve the staffing system to accommodate a volunteer or staff sharing model. Some of the topics to be addressed include:

• General barriers to utilizing volunteers and staff from other hospitals/health systems or states
• Barriers to rapid onboarding of temporary staff
• Legal or procedural obstacles that should be considered by the state or regulatory boards
• Ideas/suggestions for an ideal platform to share staff

Please join the conversation on Thursday, June 1 from 3 to 4 p.m. Register to receive the Zoom link here. The link will be sent the day prior to the event, so please hold the time on your calendar.

June 8 - FREE WEBINAR: Meta Pixel and Other Online Tracking Technologies—Investigation and Legal Response

ATTN: Mar/Comm, IT, Legal and Compliance – following a recent news investigation into healthcare organizations’ use of online tracking technologies for marketing purposes (such as Meta Pixel), the Office for Civil Rights and the Federal Trade Commission have initiated investigations and class-action lawsuits have been filed across the country. This webinar will explore the legal issues involved in the use of online tracking technologies and discuss investigation and response. Speakers include:

• Kristen Rosati, an attorney at Coppersmith Brockelman in Phoenix.  She is considered one of the nation’s leading “Big Data” and HIPAA compliance attorneys and is a Past President and a Fellow of the American Health Law Association.
• Nate Kunz, an attorney at Coppersmith with substantial experience in data-related class action and other commercial litigation.
• Andrew Shaxted, a Managing Director at FTI Consulting. He is an interdisciplinary technologist and lawyer specializing in privacy engineering, data and analytics, ad tech, digital forensics and privacy governance.

Join us June 8 from 12-1:30 p.m., free of charge to AzHHA members. To receive the Zoom link on the day prior to the webinar, register here.

June 21 - Emergency Preparedness Webinar Series - Business Continuity Planning and Supply Chain Management

Offered on the third Wednesday of every month, the Emergency Preparedness webinars will discuss key areas for a successful Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP), followed by a Q&A. The 45-minute presentations will cover up-to-date information/resources and areas of focus included in a comprehensive EPP. These webinars are hosted by HSAG, in partnership with the California Association of Health Facilities, Arizona Coalition for Healthcare Emergency Response, California Hospital Association, California Long-Term Care Ombudsman, the California Department of Public Health, local health departments, the California Association of Long-Term Care Medicine and others. To register and access the recordings of previous sessions, click here.

IN THE NEWS

How ADHS regulates sober living homes and behavioral health residential facilities (ADHS blog)

Contract dispute jeopardizes in-network medical care for thousands of Arizona kids (azfamily.com)

1,129 hospitals reporting losses on patient services, state-by-state (Becker’s Hospital Review)

Valleywise Health makes strides, recognizes Mental Health Awareness Month (Arizona Capitol Times)