MSSPNexus Blog

Women Flunk at Self-Promotion

The Seattle Times reports that one of the reasons women generally aren't occupying the top executive suites of corporations is they tend not to embrace the art of self-promotion...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=
2002123981&zsection_id=2002119995&slug=gender19&date=20041219

Recognizing Female Healthcare Executives Who Are Making A Difference

Until February 28th, Modern Healthcare is seeking nominations for the top 25 women in healthcare.

Who is eligible for nominations?
Modern Healthcare is seeking nominees from all sectors of the healthcare industry, including hospitals, health systems, physician organizations, insurance, government, vendors and suppliers, trade and professional organizations, and patients' rights groups.

Nominees will be judged on five criteria.
The nominee must have:
1. successfully served as a leader or managed an organization or company
2. shown the ability or power to effect change in the healthcare industry
3. demonstrated a willingness to share expertise with others in the field
4. served as a role model or mentor to other female healthcare executives
5. assumed a leadership position in the industry outside of the candidates' own organization or company

Nomination:
Send a detailed cover letter explaining how the candidate meets or exceeds the five criteria. Include the nominee's resume or curriculum vitae and a color photo...

More information from ModernHealthcare.com

Proposed Medicare Regulations for Electronic Prescribing

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is seeking comment on proposed CMS regulations for electronic prescribing.

"These proposed standards would be the foundation standards... for an electronic prescription drug program... and represent the first step in our incremental approach to adopting final uniform standards that are consistent with the MMA objectives of patient safety, quality of care, and efficiencies and cost savings in the delivery of care."

Proposed regulation:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/01-27master.pdf

Panel Discussion with President Bush - Health Care Information Technology

President Bush visited the Cleveland Clinic Foundation today to chair a panel discussion on health care information technology, in particular the use of the electronic medical record.

Panel participants included two Cleveland Clinic physicians, including Dr. C. Martin Harris, CCF's Chief Information Officer and a member of the President's recently appointed Commission on Systemic Interoperability, one Clinic patient, a physician from Northwestern in Chicago, a physician from a small group practice in Maryland, Dr. David Brailer, National Health Information Technology Coordinator, and the brand-new Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt (who, Mr. Bush said, had not made any mistakes during his first 15 hours on the job). Each talked about the benefits of electronic medical records.

The discussion was relaxed and informative and the President spent some time chatting with attendees after the program.

It was quite a spectacle to watch the "entourage" arrive. There were at least 20 vehicles in the procession, most with lights flashing, while a helicopter hovered overhead.

Additional info on the panel discussion and the Commission on Systemic Interoperability is available at these links:

White House Transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20050127-7.html

CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/27/bush.ap/index.html

Cleveland News:
http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=2864607

HHS:
http://www.os.dhhs.gov/healthit/

Opinion:
http://www.medpundit.blogspot.com/2005_01_23_
medpundit_archive.html#110691991353804572

PowerPoint Presenter's View

If you use PowerPoint in your presentations, this post from Working Smart contains useful tips about setting up "presenter's view" on your laptop.

Working Smart - PowerPoint Presenter's View

Are You A Doctor? I Am Today...

A man in Cincinnati Ohio has admitted to providing fraudulent credentials to pose as a physician in order to ride along on ambulance runs.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/4120770/detail.html

JCAHO Seeking Input on MS.1.20

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is seeking additional input on MS.1.20, in particular Element of Performance #19. The standard does not become effective until January 1, 2006.
________________________________________________
From the JCAHO Web Site:

The Joint Commission is collecting comments on this standard through February 15th. This information will then be analyzed in order to determine if modifications to the standard are indicated.

It is recommended that organizations make no bylaw changes specifically related to this requirement until after the Joint Commission has released its comments in March 2005.

Standard MS.1.20
Medical staff bylaws address self governance and accountability to the governing body.

EP# 19:
When administrative procedures, associated with processes described in the medical staff bylaws for corrective actions, fair hearing and appeal, credentialing, privileging, and appointment (elements of performance 12-18), are described in medical staff governance documents that supplement the bylaws (i.e., rules and regulations, and policies):

The mechanism for the approval of the administrative procedures, which may be different from that for adoption and amendment of the medical staff bylaws, is described in the medical staff bylaws,
Criteria to identify those administrative procedures that can be in the supplementary documents are described in the bylaws, and

The administrative procedures are approved by both the medical staff and the governing body through the bylaws-described mechanism.
________________________________________________

Send comments to John Herringer, Associate Director, Standards Interpretation Group. jherringer@jcaho.org

More information:
http://www.jcaho.org/accredited+organizations/hospitals/
standards/field+reviews/ms.1.20.htm

http://www.jcrinc.com/subscribers/perspectives.asp?durki=8751
&site=10&return=6065

NAMSS Conference Format - Phoenix

The NAMSS 2005 Conference Council has been hard at work. Pre-conference dates have been scheduled for Saturday September 17th and Sunday September 18th. The main conference will take place Monday - Wednesday, September 19-21.

The conference will be held in the Phoenix Civic Plaza, and the hotels are the Hyatt Regency and the Wyndham Phoenix.

NAMSS has posted some preliminary 2005 conference information for Phoenix on their site: http://www.namss.org/Default.asp?SPL=2&SPID
=9CD314D961724E21B640C16E95A99D39&SPIN=&SP1ID=

You can also reach the page by clicking on Education, then on the right side link - 2005 Conference Information.

Physicians Under Stress

As individuals involved in the administration of healthcare, in particular investigating and verifying credentials to assure the qualifications and training of physicians and other practitioners, it is necessary that we look for, and help weed out, "bad" providers. As a result of that focus however, it it easy to forget that the vast majority of practitioners we investigate are qualified, competent, and compassionate.

I recently read a series of articles under the heading "Understanding Your Doctor" in the magazine Awake!, and was poignantly reminded how difficult and stressful the profession of healthcare provider can be. One physician related that he was devastated at having to give heart-breaking news to parents of a newborn, and a moment later, because of the fast-pace of today's medical practice, was faced with a new patient who expected to be greeted with a smile and the physician's undivided attention.

Patients know they can only expect a few moments of their doctor's time, so their focus is naturally on their own problems and concerns, rarely do they give much thought to their doctor's concerns during an office visit. Couple that with the fact that people are seldom at their best when ill, in pain, or frightened, and it becomes obvious that a physician's day can be one filled with emotional ups and downs.

So it occurs to me that when we can, we need to encourage, commend, and thank the many excellent physicians and ancillary healthcare providers we deal with on a daily basis. They probably work harder, and are more self-sacrificing, than most of us realize.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/050131/31choices.htm

San Francisco Photos

I thought I'd share a few photos from my recent trip to San Francisco for the NAMSS 2005 Conference Council Planning meeting. (I managed to capture some images when it wasn't raining; no small task as it rained almost the entire time we were there.)

http://www.msspnexus.com/msspn_sanfrancisco.htm