Newsletter

Federal Scene

Hospitals Beware-Unions are ratching up a campaign to ensure full compliance with the 2001 (revision) of the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard Enforcement action against hospitals failing to comply increased to 6% of all hospital citations in 2004. Be certain the lab knows the revisions.
Bill would ban new physician-owned specialty hospitals-Sens. Charles Grassley, R-IA and Max Baucus, D-MT, last month introduced the Hospital Fair Competition Act, an AHA-backed bill that would permanently extend the moratorium on physician-owned limited service hospitals that was set to expire June 8. The bill would not apply to those limited service hospitals already in operation or under development before November 18, 2003, but would limit their growth and investor composition. Three separate government studies have found that physican-owned specialty hospitals treat the most profitable patients and services, leaving community hospitals to treat a disproportionate share of less profitable cases, Medicaid cases and the uninsured, Grassley said in introducing the bill.
Senators Clinton and Frist Introduce Health IT Legislation-Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) jointly introduced major health information technology (IT) legislation. The legislation would further the development and adoption of health care IT interoperability standards, authorize $125 million in grants for each of five years to local or regional IT collaborations, establish uniform quality measures across federal health care programs and authorize a Medicare pay-for-performance pilot project.
JCAHO Expands Behavioral Health Care Standards-The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO) recently expanded its behavioral health care standards to support organizations that have adopted or are in the process of adopting a recovery-oriented philosophy and approach to care, treatment and services. These new requirements, effective January 1, 2006 are consumer and family-driven and are geared to give consumers meaningful choices about treatment options. Under the JCAHO standards, care must focus on increasing consumers' ability to successfully cope with life's challenges, on facilitating recovery and on building resilience, not just on managing symptoms.

For more information about the new standards, please visit the JCAHO website at www.jcaho.org.
The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, an AHA personal membership group, will host an August 16 audio-conference on the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's 2006 National Patient Safety Goals, effective in January. Be among the first to hear from JCAHO and other experts on key changes and additions to the goals, strategies for implementation and tips for compliance For details or to register, visit the ASHRM website.
State Department Releases 50,000 Visa for Nurses and Physical Therapists-the State Department in mid June released 50,000 unused visas from the past four years for nurses and physical therapists to use in this and future years. The action, authorized by Congress last month, will allow U.S. hospitals struggling with a critical shortage of nurses to resume recruitment of nurses from the Philippines, India, China and other countries that have exceeded their visa quotas. Such hospitals faced a three-year wait for visas before the AHA-backed legislation was enacted.

Inside This Issue Volume 11 Issue 3, Summer, 2005

Inside This Issue
Volume 11 Issue 3, Summer, 2005