"Never give up. Have hope.
Expect only the best from life and take action to get it."
— Catherine Pulsifier, In-Center Hemodialysis, Nebraska
Stephanie Smith serves as the Executive Director for Qsource ESRD Network Strategies-Heartland Kidney Network. With primary focus on quality within dialysis facilities and transplant centers, she is a liaison between community stakeholders, dialysis corporations, and patient representatives. She is a healthcare administrator with more than 12 years’ experience in End Stage Renal Disease, long term care management and health agency consultation.

Stephanie received her Baccalaureate Degree from University of Missouri and Masters in Healthcare Administration from Webster University. Stephanie strives to create an environment in which her employees thrive by following quality principles and processes.  

If you ever have a question about the Network, please reach out to us at 816-880-9990
"Be Active in Your Care" 2019 Patient Engagement Calendar Coming Soon!
As shared in the last eNewsletter, the Network will not be providing the My Kidney Calendar this year for facility distribution. Instead, each facility and their Network Patient Representative(s) will receive a patient engagement calendar for 2019. This calendar will include a topic of the month and a suggested action item for patients to engage in.

The Network will continue to highlight a topic each month and provide a “Topic of the Month” sheet each month prior to help you plan ahead with your Network Patient Representative. We know many facilities have used the My Kidney Calendar in years past to plan your yearly patient education.

A listing of My Kidney Kit pages for the 2019 Monthly Patient Engagement Topics has been compiled to help clinics plan ahead.
Emergency Disconnect Procedure for In-Center Hemodialysis Patients is Now Available
This new one-page instruction sheet shows in-center hemodialysis patients how to disconnect from dialysis in three steps in an emergency situation. 

Annual Grievance Definition Notification
As Heartland Kidney Network begins our next contract year we would like to provide all facilities with a review of the Network’s and Dialysis Facilities’ roles regarding grievances, the definition of grievance provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as several actions steps to take in order to assist facilities in meeting the requirements of CMS.

Date: Jan. 31, 2019
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 pm Central
Save The Date:
ESRD Network Grievance and Access to Care Overview for 2019
Register and attend a webinar to discuss the definition of grievance and best practices for addressing grievances and ensuring appropriate access to dialysis care.

HKN (Network 12) will be co-hosting this session with The Renal Network (Network 10).

After you register, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
SAVE THE DATE
2019 Transplant Symposium | March 28, 2019
Scott Conference Center | Omaha, NE
My Kidney Calendar | January
To prepare for January – review the latest topic sheet for resources and activities on “My Life: Active & Healthy Living” with resources to support healthy living.

The New Year is a great time to focus on setting goals for individual improvement; several resources are included to assist patients with goal setting. 

We encourage you to review the monthly "Topic of the Month"   sheet with your Network Patient Representative and brainstorm ideas on how to best address the topic in your facility. 

The Network recognizes that facilities are always working hard to develop and implement creative and engaging activities for their patients, through bulletin boards, games and lobby days to name a few. Please share the great work you are doing through the reporting link offered with the topic sheet.
My Kidney Calendar | December
Each month the Network shares ideas based upon the "topic of the month" in conjunction with the 2018 My Kidney Calendar. 

December’s monthly topic of the My Kidney Calendar is “My Choices: My Lifeline.”

This month we encourage all facilities to conduct a patient engagement activity with information on understanding their options for and maintaining a healthy access. We shared the some resources last month in order to prepare.

If you didn’t get a chance to review them or want to see the other topics addressed so far this year, please check out the “ Topic of the Month ” list.

You can also check out the Patient Engagement Showcase to see the creative ideas shared by dialysis facility staff.
NHSN Reminders
NHSN is the nation’s most widely used healthcare-associated infection tracking system. NHSN provides facilities, states, regions, and the nation with data needed to identify problem areas, measure progress of prevention efforts, and ultimately eliminate healthcare-associated infections.

Want more information? Questions?
Click on these links: NHSN | NHSN Helpdesk

Facilities should:
Use the Line Listing-CMS ESRD QIP Rule Report to ensure the facility has met the minimum CMS reporting requirements. One-page reference guide .
NHSN Announces Changes to Healthcare Personnel (HCP) Influenza Vaccination Summary Reporting Requirements
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has removed the HCP Influenza Vaccination Summary Measure (National Quality Forum Measure 0431) from certain quality reporting programs.

The following facility types are no longer required to report HCP influenza vaccination summary data through NHSN beginning with the 2018-2019 influenza season for CMS quality reporting purposes:

  • Ambulatory surgery centers (1)
  • Inpatient psychiatric facilities (2)
  • Hospital outpatient departments (1)
  • Outpatient dialysis facilities (3)

Please note that while the CMS quality reporting programs for the above facility types no longer require submission of HCP influenza vaccination summary data, reporting these data may be required for some of these facilities based on state mandates. 

Facilities that are not required to report HCP influenza vaccination summary data by their state are still encouraged to voluntarily report these data through NHSN. 
CDC will be hosting two webinars for acute care facilities on how to report data for the 2018-2019 influenza season, now that reporting HCP influenza vaccination in hospital outpatient departments is no longer required. 

These webinars will be held:
  • Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 (12:30-1:30 PM ET)
  • Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 (2-3 PM ET). 

Webinar registration information will be available closer to the webinar dates. 

If you have any questions about these changes, please send an e-mail with ‘HPS Flu Summary’ in the subject line of the message. 
ALERTS
This resource was developed while under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Contract #HHSM-500-2016-00012C. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. 18.Q-ESRD12.05.050