October 6, 2017
Hospital Heroes
On Monday, less than 24 hours after 59 people were killed in the nation's largest mass shooting, Las Vegas hospitals were working to save the lives of more than 500 victims.
 
That's a staggering number, especially considering that Nevada has just one hospital - University Medical Center in Las Vegas - with a Level-1 trauma center.
 
Over the past week, stories of heroism have poured in - like the 53-year-old man who covered his children with his body and had footprints on his back from people who stepped on him while fleeing. Or the woman who jumped from her bed when she heard the news, loaded water into her car and raced to the live shooting scene. Or the military vets who literally plugged bullet holes with their fingers to stop blood loss.
 
In the emergency departments of Nevada hospitals, nurses and doctors worked tirelessly, making hundreds of split-second, life-and-death decisions. They too are heroes.
 
They are heroes because in these horrible moments, they do their jobs without fear or favor, without regard for their own needs - sleep, family, food. They represent the epitome of what it means to work in health care - that when the worst presents itself, there are those who rise to the challenge.
 
These women and men do not stand alone. Through the Hospitals Against Violence action program, the American Hospital Association is working to reduce violence in homes, at jobs and in neighborhoods. This website hosts a broad range of materials and information to help hospital employees cope with the impact of violence in their communities and in their facilities.
 
For their courage and dedication, the hospital workers in Las Vegas - and everywhere - deserve our lasting gratitude.

MHA Staff Update Executive Committee on Activities
During last week's annual Executive Committee retreat, MHA's senior leadership team provided the committee with an update on association-wide work on key priorities. The update included details of the fiscal year 2017 member survey results, which show that the All-Payer Model and workforce issues are the field's top concerns. The team also provided information on the association's strategic initiatives and interim work plan until a new CEO is named. Click here for slides from the full presentation.
Free Program Available on Reducing Preventable Harm
A free half-day program to help hospitals reduce preventable harm will be held October 13 at MHA's offices in Elkridge. Attendees will learn about CANDOR ( Communication and Optimal Resolution), a set of strategies and tools developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. CANDOR includes interventions that change how we respond to and learn from patient safety events. The program will be facilitated by Dr. Timothy McDonald and his colleagues from MedStar Health, the lead CANDOR pilot site. McDonald, Director of the Center for Open and Honest Communication in MedStar's Institute for Quality and Safety, will share the results of MedStar's systemic implementation of CANDOR as a core patient safety and continuous improvement strategy. The program will be of value to MHA members on a High Reliability Organization journey, as well as those already invested in supporting Just Culture or Care for the Caregiver programs. Members of hospital executive teams are invited to attend the October 13 meeting, to be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon at MHA's Elkridge offices. Registration is required.
 
Contact: Nicole Stallings
"Adopt a Hospital" Aims to Help Puerto Rico
The American Hospital Association (AHA), Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), and the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) have sent a letter to the Puerto Rico Hospital Association offering to create an "Adopt a Hospital" initiative. The group writes, "We envision ongoing relationships between stateside hospitals and hospital systems and Puerto Rico hospitals. We want to be sure that there is an established relationship between hospitals to facilitate dialogue and foster ongoing support in areas such as facility engineering and operations, employee assistance, equipment, supplies and community needs." The letter adds that the organizations have heard from many hospitals and health systems across the country seeking information on how to help. MHA will provide more information as we receive it from AHA.
Exchange's "Helping Your Patients Get Covered" Brochure Available
The Maryland Health Benefit Exchange has made available new brochures to promote the open enrollment period for Maryland Health Connection, the state's health insurance marketplace. The brochure is available in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Contact Lauren Hawkins at the Exchange with delivery contact information and the quantities of brochures you would like sent to your hospital. The exchange would like hospitals to deliver these to any departments that would benefit, including billing, patient information, marketing, and physicians practices.
AHA Offers Marketplace Resources
More than 10 million Americans are enrolled in health insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, and the American Hospital Association is helping hospitals help make sure the 2018 enrollment information gets to those people. The 2018 Health Insurance Marketplace enrollment period runs from November 1 to December 15, 2017, a change from previous years. AHA has created the Get Enrolled webpage that contains what hospitals need to know as they engage with members of their communities, as well as AHA's digital toolkit.
Breaking the Paradigm of
Health Care
 
A recent piece in Health Affairs suggested we can improve care through greater trust and respect for patients.

  Prime Offers Solutions for Market Analyses, Intelligence and Forecasting
 
Prime's through its affiliation with Vizient, offers solutions through Sg2, a leading provider of health care market intelligence, strategic analytics and clinical consulting services. Sg2 delivers an easy access platform of predictive analytics and consulting services that helps more than 1,400 hospitals and health systems - from small community hospitals to large integrated delivery networks - understand current and future market dynamics and capitalize on opportunities for growth and performance.

AHA Recommends Federal Actions to Address Opioid Crisis
 
Eliminating the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Disease exclusion for adults under age 65 would help improve access to treatment for those with severe or complex substance use disorders, AHA told the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee this week in a statement submitted for a hearing on the federal response to the opioid crisis. 

THE WEEK AHEAD
Wednesday, October 11
Health Services Cost Review Commission meeting

Thursday, October 12
MHA Technical Work Group meeting
TOP NEWS FROM THE WEEK
The Baltimore Sun, By Michael Dresser, September 29
 
The Frederick News-Post, By Kate Masters, September 30
 
The Baltimore Sun, By Meredith Cohn and Andrea K. McDaniels, October 2
 
WBAL, By Lowell Melser, October 3
 
The Daily Record, By Heather Cobun, October 4