FROM WHERE I'M SITTING...By jeff mero, executive director

Editor's Note: Jeff is on the road. His column will resume next month.

SNAPSHOTS

Space is still available for the January 6th presentation in Kennewick of "Creating a Peer Mediation Program for Your Public Hospital District," the first of AWPHD's educational presentations for 2006. Rosa Fruehling-Watson, an employment and labor law attorney at the Seattle firm of Foster Pepper and a former Human Resources staffer at Harborview Medical Center, will join trainers Julie Kebler and Dick Goldsmith. Rosa's day-to-day experience with employee conflicts in a hospital setting will make this interactive training even more relevant to participants.

The program brochure and registration form are available on-line at http://www.awphd.org/events/PeerMediationBrochure.pdf. For questions, contact Beionka Moore (206-216-2530; beionkam@wsha.org).

Thanks to the understanding and cooperation of the staff at the State Auditor's Office (SAO), AWPHD's 2006 legislative agenda has been shortened by one: our request for a 30-day extension for PHDs to submit financial statements to the SAO has been handled administratively. In a December 6th letter to AWPHD (which was passed on to district CEOs and administrators), State Auditor Brian Sonntag wrote that a submission by June 30th would not be a "significant issue" when the SAO issued an audit report. The rationale for our request was that many of the smaller districts have difficulty concurrently preparing Medicare cost reports and SAO financial statements by May 31st. Our thanks to AWPHD's SAO Committee for its help in achieving this result.

AWPHD has invited Brian Sonntag to be the keynote speaker at the AWPHD Mid-Year Meeting on Monday, June 26th. In last month's In Focus, we reported that passage of Initiative 900 in November means the SAO will be conducting performance audits of state and local governments. Either Mr. Sonntag or a member of his executive team will discuss the SAO's plan for developing and implementing performance audits for governmental entities involved in health care. (As usual, the mid-year meeting will immediately precede the Washington State Hospital Association's Rural Hospital Workshop in Chelan.)

If your district has at least 1,000 registered voters, your district's commissioners must file a Personal Financial Affairs Statement (PDC Form F-1) with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) between January 1 and April 17, 2006. This filing requirement applies to: (1) elected and appointed commissioners who held office during any portion of calendar year 2005; and (2) commissioners who were newly elected in 2005.

PDC Form F-1 and detailed instructions for completing it are found under Filer Assistance at www.pdc.wa.gov. This form can be filed electronically, by mail, or by personal delivery to the PDC. (Electronic filers have a one-time only requirement of submitting a signature authorization. Once the PDC receives a filer's signature authorization, the F-1 is filed when the e-filer transmits the report.)

If your commissioners have questions about this filing, they should contact a PDC auditor at 360-753-1111; 1-877-601-2828 [toll free in Washington State]; or pdc@pdc.wa.gov.

Because of a recent SAO audit finding at a PHD where an employee misappropriated pharmaceuticals and falsified and destroyed accounting records, we wanted to remind you of the steps to take when there is a "known loss of public funds or assets or other illegal activity."

(1) The district must immediately report the incident to the local SAO manager. See RCW 43.09.185. According to a SAO representative, the loss shouldn't be "for every little thing, but something of significance." For example, the district should notify the SAO whenever it investigates the activity.

(2) The district must obtain "the written approval and consent" of the SAO and the State Attorney General's Office before settling or reaching a compromise on a claim or law suit that arises out of the "malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance" of a public officer or employee. See RCW 43.09.260.

PEOPLE AND PLACES

AWPHD welcomes Point Roberts PHD (Aydon Wellness Clinic, Point Roberts) as its newest member.

Six PHDs-members of Community Choice Healthcare Network, a regional non-profit consortium of hospitals, physicians and clinics-are sharing in a grant of over $461,000 to the network's seven hospital members. The grant, awarded from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant program, will be used primarily for the expansion of a teleradiology project started in 2003; the grant recipients are to provide matching funds. The district hospitals and their share of the grant are: Cascade Medical Center (Chelan PHD No.1, Leavenworth), $14,079; Lake Chelan Community Hospital (Chelan PHD No. 2), $94,355; Mid-Valley Hospital (Okanogan PHD No. 3, Omak), $86,330; Okanogan-Douglas District Hospital (Okanogan Douglas Counties PHD No.1, Brewster), $57,717; North Valley Hospital (Okanogan County PHD No. 4, Tonasket), $98,559; and Quincy Valley Medical Center (Grant County PHD No. 2), $72,679. In addition to the teleradiology project, grant monies will support the introduction of telepharmacy at Lake Chelan Community Hospital and a tele-interpretation project at Mid-Valley Hospital.

The McCleary Community Chamber of Commerce recently named Jean Roberts, administrator at Mark Reed Hospital (Grays Harbor County PHD No. 1), as "Citizen of the Year."

United General Hospital (UGH)'s Senior Behavioral Health Center (Skagit County PHD No.304, Sedro-Woolley) earned the top marks in the state (96 out of a 100) in a recent survey by the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). During the on-site review for compliance with state standards, DSHS staff examined policies, procedures, personnel records and medical records, and other data. Dr. Pietro Poletti of Cascade Psychiatric Services is the Center's medical director.

UGH also reports that Qualis Health has selected the hospital to participate in a study for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on systems improvement/organizational change for patient safety. And earlier this month UGH's new, two-bed Sleep Disorders Center opened its doors.

NETWORK NEWS

· Rural Healthcare Quality Network (RHQN)

For RHQN members participating in the State Health Care Authority (HCA)'s Leapfrog Patient Safety Survey, the RHQN will help the HCA establish hospital work groups. Members interested in joining a work group should contact Regina Gallwas at HCA for more information (360-923-2823; rgal107@hca.wa.gov).

Some background information about the survey: The Leapfrog Group (TLG), started by large employers in 2000 to initiate improved safety, quality, and affordability of health care, has named Washington State as one of its areas of focus. HCA, TLG's designated lead in the state, recently distributed the survey to rural hospitals outside the Puget Sound region.

This voluntary survey measures Washington hospitals' gains on TLG-recommended patient safety and quality practices. For example, hospitals will report whether they have implemented processes to prevent wrong-site procedures (such as mistakenly operating on a healthy arm or leg) and vaccinated all health care workers for influenza.

Survey results are available to health plans and the public so that patients can make informed decisions when choosing a hospital. For instance, the HCA will share results with enrollees in its Public Employees Benefits Board program, which provides health care coverage to state and higher-education employees, retirees, and their dependents. TLG also wants hospitals to use survey results as self-assessment and improvement tools by determining how their patient safety and quality practices measure up against other reporting hospitals. (TLG's survey results are available online at www.leapfroggroup.org/cp.)

-Western Washington Rural Health Care Collaborative (WWRHCC)

The WWRHCC and Garfield County PHD (Garfield County Memorial Hospital, Pomeroy) received a matching-funds grant in excess of $248,000 from USDA's Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant program. Most of the grant monies are earmarked for the purchase of teleradiology equipment.

UPCOMING EVENTS

AWPHD Peer Mediation Training
January 6 - 9:30 am • Hilton Garden Inn, Kennewick
Contact: Beionka Moore (206)216-2530

RHQN Train The Trainer
January 6 - 9:00 am • RHQN Offices
Contact: Brad Vollegraaf (206)216-2550

RHQN Board Meeting
January 9 - 9:30 am • SeaTac Hilton
Contact: Brad Vollegraaf (206)216-2550

Safe Tables Learning Collaborative: Eliminating Nosocomial Infections
January 12 - 8:00 am • DoubleTree Hotel, SeaTac
Contact: Angela Segerra (206)216-2539

AWPHD Board Meeting
January 18 - 11:00 am • Conference Call
Contact: Beionka Moore (206)216-2530

WSHA Rural Hospital Committee
February 7 - 10:00 am • WSHA Offices
Contact: Melissa Waddell (206)216-2510

WSHA Executive Committee
February 7 - 1:00 pm • WSHA Offices
Contact: Lisa Rusk (206)577-1852

WSHA Medicaid Hospital Advisory Committee
February 13 - 11:00 am • WSHA Offices
Contact: Melissa Waddell (206)216-2510

WSHA Nominating Committee
February 22- 10:00 am • WSHA Offices
Contact: Lisa Rusk (206)577-1852

WSHA Strategic Planning Committee
February 24 - 10:00 am • WSHA Offices
Contact: Lisa Rusk (206)577-1852

The deadline for the next In Focus is Friday, January 20th. Send articles or information to Dick Goldsmith (richardg@awphd.org, Fax: (206)577-1897, 300 Elliott Avenue West, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98119-4118).

View Archive