’s
January 9, 2015 edition
The Pulse
Your regular check up on SCKMC activities Share your thoughts, story ideas, and comments by e-mail to claytonp@sckrmc.org.
SCKMC Responds to Hospital Acquired Condition Report Thursday afternoon staff at SCKMC learned of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data, reported initially by Kaiser Health and picked up by the local media, stating they would be penalized for high infection rates. In response to this information, SCKMC Chief Marketing Officer Clayton Pappan released the following statement: “We continue to research this matter and have located the report on the CMS website, hospitalcompare.gov. However we still do not understand how the scores were determined and have yet to receive penalties or be notified of future penalties by CMS. We do know this report is part of a new Medicare payment reduction program called the Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program, established by the Affordable Care Act. The program’s intent is to lower the number of preventable conditions that patients develop during stays, specifically hospital acquired infections and serious complications like collapsed lungs, surgical incisions that re-open following surgery, pressure ulcers, and post-operative blood clots. The report included infections that occurred in patients discharged from 1/1/12 through 12/31/1313. For the other adverse events, the time period is 7/1/11 through 6/20/13. In-house data does not appear to support the CMS report's findings. The information for complications was calculated by Medicare itself using claims data, which do not fully reflect the details of a patient’s history, course of care and clinical risk factors. As a result, the rates derived from the measures are inexact. We have no way to replicate or validate the numbers they used. Current data furnished by CMS shows that our rate of complications are no different than the national average. In-house data shows we have had only one reportable hospital acquired infection during the two-year data period. It appears that because our numbers are so low in these two areas, they were excluded from the calculations used to determine two-thirds of the final score. Finally, we strive to be transparent in every aspect of our organization, but particularly when it relates to patient safety and the quality of healthcare we provide. We submit all reportable infections and complications on an on-going basis, participate in patient safety improvement programs on a regional level, and work with staff on an on-going basis to improve techniques and training. Again, we disagree with the findings of this CMS report, and believe are actual score should be considerably lower. However, we consider even that figure to be too high and continuously work to reach our goal of zero.”
SCKMC Welcomes 1st Baby of 2015 Jasmine Raye is SCKMC's first baby of 2015! Jasmine was born 1/3/15 at 6:32 p.m. and weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. Congratulations to Ariel & Josh on your bundle of joy, and thank you for allowing Dr. Lin and the rest of the SCKMC birthing team to be part of this special moment in your lives.
A Trio of Promotions at SCKMC SCKMC has been “growing their own” in relation to management opportunities over the past two months. In addition to the return of former long-term Arkansas City Memorial Hospital employee Virgil Watson, who took over as Chief Executive Officer on January 5th, three staff members were recently promoted to management positions within their areas of expertise. Shaylee Jagels was promoted to Team Leader of the Family Birthing department in November. Jagels has worked for SCKMC for the past five years as a registered nurse for the family birthing department and as house supervisor. Katrenia Beane was promoted to Team Leader of the Radiology department in December. Beane has worked for SCKMC for the past four years as a radiology technician. Heather Judd was promoted to Director of Nursing Services in December. Judd has worked for SCKMC for the past 11 years as a registered nurse for the medical/surgical unit and as house supervisor. “We are extremely fortunate to have a number of highly skilled and dedicated staff members who are willing to accept leadership positions at South Central Kansas Medical Center,” said Jane Campbell, SCKMC’s Director of Hospital Quality and Risk Management. “Their commitment to quality of care, patient safety, and customer service is very clear, and I am greatly looking forward to working with them as we continually strive to improve the care we provide.”
Employee of the Month Congratulations Patricia McMains - Team Leader of Health Information Services, for being named the SCKMC Exceptional Service Award winner for the month of January! Patricia was nominated by a coworker for going above and beyond to assist a patient with their continuing healthcare needs after dismissal.
6401 Patterson Parkway, Arkansas City
When It’s About More Than Just Your Health. .
Dr. Perry Lin – OB/GYN
Dr. Lin is Ark City’s first full-time obstetrician and gynecologist, with a sub-specialty in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. He provides a full range of women’s health services including advanced laparoscopic surgery.
• Obstetrics • Infertility • Gynecology • High Risk Pregnancy • Women’s Health • Laparoscopic Surgery Now accepting new patients through SCKMC’s specialty clinic. No referral needed!*
To find out more call or visit us online.
Scheduler: 620-441- 5711 www.sckmc.org
Our LDRP Family Birthing Center - A Suite Way to Start
*Insurance requirements may vary based upon individual plans.