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AHA Educational Programs
On-line
The
Arkansas Hospital Association Web page (www.arkhospitals.org)
has been updated to include agendas and registration information
for AHA educational workshops and conferences.
To access the site, click on "Calendar
· Disaster Readiness" and review current
and future program offerings. Available on-line programs are highlighted
and may be accessed by clicking on the program title. The registration
form for each one may be printed, completed, and mailed or faxed
into the Association.
Arkansas Nursing Council
Explores Shortages.
Results of a recent survey revealed that approximately 1,000 nursing
jobs in Central Arkansas were vacant in June—twice the number
of vacancies in October 1999. Nearly 800,000 job openings for registered
nurses are expected in the U.S. between 1998 and 2008, according to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to the Nurse Administrators of Nursing Education Programs
Council, an advisory group for the Arkansas State Board of Nursing,
the only way to address the state's shortage of nurses is more scholarships
for nursing students and better salaries for faculty members who teach
them. The group has proposed:
- Legislation providing $3.1 million to give the state's 350 nursing
educators at public colleges and universities a $7,000 raise plus
benefits over the biennium. (Arkansas nurse educators earn an
average salary of $38,900 compared with $47,211 nationally.)
- $600,000 for scholarships and loans for nursing students during
the biennium with continued funding in the future.
- Creation of a Nursing Workforce Commission to gather, analyze,
and report data about the nursing work force to the House and
Senate Committees of Education and of Public Health, Welfare and
Labor, the Department of Higher Education and the Arkansas State
Board of Nursing.
According to researcher Peter Buerhaus of Vanderbilt University, the
number of RNs in the labor force will peak in 2007, then decline through
2020 to about the same level as today (about 2.1 million) as older
RNs retire. Hospitals will have to replace these retiring nurses at
a time when the number of nursing students declined and 78 million
baby boomers begin to enter the Medicare system.
Arkansas Medicaid Satisfaction
Ranks High
For the second straight year, Arkansas Medicaid rates as one of
the top Medicaid programs in the U.S. according to a recent report
by the National CAHPS Benchmarking Database (NCBD). The NCBD is
a two-year old program designed to compare Consumer Assessment of
Health Plans (CAHPS) survey results among various participating
state Medicaid agencies and commercial health plans.
The 1999 NCBD Medicaid adult pool consisted of over 28,000 recipient
responses in 77 health plans in 12 states across the U.S., from
Maryland to Washington and from Vermont to Texas. This represents
a 148% increase in plan participation since the initial benchmark
study reported in 1998.
In both the adult and child Medicaid benchmarking pools for 1999,
Arkansas rated statistically above average in the overall ratings
by recipients of their personal doctors, specialists, and the Medicaid
program in general. Arkansas also rated statistically above average
among both the adult and child populations for access to care, doctors
who communicate well with their patients, and the quality of customer
service provided by Medicaid to its recipients.
Advice Addresses Release
Of Body
During a recent meeting of the Arkansas Hospital Association (AHA)
board of directors, a question was asked about the release of a
deceased person's body from a hospital to individuals other than
funeral home personnel. It was the board's general consensus that
bodies should be released only to funeral homes.
However, after further investigation, AHA legal counsel Diane Mackey
says that's not the case. Mackey advises that there is no "direct
guidance" as to the release of an identified body.
A reasonable hospital policy would state that the wishes of the
deceased, if known, should be honored. Without such direction, the
hospital should inquire whether an anatomical gift has been made
and whether an autopsy is required. If there are no such provisions
which would delay release, the body may be released to a person
who claims it for purposes of burial.
There is nothing in Arkansas law which requires that the body be
delivered directly to a funeral home, but since the release is for
purposes of burial, some evidence that burial arrangements have
been made should be provided by the person claiming the body.
In the event that there is a dispute between claimants, the reasonable
priority would be spouse, adult son or daughter, either parent,
an adult brother or sister, grandparents, guardian at the time of
death, or friend. Should a dispute arise which is not covered by
the policy, hospital counsel should be consulted.
AHA
Unveils OPPS Web Page
The American Hospital Association (AHA) has launched a new section
on its Web site devoted to Medicare's Prospective Payment System
for Outpatient services (OPPS). The page can be found at www.aha.org/opps/OPPS_home.asp
and contains the latest news, regulatory updates, educational materials,
tools and resources, links, and reports on what the AHA is doing
in this area.
Arkansas
Research Yields Promising Results
A
team of scientists led by an Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH)
molecular geneticist may have found a way to reduce side effects
associated with chemotherapy and radiation treatments for a common
childhood cancer.
Findings from a study by Dr. Bin Chen and her colleagues were published
in the June 15 issue of Cancer Research. The research team
found that rhabdomyosarcoma cancer cells contain high levels of
methyl genes, which cause the cells to grow uncontrollably. Methyl
genes block the action of a "switch gene" that controls
growth of cells.
According to the research findings, treating the cancer cells with
a demethylizing agent reactivates the switch gene, causing cells
to stop dividing. The particular "switch gene," p21, also
plays a role in other types of cancer, indicating the findings may
apply to cells in those cancers as well.
Results of the study could open the door for a way that will allow
physicians to direct treatments specifically at cancerous cells
and exclude the healthy ones, according to Dr. David Parham, a member
of the team who is also chief of pediatric pathology and director
of surgical pathology at ACH.
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