IT Program Enhanced Skills — Well Worth
The Miles, Hours and Work

Last year, Vearnail Rowe saw a small item in Arkansas Hospitals about a new Information Technology Certification program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She decided to enroll.

That was quite a commitment, considering that Rowe is Chief Compliance Officer and Risk Manager at Chicot Memorial Hospital in Lake Village and lives 128 miles from Little Rock. Now, after about 108 hours on the road, more than 2,300 miles and 18 round trips between Lake Village and UALR to attend classes on Friday afternoons and Saturdays twice a month, she is receiving her Information Technology Certification.

Was it worth it?

"Definitely! I started with some misgivings, because I already worked with most of the software that was mentioned in the brochure. But by the second week I was hooked. The classes were fun and exciting, and I learned so much—even about the software I thought I already knew how to use—that it has been amazing. Now I can do more work, more efficiently with software and databases than I could before. I have learned about web page design, and I have also learned soft skills—how to deal with people, how to build a team and how to work as part of a project team—that are as valuable to me as the computer skills."

"I originally committed to Information Technology Certificate to not be left behind in the changing world of technology. The skills I have learned here have helped me personally and professionally more than I ever imagined. My efficiency at work has changed unbelievably. My employer says the day away from the office is well worth it."

"The biggest surprise was the variety of students—there are people like me who had a lot of experience working with computers, but we also have students who just bought their first computer and signed up for this to learn how to use it. Then, just a few months later, we have all learned so much more. The atmosphere is good. It's an adult learning environment, and everyone gets what he or she wants. Some of the beginners know now—after nine months—as much as I knew after I had been working with computers for five years, and I have learned much more than I expected."

The program requires completion of two semesters. Students progress through the courses at their own pace, studying a segment until it is mastered. They develop and demonstrate proficiency in word processing, graphic presentation, Internet uses, and programming in the first course. In the second, they move into broad applications of information technology such as spreadsheets, database management, programming, and Internet applications.

The final session is project development and portfolio defense, in which students—under direction of a mentor—work to solve real life problems in an active learning environment. Students present and defend a professional Information Technology portfolio that documents their use of technology to solve problems. These projects include serving IT internships, working on special projects, or developing applications they can use in their own professional field.

For more information on the IT Certificate Program, call(501) 569-8743, or check the web site http://www.ualr.edu/~itech.

HCFA Undergoes Changes, Including Its Name

The Department of Health and Human Services agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid is no longer the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). The name was changed June 14 to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, announcing the change at a Washington press conference, said the new name reflects a "new culture of responsiveness" at the agency. He outlined a reorganization of the agency, to be called CMS, with three new centers of service.

The Center for Beneficiary Choices will focus on the Medicare+Choice program and provide beneficiaries with information they need to make choices. The Center for Medicare Management will focus on the traditional fee-for-service program, dealing with providers. The Center for Medicaid and State Operation will focus on such programs as Medicaid, SCHIP and insurance regulation, administered by states.

Thompson said the June 14 action is the first in a series of reforms at the agency. CMS Administrator Tom Scully announced a $35 million campaign scheduled for this fall to improve education of seniors about their Medicare and Medicaid benefits and choices.

In addition, Scully plans to make his agency more open to beneficiaries and providers. Plans call for advertising campaigns in major media during the fall in an effort to better educate seniors on their Medicare benefits.

Scully has already been in the limelight long enough to make a turnabout on the issue of additional Medicare payments for hospitals. Prior to being confirmed, he told attendees at a May 18 conference on managed care that providers would be unlikely to get any additional Medicare reimbursement this year.

During a presentation before a conference of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Scully said that more increases in Medicare payments to providers are possible this year, if data such as hospital profit margins support the increases. During the same speech, he said HCFA plans to begin releasing quality scores on providers, eventually extending the scorecards to hospitals.

CSR Meeting Aug. 3

The second Continuous Survey Readiness (CSR) workshop of 2001 will be held Friday, August 3, at the Nashville Airport Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee. This one-day meeting open only to CSR member hospital representatives will focus on Joint Commission standards involving environment of care, infection control and patient safety.

Seventeen Arkansas hospitals have joined the CSR program with other hospitals in Mississippi and Tennessee. Through a series of educational workshops, face-to-face meetings with the CSR representative Linda Sellers or Russ Blackwell, shared survey team, email and phone communication, CSR members are finding the service invaluable to their continuous survey readiness process. The CSR program is available to all Arkansas hospitals whether accredited by the Joint Commission or not for a reasonable monthly fee and incredibly low meeting registration fees.

For additional information about joining the CSR program, please call Beth Ingram at 501-224-7878 or email at bingram@arkhospitals.org.

JCAHO Patient Safety Profile

At its April meeting, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's (JCAHO) Executive Committee approved continued development of what is now called the Patient Safety Management Profile. Committee members suggested that the profile reflect a hospital's "management" of the underlying systems and processes related to patient safety and its compliance with patient safety accreditation standards.

The proposed profile would also indicate the hospital's consideration and implementation of safety practices disseminated to the field through JCAHO Sentinel Event Alerts. The profile would be included in the organization's Performance Report and, thus, available for viewing on the JCAHO Web site.

In light of efforts underway by the Leapfrog Group, the National Quality Forum and others to identify patient safety expectations for hospitals, and to publicly release the information, JCAHO has developed the Patient Safety Management Profile as a credible standards-based approach, according to the JCAHO.

Accreditation standards related to patient safety would be grouped into a number of areas. Preliminary categories under consideration would provide information on: success of the hospital's leadership in establishing a culture of safety; safety of the physical environment; adequacy of infection control practices; safe use of medications; safe surgery/anesthesia/transfusion services; and safety-related qualifications of caregivers.

The Patient Safety Management Profile initially would be based on the organization's most recent accreditation survey. As each organization undergoes its scheduled triennial survey, the profile would be adjusted to include compliance with the new patient safety standards that are effective July 1, 2001.