The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is a private accrediting body that conducts quality surveys every three years in hospitals that choose to comply with the JCAHO program standards. Fifty-five of the Arkansas Hospital Association's 100 member hospitals are accredited by the Joint Commission. To obtain accreditation, hospitals must undergo a stringent three-day review, which focuses on the performance of patient care and organizational functions for the entire hospital. An accredited hospital must be able to demonstrate its compliance with the Joint Commission standards in an on-site survey conducted during each three-year cycle. JCAHO accreditation is so comprehensive that it will be accepted in lieu of the state Health Department biennial inspection for re-licensing hospitals under Arkansas Act 506 of 1999. JCAHO-accredited hospitals also have "deemed status" for Medicare and Medicaid re-certification purposes under an agreement with HCFA.

The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, the Medicare Peer Review Organization for Arkansas, works closely with hospitals in the state to perform quality assurance and quality improvement programs. These programs are meant not only to ensure the provision of quality hospital care, but also assist in continuous process improvements in the delivery of quality care.

AHCAF Selected "Point of Light"

In April, the Arkansas Health Care Access Foundation, based in Little Rock, was selected as a daily Point of Light by the Points of Light Foundation and the Corporation of National Service. The AHCAF was selected for its efforts to address the lack of health insurance for poor Arkansans considered ineligible for insurance coverage. It serves about 55,000 clients throughout the state. The Arkansas Hospital Association (AHA) has been an active participant in the Arkansas Health Care Access Foundation since the program's inception in 1989. The AHA, the Arkansas Medical Society and other healthcare provider organizations worked together to implement the program. Almost all the state's hospitals have provided free services to medically indigent people in Arkansas under this program, which includes a network of more than 1,700 physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, dentists, home health agencies, podiatrists, and county health units.

"Shaping Healthcare for the 21st Century"
AHA Annual Meeting and Trade Show, October 3-6, 1999

The Arkansas Hospital Association will host its final annual meeting of the century October 3-6 at Arkansas' Excelsior Hotel and Statehouse Convention Center. Superb entertainment, a host of prominent speakers and an exciting trade show await Arkansas hospital CEOs, trustees, management teams, and others. By request, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will entertain once again at the annual Chairman's Dinner with a retrospective of popular Big Band and Swing music, featuring several talented vocalists.

Jeff Bauer, Ph.D. of Colorado, will keynote the annual meeting with a futuristic discussion of healthcare and rapidly-changing medical science and technology. Jamie Orlikoff, noted governance authority, will speak to hospital CEOs and trustees on new governance trends; Scott Parker, retiring CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, will share a thought-provoking message he has written to his son, Tom, a young healthcare executive; and Michael Annison, a highly-regarded healthcare consultant, will present case studies of successful organizations and how they're surviving the effects of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

Philadelphia attorney Dan Mulholland and James Kopf of the Office of Inspector General, will join in a lively discussion entitled, "Grill the G-Man: What's New on the Fraud and Abuse Front?" A physician's view of alternative and integrative therapies will be presented by Christopher Foley, M.D., medical director of HealthEast Healing Center in Minnesota; and Cathleen Erwin of Montgomery, Alabama, will discuss how her system has coordinated a medical clinic staffed solely by volunteer medical and nursing staff.

Much more awaits annual meeting participants. Mark your calendar now for October 3-6, and watch the mail for updates and registration information.

Northwest, UAMS Building Seniors' Center

Northwest Medical Center in Springdale has announced plans to team with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to build a senior healthcare center in that city. Funding for the project will come from a $13.5 million private gift from Lawrence H. Schmieding, president of H. C. Schmieding Produce of Springdale and CEO of the Schmieding Foundation. The funds include $3.3 million for construction of a facility to house the center and another $10.2 million that will pay for educational programs at the center over the next 20 years. Schmieding will also provide land next to the company's headquarters on which the senior healthcare center will be built.

According to the announcement, physicians from UAMS' new Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging will supervise development of the center and its programs. The center's mission will focus on provision of primary healthcare services and the organization of educational forums for healthcare professionals and the general public. Dr. David Lipschitz, director of UAMS' Center on Aging said this would be the first of several outreach clinics located throughout the state designed for geriatric research and care.

Dr. Larry Wright, who has practiced in Springdale for 20 years, will serve as the medical director for the center, which will initially operate in a facility near Northwest Medical Center until construction is completed in 2001. He hopes the senior healthcare center will also have an effect of getting more young physicians, who will have the opportunity of rotating through the facility as interns, interested in geriatrics.

PRO Fraud Program
Scaled Back

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has scaled back a proposal that originally would have given the nation's Medicare Peer Review Organizations (PROs) the authority to actively search out healthcare fraud under a controversial payment error prevention program (PEPP) proposed last fall. HCFA officials told the agency's 15-member Practicing Physician Advisory Council in March that the new PRO scope-of-work contracts will still direct PROs to implement a PEPP, but the program will be limited to inpatient services only. As part of the project, each PRO will have to determine the error rate for the state it operates in, and develop educational programs to prevent future errors. But, they will not be held accountable for or be rewarded for dollars recovered as originally proposed.

In changing its plans for PRO activities under the PEPP, HCFA has redirected focus of the program toward correcting mistakes and educating providers rather than simply finding evidence of fraud. That will keep education as a principal function of the review organizations, which also conduct quality improvement projects and assure Medicare pays only for services and items that are reasonable and medically necessary.

HCFA had come under extreme pressure from several groups including the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, and the Consumer Coalition for Quality Health Care for its original proposal that would have changed PROs into HCFA fraud-fighting squads and paid them incentive bonuses for detecting fraudulent activities.