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New Bills - 2008
The following bills are being watched by the CACC
PUBLIC Policy Committee. These have hyperlinks that allow you to download
the bill if desired or you can go to
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/
AB
1058 (Alquist) – Health facility: Bacterial Infections
AB 158 (Florez) – Hospitals: Infection Control
AB 2658 (Horton) – Reportable Diseases
AB 2737 (Feuer) – Involuntary Testing
AB 2754 (Bass) – MRSA skin infections (workers comp)
AB 2886 (Nakanishi) – Sepsis Reduction pilot program
AB 2899 (Portantino) – STD: HIV/AIDS: Counseling
SB 1184 (Kuehl) – Infectious Disease Reporting
SB 1474 (Alquist) – Dialysis Centers
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APIC HAI Hearing Overview
April 22, 2008
APIC Headquarters has compiled a
list of some of the key components
to come out of the HAI hearing held
on Capitol Hill last week, in which
Rep. Henry Waxman, Chairman of the
Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, called deaths
related to HAIs "largely
preventable...not requiring large
investments or new technology."
Some disparaging remarks were made
during the hearing, including
calling the $5 billion spent
treating HAIs the healthcare
industry's "dirty secret," and
making reference to the current
system as providing "perverse
financial incentives by paying for
poor quality care." Some of the
hearing members felt funding for the
treatment of HAIs should be
withheld, along the lines of CMS'
regulations. (more....) |
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SB 739 & Joint Commission
Compliance
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Be sure your
facility is offering influenza vaccinations to employees free of
charge. |
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Be sure you are
obtaining a declination if an employee does not want a flu shot from
your organization.
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Joint Commission
expects an analysis of why employees declined flu shots (including
they got them somewhere else).
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Be sure you have
pandemic flu planning done or in process.
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Be sure you have
instituted respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette protocols.
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Develop and
implement isolation procedures for influenza patients.
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Adopt a seasonal
influenza plan.
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MRSA Legislation
Stay
tuned for legislation from Senator Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara) . Per a
report in the LA Times 1/1/08, the bill would require hospitals and nursing
homes to make public their infection rates, screen high-risk patients for
MRSA, and make MRSA a reportable disease. (AB 1058)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-superbug1jan01,1,1091219.story?ctrack=3&cset=true
To listen to
the MRSA hearings that were held in Sacramento on 12/20/07, go to the site
below.
You will need
Media Player to view the hearings. Chris Cahill, Enid Eck, and Shannon
Oriola and others of note all testified.
http://www.calchannel.com/search.php?date=122007&source=All&type=All&title=&Search=Submit
CMS
(From ICT 8/10/07)
Under new Medicare regulations finalized by CMS on August 1,
hospitals will no longer receive higher payments for the
additional costs of treatment
associated with three types of hospital-associated infections
(HAIs) and five medical errors. Beginning October 1, 2008, CMS
will not assign a higher
paying rate to patients who have one of the eight conditions,
unless they are documented as present on admission. CMS'
Inpatient Prospective Payment
System final rule gives hospital's financial incentive to
prevent HAIs and medical errors.
The eight conditions included in the rule are:
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Catheter-associated urinary tract
infection |
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Vascular catheter-associated
infection |
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Surgical site infection-Mediastinitis
after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery
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Serious preventable event-Object
left in surgery |
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Serious preventable event-Air
embolism |
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Serious preventable event-Blood
incompatibility |
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Pressure ulcers (decubitus ulcers)
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Falls
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CMS website:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/AcuteInpatientPPS/IPPS/itemdetail.asp?filterType=dual,%20date&filterValue=7|d&filterByDID=-1&sortByDID=4&sortOrder=ascending&itemID=CMS1201726&intNumPerPage=10
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Why such a team is necessary?
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CACC is
increasingly recognized as the authoritative voice for Infection
Control in the State of California, and |
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Infection
Control is receiving greatly increased attention from bodies
concerned with regulation, standard-setting and
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quality
improvement, and |
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It is
imperative that CACC maintain a credible, authoritative and
consistent voice, and |
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Maintaining
current and complete responsiveness to public policy initiatives
is more than one person who is also maintaining full time work
can do. |
Team Composition and function:
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This team may
be composed of the current President, Past President,
President-Elect, and Government Affairs liaison person. |
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The team will
carry out its business by telephone conference calls and by
e-mail. |
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It will confer
before and after significant public policy meetings and/or as
needed for the purpose of planning consistent strategy and
strong input and response to public policy proposals. |
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Meetings will
be convened by the current President and may be proposed by any
CACC member. |
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The team will
provide a report to CACC at each quarterly meeting. |
Benefits of this strategy may include:
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All members of
the Team will maintain current and complete knowledge of active
policy proposals, allowing consistent and credible coverage of
meetings which previous attendees are not able to attend. |
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The Team may
assign one member to be the spokesperson for CACC for a
particular process, thereby allowing continuity of contact with
key stakeholders such as office staff of legislators. |
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Newer members
of the team will receive active mentoring from more experienced
members, fostering a stable and maturing approach to Public
Policy by CACC. |
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CACC may be
able to provide more active participation in public policy
initiatives than efforts by any one individual could support. |
2008 Public Policy
Committee
Charity
Holmes-LEAD
email
Chris Cahill
email
Denise Graham
email
Frank Myers
email
Kim Delahanty
email
Lisa Tomlinson
email
Marian McDonald
email
Mary Mendelsohn
email
Shannon Oriola
email
Shelly Morris
email
Sue Chen
email
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