MHA's Executive Briefing

AHA Health Care Transformation Fellowship Accepting Applications through April 15

The American Hospital Association's Health Care Transformation Fellowship provides senior health care leaders with the skills to help their organizations execute delivery and payment system transformation. Through a combination of in-person learning retreats and webinars, fellows leave the program with the tools necessary to implement new care models.

The program provides a road map demonstrating how to migrate from where participants are today and strategies they need to develop for the future. The fellowship is specifically designed to give participants actionable information to help their organizations effectively execute and implement these care delivery models.

Visit www.hpoe.org to learn more. Applications are due April 15.

Webinars highlight strategies to eliminate disparities, promote diversity

Two new webinars from the American Hospital Association's Center for Healthcare Governance review strategies to eliminate health care disparities and promote leadership diversity at hospitals and health systems. Available free to all AHA members at www.americangovernance.com/policy, the webinars include key strategic planning questions for trustees to consider, board action checklists, and sources for additional information on health care disparities and diversity at the leadership and board level.

The webinar is part of the Center's Health Care in Transition education series, which brings the AHA's policy expertise and center's educational expertise to bear on critical policy and regulatory issues for trustees.

Webinar reviews certain ACA requirements for tax-exempt hospitals

A new webinar from the American Hospital Association's Center for Healthcare Governance reviews the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act's new requirements related to community health needs assessment, and the board's role in implementing these new requirements for hospital tax exemption. Available free to all AHA members at www.americangovernance.com/policy, the webinar includes key compliance and strategic planning questions for trustees to consider, a board action checklist, and sources for additional information on hospital tax-exempt status.

The webinar is part of CHG’s Health Care in Transition education series, which brings the AHA's policy expertise and center's educational expertise to bear on critical policy and regulatory issues for trustees.

MS Society of CPAs Nonprofit Accounting Conference this week

Each year, the MS Society of CPA’s offers a one day conference on nonprofit accounting topics. This conference is designed to provide the latest information to your bookkeeper, accountant or the executive who wants to learn more about accounting, tax issues and governance.

This year’s conference will be on Friday, November 2, at the JSU e-Center in Jackson.  The society will bring in four nationally recognized experts in addition to local expertise. The cost is $95, including lunch.

This year’s conference keynote speaker will be Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.  Secretary Hosemann will discuss recent and planned legislation and enforcement actions impacting Mississippi’s charitable organizations. There will also be a presentation from the Center for Nonprofits on current issues.

Joe Irvine, Development and Tax Counsel for Ohio State University will present sessions on Charitable Contributions including compliance issues and financial presentation.  In addition, he will offer a session on Unrelated Business Income.  Joe serves as the tax committee chairman for the AICPA’s Not-for Profit Conference.  Joe has a wealth of experience with these topics.

There will be presentations from the IRS and from field auditors with the Secretary of State’s office. The head of the IRS National Office on Exempt Organization Audits will speak about initiatives in the upcoming year. These sessions will allow participants to meet the auditors who are responsible for conducting audits in Mississippi, learn about the audit processes, and get answers to any questions they may have.  They will also offer a presentation from the MS Center for Nonprofits on the Excellence in Action designation.

In the nonprofit tax area, there will be an update session presenting key aspects of the Form 990 and its 16 schedules. It will include highlights of recent changes to the Form 990 and address pertinent provisions of the 2012 IRS Exempt Organization work plan.

Fraud in nonprofits will be presented by Mr. Jim Stickley.  Mr. Stickley has taken over 20 years of real-life fraud and cyber security experiences in the corporate world and turned them into entertaining and informative topics for security-related conferences, seminars and forums.  He has published works covering topics that range from basic identity theft and protection to national cyber terrorism.  He will present two informative sessions that you won’t want to miss.

Again this year, the conference will offer sessions on use of metrics in financial reporting.  Participants will learn how to instruct, inform and ignite their staff, committees and boards through the use of metrics. 

The conference will conclude with the popular Ask the Experts panel. To register, contact the MSCPA at 601-856-4244 or download the registration form. 

AHA, AAMC to host member webinar on bundled payment research

American Hospital Association members are invited to attend a free Oct. 29 webinar on findings from a new study on Medicare bundled payment sponsored by the AHA and Association of American Medical Colleges. The webinar, from 2-3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, will discuss key implications for policy makers and health care providers, and answer questions from the audience.

To register for the event, visit www.aha.org/bundlingwebinar.

Webinar on Mississippi's Medicaid RAC process

PRGX, the Medicaid RAC for Mississippi, has announced that it is hosting two webinar sessions to explain the Medicaid RAC process.  The webinar schedule is as follows:
 
• January 10, 2012 at 2 p.m. (CST)
• January 11, 2012 at 3 p.m. (CST)
 
Providers are asked to RSVP to Eric.Booth@prgx.com not later than noon on January 9 indicating which webinar they will attend and providing a contact email address for PRGX to send dial-in and login information.

ACHE Category I Hours November 4 in Birmingham, AL

The Alabama Health Executives Forum (state chapter of ACHE) is hosting a Category 1 seminar (6-credit hours) on Friday, November 4, from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel in Birmingham, AL. The seminar is entitled Possibilities, Probabilities and Creative Solutions: Breakthrough Thinking for Complex Environments led by Kevin E. O'Connor. It is one of ACHE's highest rated seminars. 

Seating capacity is limited to 40 participants. The Alabama Health Executives are offering a discounted early bird registration fee of $575 ($525 for groups of 3 or more from a single employer) prior to October 1. After that it will increase by $100.
 
If you have any questions or are interested in attending this Category I Program please contact:
 
Cathleen Erwin, PhD
VP/President-Elect, Alabama Health Executives Forum
Assistant  Professor
Health Administration Program
7072 Haley Center
Auburn University, AL 36849
Email: cerwin@auburn.edu | Phone: (334) 844-5051

System Changes Affecting Healthcare Facility Safety Webinar

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Avaris Concepts are hosting a 90-minute webinar for healthcare leadership to promote the development and adoption of strategies and tools to promote engagement in initiatives to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAI). The FREE webinar, Hospital Acquired Infection System Changes Affecting Healthcare Facility Safety, is geared towards CEOs and board members.

For more information or to register, click here.

Closing the 5 Doors Your Accounts Receivable Escape

nTelagent, an MHA Solutions-endorsed company, is offering a FREE webinar, Closing the 5 Doors Your Accounts Receivable Escape From at Point of Service.
 
Date & Time:
For your convenience, they are offering two options; to register, click on the session you would like to attend:
• Option 1: Tuesday, July 19 @ 10 a.m. Eastern / 9 a.m. Central / 8 a.m. Mountain / 7 a.m. Pacific
• Option 2: Thursday, July 21 @ 2 p.m. Eastern / 1 p.m. Central / 12 p.m. Mountain / 11 a.m. Pacific

Cost: Complimentary
 
Length: 30-minute presentation followed by audience Q&A. A demo of nTelagent’s point-of-service solution will be given after the Q&A.

Who Should Attend?: Healthcare and hospital executives, business office directors, patient access staff, revenue cycle directors
 
Topic: Seeing patients stand up and walk out the hospital door all on their own is a good feeling, especially if they’ve recovered from a particularly difficult surgery or illness. Seeing your hospital’s accounts receivable collections walk out the door, however, generates an entirely different emotion!
 
In this complimentary webinar, Irene Barron, a hospital business office expert, will:
• Identify five doors AR collections escape from at point of service
• Offer some practical ways your facility can shut those five doors for good – to increase collections and decrease bad debt and AR days
• Explain why healthcare AR is usually not really AR
• Present tools for evaluating your pre-registration/registration process, to ensure you have an accurate, efficient point-of-service strategy that addresses today’s unique challenges
• Pinpoint areas where you still can take control of your revenue cycle (yes, even amidst the uncertain economy and effects of healthcare reform)

Presenter: Irene Barron, nTelagent COO and Product Management Officer: Ms. Barron has more than 25 years of experience in business office operations and revenue cycle management, with extensive knowledge of registration, insurance billing, collections and reimbursement, as well as overall monitoring and reporting of accounts receivable.

Applications Being Accepted for the 2011-2012 class of the AHA-NPSF Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship

Now entering its 10th year, the AHA-NPSF Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship is a year-long transformative learning experience for clinical and administrative leaders dedicated to improving quality and patient safety. Through a highly participatory learning experience, fellows gain leadership competencies and learn advanced practices in patient safety and quality improvement.

The AHA-NPSF Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship brings together talented individuals committed to understanding the challenges of patient safety and dedicated to transforming health care.

Benefits of the program include:
• Expanding your knowledge of patient safety science and evidence-based approaches to improving patient safety and quality
• Enhancing your capacity to lead improvement teams, create allies, and spread and sustain improvement across your organization
• Increasing your ability to implement and spread health care innovations
• Completing a major improvement project designed to drive change and results now and in the future
• Utilizing new resources and an expansive network of national experts and fellowship alumni
 
The Fellowship is co-sponsored by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) in partnership with the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET), Health Forum, the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM), the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), and the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM).

Applications will be accepted through March 25, 2011.  To learn more about the program, visit www.ahafellowships.org or call (312) 422-2933.