MHA Press Room

Swan, Alliston named Professionals of the Year

The Mississippi Hospital Association’s Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations recently named a Junior and Senior Professional of the Year for 2009. Swan was presented with the Senior Pofessional of the Year Award and Alliston was presented the Junior Professional of the Year Award during the society's annual meeting in Jackson, Miss.

These awards are given each year to an outstanding professional in the field of health care marketing and public relations. It is based on accomplishments and years of experience in the field, focusing on professionalism, creativity, contributions to the organizations and communities they have served, as well as a continued dedication to learning and furthering the field of marketing and public relations.

Bill Oliver, left, nominated Millie Swan for the award.

Swan has been with Forrest General for 14 years and has directed the Marketing, Medical Staff Services, Medical Library, Community Education, FG On Call, and Print Shop departments.  She recently received a promotion to the title of Chief of Marketing and Medical Staff Services. She has worked as a public and physician relations practitioner in the field of healthcare for over 20 years. Swan has been recognized as one of Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 and with the Sales and Marketing Executives International – Hattiesburg Chapter’s Distinguished Sales and Marketing Award. Swan has also given leadership to numerous philanthropic and professional organizations, including serving as past President of the Mississippi Hospital Association’s Public Relations and Marketing Society. Swan and her husband, Randy, are the proud parents of 16-year-old Ivey and 5-year-old Zoey Grace.

 

Becky Martin, left, nominated Amanda Alliston for the award.

Alliston has been employed with HMA since 2002. She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2007 with a B.A. in Advertising and a minor in Marketing. She resides in Florence with her son Hayden, 8. 

Humphreys appointed chairman-elect of MHA Board of Governors

Ray Humphreys, chief executive officer of Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, MS, was appointed chairman-elect of the 2009-2010 Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA) Board of Governors on Thursday, June 25, at the Mississippi Hospital Association’s 78th Annual Leadership Conference in Biloxi, MS.

Humphreys has served as CEO of Delta Regional since 2001. He previously served as chief executive officer and chief operating officer of Wesley Medical Center in Hattiesburg from 1976 to 2000. Humphreys began his career in health care administration at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Vicksburg in 1970. Humphreys is a very active member of MHA. He has served as a member of the MHA Board of Governors, chairman of MHA’s Committee on Legislation, as a member of the MHA Trauma Committee, and on the MHA Executive Committee. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Delta Economic Center and is a past member of the Delta Revitalization Task Force and the Governor’s Medicaid Advisory Committee. As a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, Humphreys was named Healthcare Executive of the year in 2004. He is active in church and involved with several community organizations.

Humphreys received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Mississippi State University in 1967 and his Master’s in Hospital Administration from Mississippi College in 1978.

Ray Humphreys and his wife, Michelle, have two children, Dr. Chandler Humphreys, a dentist in Hattiesburg, and Kelley Elizabeth, who was lost in an auto accident in 2005. He is the son of Leland Earl and Alta Kate Humphreys of Philadelphia, Mississippi.

MHA Media Briefing on Barbour's proposed hospital tax hike

In anticipation of the upcoming Special Session to finalize the state budget (and Medicaid funding), the Mississippi Hospital Association will provide media with a briefing on how Gov. Barbour’s proposed $90 million hospital tax hike will affect access to health care in Mississippi. We will also respond to misinformation being generated and Gov. Barbour’s latest proposals regarding Medicaid funding.    

 

A Question & Answer session with MHA President/CEO Sam Cameron will immediately follow the briefing. Interviews will also be available.

 

If you are a reporter covering a certain area, we can provide you with the specific impact of the $90 million tax hike on your coverage area. If you cannot attend but have questions you would like answered, contact Shawn Lea at (800) 289-8884, (601) 368-3237 or slea@mhanet.org.

 

When:  1:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 16

 

Where:  MHA offices, 116 Woodgreen Crossing, Madison, MS 39110 or call-in to participate

 

Call-In Instructions:  Phone lines will open at 1:20 p.m. The dial-In number is 1-888-640-7748. The entry code is 3830676(#)

Remarks from MHA Media Briefing

Opening remarks of Sam Cameron, MHA President/CEO, during media briefing

Attached below are materials that were distributed during the media briefing MHA held this afternoon. If you need additional information, please contact Shawn Lea at (800) 289-8884, (601) 368-3237 or slea@mhanet.org.

Official statement: Download Mhaofficialstatement

Misconceptions/examples: Download Medicaid Misconceptions

Proposed tax on Mississippi hospitals (by hospital): Download Legislative Information for Medicare and Medicaid

AHA report on current economic state of hospitals: Download 090427econcrisisreport

Mississippi hospitals fact sheet: Download Hospitalsheet

MHA Media Briefing on $90 million hospital tax hike

The Mississippi Hospital Association will provide media with a briefing on how Gov. Barbour’s proposed $90 million hospital tax hike will affect access to health care in Mississippi. We will also respond to misinformation being generated regarding Medicaid funding. We will include an analysis of the state budget and directly address the myth that hospitals’ failure to support a $90 million tax hike is the cause of the budget shortfall.  

A Question & Answer session with MHA President/CEO Sam Cameron will immediately follow the briefing. Interviews will also be available.

If you are a reporter covering a certain area, we will provide you with the specific impact of the $90 million tax hike on your coverage area. (Please contact Shawn Lea at 800.289.884, 601.368.3237 or slea@mhanet.org beforehand if you would like this localized information to be ready for you at the briefing.)

When:  1 p.m., Thursday, May 21

Where:  MHA offices, 116 Woodgreen Crossing, Madison, MS 39130 or call-in to participate

Call-In Instructions:  Phone lines will open at 12:50 p.m. The dial-In number is 1-888-640-7748. The entry code is 3830676(#)

Consumers and Employers Paying Almost $90 Billion Due to Under-Payments to Hospitals and Physicians by Medicare and Medicaid

Low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and physicians lead to significantly higher health insurance costs for consumers and employers, according to a study released recently by Milliman Inc. The report found that annual health care spending for an average family of four is $1,788 higher than it would be if Medicare, Medicaid and private employers paid hospitals and physicians similar rates, with total provider reimbursement unchanged. 

The continued underpayment of providers by public programs has devastating consequences for families and employers that are struggling to afford health care coverage. These underpayments create a payment gap to hospitals and physicians that privately insured employers and consumers must close through a “cost shift” or “hidden tax.” 

The Milliman study measures the cost shift as the difference between actual payment rates and average payment rates for Medicare, Medicaid and private payers; total payment to hospitals and physicians is held constant. The study does not assess appropriate levels of payment, but rather the disparities among current payment rates. 

The study found that cost shifting:

• Adds an estimated $1,512, or 10.6 percent, to the average premium for a family of four
• Of this amount, employers pay approximately $1,115 and the employee share is $397
• Families pay an additional $276 more in coinsurance and deductibles due to the cost-shift      

 Based on Medicaid’s own estimates,

Mississippi

hospitals are paid approximately 13% less than their allowable costs to treat Medicaid patients. Fifty of our state’s hospitals (43%) currently operate at a zero or negative profit margin. As the economic recession continues, the finances of our state’s hospitals will become even more precarious.

“This new study shows that cost-shifting is driving up the costs of health care for all Mississippians,” said Sam W. Cameron, President and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association. “In addition to this hidden tax, the privately insured must also bear the costs associated with bad debt and charity care provided to individuals without insurance. During

Mississippi

’s 2009 legislative session, the costs of these hidden taxes on all should be factored in when talking about taxing hospitals. It matters.”

 Find out more about why It Matters! in

Mississippi

at www.mycarematters.com.

James G. Chastain Appointed Chairman of MHA Board of Governors

   

James G. (Bo) Chastain, director of Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) located in Whitfield, MS, was recently appointed chairman for the 2008-2009 Mississippi Hospital Association Board of Governors on Thursday, June 19, at the Mississippi Hospital Association’s 77th Annual Leadership Conference in Point Clear, AL.

Chastain has served as director of Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) since 1993. He joined the hospital in 1990 as the assistant director of communications then transferred to the hospital’s Jaquith Nursing Home where he worked as an administrator. In May 1991, he was promoted to personnel director at a sister Department of Mental Health facility, East Mississippi State Hospital in Meridian – a position he held until his appointment as director of MSH.

Chastain is a very active member of the Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA). He has served as president of MHA’s Society of Behavioral Health Services and a member of the MHA Board of Governors, MHA Committee on Legislation and the MHA Executive Committee. He represents Mississippi on the Board of Directors of the Southern States Psychiatric Hospital Association Board of Directors and is a past member of the American Hospital Association Section for Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Services Governing Council. He currently serves as an Alternate Delegate to the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board 4. He is a Fellow designate in the American College of Healthcare Executives and is an active member of several community and educational organizations.

Chastain is a Licensed Mental Health Program Administrator through the Department of Mental Health. He is also licensed as a nursing home administrator and certified as a nursing home preceptor through the Mississippi State Board of Nursing Home Administrators. Chastain received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Mississippi State University in Starkville in 1982 and his MBA from the Else School of Management at Millsaps College in Jackson in 1990.

Bo Chastain and his wife, Connie, have two children, Charlie and Anna Claire. They attend St. Richard’s Catholic Church in Jackson.

MHA Foundation Awarded National Jobs Initiative Grant

The Mississippi Hospital Association Health, Research & Educational Foundation has been awarded a $437,750 grant to help advance the careers of frontline health care workers by providing training to build skills, increase earning potential, and improve the quality of care and services that patients receive. The Mississippi Jobs to Careers Initiative was one of eight selected nationwide through Jobs to Careers: Promoting Work-Based Learning for Quality Care, a national initiative that supports a variety of projects to develop the skills of workers who deliver direct health care and services.

The grant will allow the Mississippi Jobs to Careers Initiative to implement the program in Jackson, Mississippi, through a partnership between the Mississippi Office of Nursing Workforce, Central Mississippi Medical Center and Hinds Community College. The initiative, managed by the Office of Nursing Workforce, will be introduced to frontline workers such as nursing assistants, housekeeping and clerical workers from Central Mississippi Medical Center. It will provide them with opportunities to increase their skills in order to reduce high turnover rates and vacancies among ancillary staff, especially unit service clerks, and to improve the quality of care provided to consumers.

Central Mississippi Medical Center will be responsible for developing and defining training curriculum, creating new human resources policies to include career ladders for frontline workers with wage increases, recognition, and rewards, while establishing a work ethic needed to sustain a continual work-based learning model. Hinds Community College will develop courses, policies, and processes to provide classes to staff on the medical center’s campus. Curricula will be developed and implemented to provide short-term, challenging blocks of instruction for the worker to take and apply immediately in the health care setting and to provide certificates and academic credits for learning accomplishments.

Across the United States, 4.7 million frontline health care workers provide patients and clients with preventive and early intervention services, chronic illness management strategies, and long-term and post-hospitalization rehabilitative care. Despite their critical and expanding role in delivering health care, these workers earn less than $40,000 per year on average and have limited opportunities to build skills or advance professionally.

“Our goal through this initiative is to provide work-based learning and career advancement to the frontline workers of Central Mississippi Medical Center. This is an opportunity for staff to receive additional training as well as recognition and reward. Many of the frontline workers are long-time, loyal employees who will benefit from the project for career advancement,” said Debbie Logan, R.N., M.H.A., project director for the Office of Nursing Workforce.

This is the second round of grants under Jobs to Careers, a four-year, $15.8 million national initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in collaboration with the Hitachi Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor. The program encourages partnerships among employers, educational institutions, and other organizations to improve training and advancement opportunities for their frontline workers. Workers who may benefit include medical assistants, health educators, laboratory technicians, home health aides, substance abuse counselors, and dietary aides.

The partnership organizations are working to implement long-term systems changes and test new models of work-based learning – an approach to adult education that emphasizes the employee as learner, and the work process itself as a source of learning. Boston-based Jobs for the Future serves as the Jobs to Careers national program office.

“This initiative allows us to leverage the resources of Hinds Community College, Central Mississippi Medical Center, and the Office of Nursing Workforce to help Mississippians increase their employability while meeting the skilled workforce needs of one of our local health care providers,” said Dr. Clyde Muse, Hinds Community College president.

“Hinds Community College has multiple partnership activities ongoing with Central Mississippi Medical Center. These include nursing, allied health, and short-term and continuing education events. We are looking forward to integrating these new partnership activities that will impact frontline workers,” said Libby Mahaffey, Ph.D., R.N., dean of nursing and allied health at Hinds Community College.

Carol McCullough, R.N., M.N., F.A.C.H.E., chief nursing officer at Central Mississippi Medical Center, said “We are very excited to be involved in this endeavor. Our experience with Hinds Community College and the Office of Nursing Workforce has been very productive, and we are all committed to the advancement of adult learners. Our proximity to the college and the already existing joint efforts make this a natural fit.”

This project is among eight selected nationwide out of two hundred applicants. The eight projects will be implemented in diverse settings, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, and community and behavioral health centers in cities and remote villages. The new grants bring the total number of Jobs to Careers projects to seventeen. A full list of all projects and further information about Jobs to Careers are available at www.jobs2careers.org.

Pearson attends Birthday Celebration for His Majesty the Emperor of Japan

Left to Right: Mrs. Masura Sakato, Joyce Pearson and Consul General Masura Sakato

On December 6, 2007, Joyce Pearson, program manager for the Mississippi Hospital Association’s (MHA) Office of Emergency and Terrorism Preparedness, was invited to a reception in New Orleans, Louisiana, to celebrate the birthday of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. The celebration was hosted by Masura Sakato, the Consulate-General of Japan, who has held the post in New Orleans since 2005. The reception was also a farewell send-off for Consul General Sakato upon completion of his successful appointment.

Pearson received the special invitation in appreciation of MHA’s response and recovery efforts during and after Hurricane Katrina. Pearson and her staff provided assistance to Consul General Sakato in his work to support Japanese citizens in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. During the disaster relief, Consul General Sakato contacted numerous entities and healthcare facilities in efforts to locate misplaced Japanese citizens in the south eastern states affected by the storm. Consul General Sakato was directed to the Mississippi Hospital Association facility in Madison, Mississippi where Pearson assisted him in his search. “It was an honor to know and work with Consul General Sakato. His passion and dedication for the American and Japanese citizens of the southeastern states were evident during that critical time,” Pearson said.

As gifts of celebration and farewell, Pearson presented an autographed copy of Wyatt Waters’ book Painting Home to Consul General and Mrs. Masura Sakato and an autographed, two-volume set of Walt Grayson’s book Looking Around Mississippi to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.

My Care Matters campaign launched in conjunction with legislative session

Health care is becoming an increasingly political issue – for health care providers, for consumers, and for businesses struggling to provide employees with health insurance. The Mississippi Hospital Association is launching My Care Matters, online at www.mycarematters.com, during the 2008 Mississippi legislative session to help consumers and businesses better understand how issues important to hospitals also affect the general public and the business community.

“In our upcoming state legislative session, there will be much discussion on how to fund the growing deficit in our state’s Medicaid program. It is going to be critical that health care consumers and the business industry in our state understand how the outcome of these discussions will affect the bottom lines of their family incomes and businesses,” said Sam W. Cameron, President/Chief Executive Officer of the Mississippi Hospital Association. “But this new Web site will not just monitor state legislative activities. It will also explain how national legislation and regulations affect consumers and businesses too.”

The Web site is designed to serve as a resource for consumers and businesses to see how state and national legislation affects their access to quality health care. It will also highlight resources to help all Mississippians become informed health care consumers and will track issues pertinent to health care consumers and businesses on the site, including access to care, affordability of care, emergency readiness, Medicaid, Medicare, quality and patient safety, rural health care and workforce issues.