MHA Society for Supply Chain Management

MHA Society for Purchasing & Materiel Manager's Annual Meeting

November 8-10, 2006

MHA Society for Hospital Purchasing & Materiel Management Annual Meeting, Sam’s Town, Tunica, MS

•• program description ••

Hospital Purchasing Regulatory Issues
Speaker: Richard Sanders
This session will focus on laws affecting purchasing by Mississippi hospitals, including recent fraud and abuse developments regarding purchasing, government comments regarding GPOs, and vendor compliance requirements under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.  A case study on a recent attorney general's audit of purchasing activity of a hospital in a neighboring state will also be reviewed.  Finally, the 2007 OIG Work Plan and general compliance concepts related to materiel managers will be discussed

Pandemic Flu
Speaker: Joyce Pearson
During this session we will discuss material management issues related to Pandemic Influenza and mitigation strategies for maintaining continuation of operations during a Pandemic Influenza event.

Memory Matters
Speaker: Paul Mellor
Misplaced your glasses? Can't find your keys? Having trouble remembering 'what's-his-name'?  If so, then this session is for you.  A topic so important, yet often overlooked, you'll discover ways on how to strengthen your mind so you'll never forget. You'll learn secrets on how to remember names and faces, remember your daily tasks and to beat absent-mindedness.  You can remember more.  This session will show you how.  But first, you have to remember to come.

•• speakers ••

Richard Sanders, JD
Richard Sanders is a Partner in Balch & Bingham's Atlanta office and directs the Healthcare Practice Group in Atlanta.  Mr. Sanders represents a variety of healthcare providers and managed care organizations on a broad range of issues including fraud and abuse compliance, antitrust policy, physician self referral management, medical staffing credentialing, Medicare reimbursement, legislative activities, and business transactions.  He also represents providers and managed care organizations in their relationships with regulatory agencies, including state Medicaid, insurance, and health departments, as well as the United States Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  He has litigated cases in both federal and state jurisdictions.

Joyce Pearson, RN, MSN
Joyce Pearson is the Program Manager for the Mississippi Hospital Association's Emergency and Terrorism Preparedness program. She received her BS in Nursing and MSN in Nursing Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi. Joyce is certified as a Training Professional through the USM Center for Workplace Learning and Performance and as a Center for Domestic Preparedness-Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) General Instructor.  Her work experience includes hospitals, nursing homes, mental health facilities and providing disaster preparedness training to hospitals and response agencies across MS.  Her areas of knowledge include Mass Casualty Event Emergency Preparedness, Infection Control, Employee Health, Risk Management, Nursing, Staff Development and Health Education.

Paul Mellor
Paul Mellor is president of Success Links, a memory training company dedicated to helping people improve their lives by improving their memory power.  A finalist in the 2006 USA Memory Championship, Paul offers valuable systems and solutions on how to strengthen memory.  He presents seminars throughout the country, has written extensively on the subject, and has been featured and quoted in several publications.
 

AHA, AHRMM call for medical device identification system

The American Hospital Association and its Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management on Nov. 7 urged the Food & Drug Administration to develop a mandatory unique device identifier (UDI) system for medical devices, similar to the National Drug Code that is used for pharmaceuticals. A UDI system would improve patient safety and reduce medical errors while increasing efficiency, the associations said, adding that a UDI system would facilitate the management of the roughly 600 device recalls the FDA issues each year.

Currently, device recalls require manual searches of inventory and medical records. With a UDI, searches could be conducted electronically, and hospitals could more quickly and accurately notify and, if necessary, treat patients who have received a recalled device, the groups said.

In addition to safety benefits, a UDI would allow hospitals and others to realize efficiencies in the inventory, tracking and purchasing of devices and could make it more difficult to counterfeit medical supplies. The AHA encourages individual hospitals to send their own comments to the FDA.

[ via AHA News Now ]