LATEST NEWS
FHA Members from Across the State Gathering in Tallahassee for Key Senate Meetings
Today and yesterday, front line nurses, doctors, caregivers and administrators converged at the capitol to attend committee hearings, testify and meet with members of the Senate. The united message of “Health Care Cuts Don’t Heal” was heard throughout the capitol and media events coordinated to recognize the hospitals in attendance as well as the Heal Florida Health Care Coalition. We are scheduling weekly hospital visits to coincide with specific committee hearings ahead of the Senate’s budget proposal. The goal is to have hospital employees, patients and community leaders in Tallahassee each and every week of session to carry our “No more cuts!” message. To view photos of the events, visit the FHA Facebook page.
In a letter to the membership this week, FHA Board Chair Hugh Greene, President/CEO of Baptist Jacksonville, urged hospital leaders from around the state to support the coalition in a variety of ways, including:
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Writing your legislators. Visit the action center on the Heal Florida Health Care Web site to send e-mails directly to House and Senate members. Sample letters and legislative contact information can be found here.
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Speaking out to leaders in Tallahassee. Bring patients and caregivers to tell their stories. We are currently reaching out to hospitals across the state to coordinate attendance at several events beginning this week. We need you to bring patients, caregivers and concerned members of your community to Tallahassee to meet with key representatives and ensure our message is heard. Please contact Sarah McBrearty at (850) 222-9800 for information on how you can get involved in the Heal Florida Health Care Coalition weekly campaign events.
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Send an Op-Ed and Letter to the Editor of your local newspapers. Samples are posted on our state advocacy Web site to help you get started.(member login required)
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Join the coalition Twitter page. Keep updated via our social media channels. We urge you to share and “retweet” messages to your social media followers to help us spread the word: Health Care Cuts Don’t Heal.
FHA’s paid media campaign is also under way. This comprehensive grassroots and media strategy is aimed at opposing any cuts to Medicaid. To meet these challenges, the FHA Board of Trustees unanimously approved an assessment and use of FHA reserves to fund the campaign. The taping and editing of television commercials have been completed and are scheduled to begin running this weekend.
Finally, we are holding several member update calls throughout the week, for information on dates, times and call in information, contact Angie Boltz at (850) 222-9800.
FHA/HRET Hospital Engagement Network Enrolls 59 Hospitals
Fifty-nine hospitals have signed agreements to participate in the FHA/Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) Hospital Engagement Network (HEN), a component of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Partnership for Patients. The Partnership for Patients’ goal is to reduce patient harm by 40 percent and to reduce readmissions by 20 percent. Nationally, if the target goals are attained, 1.8 million Americans would be saved from injury, more than 62,000 deaths would be prevented and over 70,000 readmissions would be avoided. CMS estimates that these improvement efforts would save the health care system at least $17 billion. Through the FHA/HRET HEN, hospitals will be able to tap into a variety of resources to help with reducing infections, complications, other types of patient harm and readmissions.
FHA would like to thank those hospitals for joining with us on this important initiative! The first step is to assess the needs of each hospital then develop an improvement plan for each facility, connecting state and national resources to each hospital’s needs. To see a list of the hospitals participating in the FHA/HRET initiative, click here.
Save the Date: FMQAI-FHA Learning and Action Network Conference, March 20 and 21
FHA is collaborating with FMQAI, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Florida, to convene a statewide Learning and Action Network meeting on March 20 and 21, 2012, at the Doubletree Orlando at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. Learning and Action Networks bring together communities to learn and explore ways to solve complex problems that lead to rapid, wide-scale improvements in patient care. Given the overlap of quality improvement initiatives, FMQAI is charged to address and the work under the HRET/FHA Hospital Engagement Network, we are joining together on these learning opportunities to maximize improvement in Florida and minimize duplication of programs and initiatives. All hospitals are strongly encouraged to attend this two day meeting. FHA will host a pre-meeting the morning of March 20 for those hospitals participating in the FHA/HRET HEN. A flyer with registration information, agenda and the details on the FHA/HRET HEN will be e-mailed out in the next week. To register now, click here.
Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines
The Federal Register dated January 26, 2012, included a notice of the update to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines to account for last calendar year’s increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The guidelines in the 2012 notice reflect a 3.2 percent in the CPI-U between 2010 and 2011. The revised guidelines are effective with publication.
The 2012 poverty guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia are as follows:
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Persons in Family |
Poverty Guideline |
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1 |
$11,170 |
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2 |
15,130 |
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3 |
19,090 |
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4 |
23,050 |
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5 |
27,010 |
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6 |
30,970 |
|
7 |
34,930 |
|
8 |
38,890 |
For families with more than eight persons, add $3,960 for each additional person. The Federal Register notice is available here.
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