Lumetra Insights
In the June 2009 Issue
On June 2nd, Christina Romer, chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers wrote in a Yahoo!News op-ed, “Healthcare reform is more than a social imperative – it is an economic necessity.” Her op-ed was introducing a new study by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers entitled, The Economic Case for Health Care Reform. The study found what I think everyone in healthcare policy knows: the financial trends in our current healthcare system are not sustainable.
The December 2008 study by the McKinsey Global Institute, “Accounting for the Cost of U.S. Healthcare: A New Look At Why Americans Spend More,” found the United States spends $650 billion more on healthcare than expected. In addition, numerous other reports have concluded that, despite this overwhelming expenditure, our system produces poorer clinical outcomes when compared to other industrialized nations.
For the first time in a generation, there may be enough broad-based political will, driven by economic necessity, to fundamentally reform… Read More
John H. Austin, M.D., Executive Chairman and Chief Medical Officer of Arcadian Management Services and a member of Lumetra’s Board of Directors, was killed in an airplane accident on Friday, May 29th. He was 65. According to Linda Sawyer, PhD, RN, Lumetra’s CEO, “Dr. Austin, though having only recently joined our Board of Directors, was deeply committed to our success. He will be greatly missed.”
Dr. Austin’s legacy includes leading Arcadian Management Services, a provider of high-quality, cost-effective administrative infrastructure and management services, which he founded in 1996. In 2005, he grew the company to offer Arcadian Health Plan, a contracted Medicare Advantage health plan. Through state or locally branded health plans, the plan offers Medicare health plan options to over 46,000 Medicare beneficiaries who reside in secondary metropolitan and non-urban communities.
Prior to founding Arcadian, Dr. Austin was President and CEO of UniMed, a physician management company based in Southern California. From 1987 until 1992, he was Executive Vice… Read More
Lumetra seeks a Public Health Nurse (PHN) for a full time position divided between its two contracts with the State of California’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch (CLPPB). The PHN will join Lumetra staff located at the California Department of Public Health’s campus in Richmond, California to conduct monitoring and performance improvement site visits and outreach activities.
As a member of a multi-disciplinary team that conducts site reviews, the Public Health Nurse will focus on evaluating the clinical care and case management of local Lead Poisoning Prevention Programs through record review and on-site interviews. The PHN will also offer consultation to assist counties in providing care according to guidelines in the CLPPB Public Health Nurse Manual. She/he will contribute to a written evaluation of the site visits and coordinate follow-up from recommendations for local programs.
For the Directed Provider Outreach component of this position, the Public Health Nurse will assist in the promotion of CLPPB mission, programs, and objectives designed… Read More
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released a training module on RSS designed for organizations that are utilizing TeamSTEPPS training. This evidence-based module provides insight into the core concepts of teamwork as they are applied to the rapid response system. It contains an Instructor Guide in an electronic format plus training slides that include a high-quality video vignette of teamwork as it relates to RSS. It comes as a CD-ROM with printable MS Word, PDF, and PowerPoint documents.
Go to the TeamSTEPPS Web site to order, or telephone (800) 358-9295.
Lumetra’s TeamSTEPPS Master Trainers offer counseling and assistance with TeamSTEPPS training and implementation. Contact us at info@lumetrasolutions.com for more information.
According to the Patient Safety and Health Information Technology E-Newsletter from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) dated May 28, 2009, on average, over half (52 percent) of hospital staff surveyed did not report any medical errors in their hospital over a 12-month period. This information is contained in a report based on data from nearly 200,000 hospital staff from 622 hospitals nationwide. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2009 Comparative Database Report summarizes the latest results from hospitals that have administered the AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Teamwork within hospital units and supervisor and manager support for patient safety are areas of strength for most hospitals, but non-punitive response to error and handoffs continue to be main areas for improvement in patient safety culture. Trend analyses found that hospitals with improvements over time in non-punitive response to error had slight increases in event reporting.
As a Patient Safety Organization, Lumetra provides a secure environment… Read More
As it has over the past two decades, Lumetra continues to work on a variety of government and private entity contracts. Our current clients include the following:
State Government
- California Department of Managed Health Care
- California Department of Public Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning and Prevention Branch
- California Office of Health Information Integrity (CalOHII)
- University of California – San Francisco
Private/Commercial
- American Institute of Research
- Integrated Healthcare Association
- San Joaquin Hospital
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Federal Government
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- The U.S. Department of Defense
International
- The Health Authority of Abu Dhabi
The 2nd quarter 2009 Journal of the California Association for Healthcare Quality (CAHQ) includes an article that discusses the value of the teamwork-training program, TeamSTEPPSTM (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety), authored by Julia Slininger, RN, BS, CPHQ, a Lumetra Senior Healthcare Consultant.
An article in the May 1, 2009 issue of the Sacramento Business Journal discussed a study conducted for the Medical Board of California by Lumetra in 2007 and 2008. According to the report, California’s medical peer review system is broken. Lumetra recommended a separate, independent peer review organization.