The notion that small, easily-adoptable changes can suddenly lead to big things is one of the insights of the New York Times best seller "The Tipping Point," by Malcolm Gladwell. This idea can be applied to many aspects of health care as well, and is the theme of this year’s WHA Annual Convention.

This year’s convention is the perfect opportunity for you, your hospital senior staff, and your Board of Trustee members to network together and with colleagues from around the state, and delve into the idea of the tipping point of health care. This year’s convention agenda has several very important and timely topics, including:

• A keynote discussion of the value of being a leader who is committed to the organization and the cause, and why expressing that commitment in the first person resonates profoundly with others, by Dr. Brian Wong. Dr. Wong will also discuss how interpersonal respect as a team leader impacts quality of care, employee engagement, interdisciplinary teamwork, overall satisfaction, and operational performance.
• A plenary session focused on the need and use of technology in health care, as well as a demonstration of "best of breed" practices that are ready for immediate adoption in your hospital.
• A panel discussion with some Wisconsin employers who are taking aggressive steps to control their employees’ utilization of health care, and therefore, control their own health care costs.
• Based on national research, a presentation of best practices that facilitate extended CEO tenure and prolonged success, as well as truths behind popular CEO turnover myths and the operational blind spots that impact the success of CEOs and their Boards.
• A discussion focused on identifying and handling disruptive colleagues.
• A panel discussion with some of the state hospitals who have received the Wisconsin Forward Award, and how applying for and winning that award has affected their health care organization.
• A closing session focused on the idea of small changes having big effects on your health care organization’s relationship with its physicians, presented by Dr. Eric Lister.

At their meeting on August 2, the WHA Public Policy Council received several updates on important issues affecting hospitals, including the latest information on state budget deliberations and the health care reform debate at the state capitol and a detailed policy and strategy briefing.

"This is one of the most complex political and policy budgets in quite some time," WHA’s Eric Borgerding told Council members. "And it has massive ramifications for our members."

Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative President Tim Size, a veteran of many state budgets, agreed. "I don’t recall facing a budget session before where there have been such an array of critical hospital issues," Size said.

Several weighty issues remain undecided in the state budget, including the hospital tax, the tobacco tax, "raids" on Medicaid and the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund (IPFCF), the Senate Democrats’ $15 billion dollar overhaul of the Wisconsin health care financing and delivery system, and many important policy items directly impacting hospitals.

Much of the budget conference committee debate thus far has centered on health care with Democrats touting their health care reform plan, Healthy Wisconsin, and Republicans calling for more consumer involvement in their own health care decisions through their Patients First proposal.

Budget conference committee discussions are likely to continue through the rest of summer and could move well into the fall.

WHA’s George Quinn and Laura Leitch discussed the latest dialogue related to renegotiation of the workers compensation program payments to providers. For more information on workers compensation, see page 4 of this week’s Valued Voice.

WHA’s Jenny Boese provided Council members with an update on several important federal issues, including IRS’s proposed 990 form and accompanying schedules for tax-exempt organizations, the final Inpatient Prospective Payment System Rule and funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). For more information on these three issues, see page 5 of this week’s Valued Voice.

Also attending the meeting was special guest Otis Woods, Administrator, Division of Quality Assurance (DQA) at the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) who provided his vision and priorities for health care quality assurance in Wisconsin.

Woods told the group that DQA is proposing to scrap about 80 percent of the regulations that are in HFS 124 in favor of a less-prescriptive approach that defers decision making to hospital department heads.

"We want to bring stakeholders into the process and ask, ‘Is this what Wisconsin regulations should look like?’" Woods said. "We want provider input into the update."

Jane Walters, Deputy Administrator, added that the department kept the skeletal framework for the regulations, such as surgery, therapy and nutrition to name just a few, but since hospitals are required to comply with the federal conditions of participation the state is attempting to not duplicate federal requirements.

Improvements in the relationships with those involved in the hospital construction plan review process has been a priority for Woods. After discussing the process with stakeholders, DQA is establishing an additional point of contact for hospital planners and contractors in Southeastern Wisconsin. Woods said they already house staff in Milwaukee and it would "make sense" to have contractors bring in plans and make staff assignments in two locations in Wisconsin.

He congratulated Wisconsin hospitals for their #1 AHRQ ranking. "Congratulations for leading the nation. It was your hard work and the important services you deliver to your patients that led to this honor," Woods said.

WHA Executive Vice President Eric Borgerding added that Secretary Hayden presented the WHA Board with a citation that recognized the AHRQ achievement.

"There have been significant improvements in our working relationship with DQA under the Doyle administration. Your approach to quality and safety issues is one of collaboration and partnership with a common vision to better serve the patients in Wisconsin," Borgerding said.

Senate Democrats believe our society has a public duty to ensure that no one is without adequate and accessible health care. We believe that it is morally reprehensible that 500,000 citizens - including 91,000 children - are without health insurance. We also recognize that unsustainable, rising health care costs create urgency for comprehensive reform.

Democrats are proud of our quality health care providers. We are proud that Wisconsin offers a compassionate Medicaid and BadgerCare program. Yet, as willing as our State has been to provide a wide variety of services, the Legislature has not been equally willing to pay the bill.

Governor Doyle and Senate Democrats have offered several serious proposals: BadgerCare Plus, including expanding the program to cover childless adults; a $1.25 increase in the cigarette tax; a hospital assessment; increased state support for FQHCs; and Healthy Wisconsin: Your Choice, Your Plan. These provisions will improve access to basic care, improve the health of our citizens, increase MA reimbursement rates to hospitals, reduce the hidden tax on premiums and assure all Wisconsin families that their health care will be as good as the health care of their legislators.

As a rural lawmaker serving an economically deprived region, I have consistently fought to improve reimbursement for uncompensated care to hospitals with large Medical Assistance populations. The hospital assessment isn’t about punishing hospitals or taxing the sick. It is a responsible way to attract significant federal dollars and substantially improve reimbursement to a majority of hospitals that serve the poor. It is consistent with our sense of commonwealth that hospitals that accumulate large profits should pay a portion of those profits to hospitals that provide care for our state’s lowest income residents. It will reduce the amount of the hidden tax that these hospitals must pass on to other consumers.

The cigarette tax, long sought by Democrats and health care providers, should not be a political issue. It is widely supported by the public and has proven in other states to save lives and discourage teen smoking. Tobacco contributes to a $1.58 billion in annual health care costs. An increase in the cigarette tax can actually result in $60 to $175 million in savings to our state.

Healthy Wisconsin: Your Choice, Your Plan, will provide every resident with affordable, high quality, comprehensive health care coverage. It has forced an honest debate at the conference table and highlights the differences between Republicans and Democrats. The Republican reliance on tax breaks from Health Savings Accounts is predictably simplistic and reflects denial about the economic conditions of citizens who lack health insurance. Economically impoverished citizens don’t have choices other than to defer basic care as long as possible and rely upon expensive emergency room care.

While the plan is a sweeping reform, participants will still be able to pick their own plan and their own doctor, and the current delivery system will remain in place. Health care providers know that government has not provided enough dollars. Individuals know that government has not done enough to protect their interests. This plan does both, and retains the basic premise of consumer choice and quality of care.

The Democratic health care proposals offer a choice between protection of the status quo or aggressively seeking meaningful ways to reform a health care system before it strangles us. The status quo has failed us, and we will fail our fellow citizens if we do not aggressively set our policies towards a path of health care redesign that is sustainable and is guaranteed to produce expanded health security for all.

WHA Board members received a first-hand report about the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Law from former Massachusetts Hospital Association CEO Ron Hollander, during the recent WHA Board Planning Session held in late July.

The Massachusetts initiative has received much nationwide fanfare…and for good reason as learned at the planning session. Importantly, a couple of major aspects of the law distinguish it from the recently unveiled Healthy Wisconsin plan that’s included in the Senate Democrat’s budget legislation. First, the plan was a bipartisan initiative that was supported by the state’s Republican Governor, Democrat leaders, the MASS business community, labor union officials, provider organizations, insurers and consumer groups. Next, the initiative was designed to build upon the current health delivery and financing systems—as opposed to dismantling the status quo in order to "fix it." It also features a much needed framework of "shared responsibility" that ultimately is a necessary ingredient to advance a meaningful health reform agenda.

WHA Board members specifically noted three aspects of the MASS Reform Plan that deserve special consideration.

• The initiative includes an individual mandate requiring all MASS citizens to secure health care coverage (with recognition that the state must play an essential role in securing affordable coverage options for currently uninsured).

• The initiative establishes a public-private sector health insurance connector designed to "connect" uninsured citizens to affordable insurance options.

• The initiative recognizes that current uninsured are a diverse group and aims to provide coverage that aligns with that diversity. (This segmentation of the uninsured was of particular interest to Board members, especially in light of the importance of accommodating the individual mandate).

Without question the Massachusetts’ health reform legislation stresses coverage as its top priority. In fact, policymakers envision universal (almost) coverage as the cornerstone to controlling costs. When it comes to containing the rising costs of insurance premiums, policymakers concluded that by reducing the ranks of the uninsured, improving patient quality and safety, focusing on chronic disease management and prevention, and encouraging the implementation of electronic medical records….MASS will constrain cost inflation over time. The bipartisan architects of the MASS plan specifically rejected the type of single payer, global budget, "command and control" approach that has been cobbled together by some in the Wisconsin Senate.

Wisconsin health care stakeholders, including WHA, should look to and learn from MASS as that state begins to implement key aspects of its landmark initiative. Our two states have several important things in common—low rates of uninsured, highly respected and nationally ranked delivery systems, and legacies of tackling tough challenges successfully. What is currently missing in Wisconsin today is a bipartisan commitment to health reform. That approach worked in MASS two years ago and can be replicated here.

Steve Brenton
President

When comparing the pace of last year’s campaign to this year’s, at this time last year the 2006 campaign had raised just over $111,000. By comparison, this year the campaign is about $11,000 ahead. However, while the total amount and average contribution (almost $400 v. $296) is up, the number of contributors is down almost 40 from this same time last year.

"While the progress of the campaign seems to be a bit ahead of last year, this year’s goal is also higher," noted WHA’s Jodi Bloch.

Persons who have contributed this year will again be listed in next week’s edition of The Valued Voice. The contributors are published by name and their affiliated organization and shown by amount categories and in the order the contribution was received.

For more information, contact Jodi Bloch, 608-217-9508 or Jenny Boese, 608-274-1820.

The Workers Compensation Advisory Council met Wednesday, August 1 to continue negotiations on this session’s "agreed to" bill. Management, led by WMC, continues to push for payment cuts to hospitals, physicians, and others providing care to injured workers. Shortly before the meeting, management offered a new proposal that would require an immediate payment cut for at least 30 percent of hospitals and doctors and would provide what would amount to an annual payment cut for all providers by tying annual inflationary increases to the producer’s price index (consistently below 2 percent per year). In addition, if savings did not materialize, management’s proposal calls for further payment cuts for health care providers.

Management’s draconian proposal comes despite data that show Wisconsin to have some of the lowest medical costs per claim in the country while producing some of the best health outcomes for injured workers. Wisconsin’s health care providers work with injured workers and their employers to achieve return to work numbers that are the envy of the country, save the system considerable resources and, most importantly, are good for Wisconsin workers. Mystifying observers, management has continued to press for payment cuts for providers while workers compensation insurers have enjoyed among the lowest cost ratios in the country. The insurers recently announced reductions of two to over four percent in workers compensation premiums paid by Wisconsin employers.

"We have great health care outcomes, the workers are very satisfied with the care they receive, the insurers are making substantial profits, and employers are experiencing reduced premiums. It’s not clear to me that there is a problem they need to solve," observed WHA’s George Quinn.

Management had stated that its goal was to rein in the rate of growth in medical costs in the Workers Compensation system. WHA, the Medical Society, and the Wisconsin Chiropractic Association offered a plan that met management’s stated goal while protecting the nationally-lauded care provided under Wisconsin’s Workers Compensation system. The plan also would require prompt payment of workers compensation claims by insurers and would require the current payment database to be audited to ensure accuracy. Management, unfortunately, has been dismissive of any plan that does not cut millions of dollars from health care providers.

Labor, led by David Newby, AFL-CIO, adopted much of the health care provider plan as a reasonable way to address concerns in the program. Labor has emphasized that they appreciate the high quality and efficient care provided by Wisconsin health care providers.

The federal government is moving forward on several issues of importance to Wisconsin hospitals, including the IRS’s proposed revisions to the IRS Form 990 and accompanying schedules for tax-exempt organizations; the final Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule; and funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

IRS 990 – In June the IRS released a draft IRS Form 990. The core form includes 10 pages and is accompanied by 15 schedules. Schedule H is specific to hospitals and covers issues such as community benefits, billing and collections, joint ventures and more. The IRS will be collecting public comment on this form for 90 days. The American Hospital Association has provided a sample comment letter for hospitals to use as a model and is encouraging hospitals to send comments in early. All comments must be received by the IRS by September 14.

IPPS – CMS released its final Inpatient Prospective Payment System rule on Wednesday, August 1. Although opposed by 332 members of Congress, the American Hospital Association, Wisconsin Hospital Association and many others, the final rule includes a $20 billion dollar cut to hospitals. The cuts are the result of a "behavioral offset" provision, essentially a way for CMS to reduce payments to hospitals based on the "upcoding" they think hospitals will use in the future under the new DRG system. That DRG system begins in FY 2008 with a 50/50 payment blend. Hospitals would see a 1.2 percent cut in FY 2008 and then 1.8 percent in both 2009 and 2010 under the behavior offset provisions. The final rule also eliminates the capital payment add-on for large urban hospitals (a 3 percent cut) among other provisions.

SCHIP – Funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a hot topic in Washington as the Senate, House and President have different views on how much and who should be covered under this program. The Senate’s bipartisan package has a $35 billion price tag. It is completely funded through a tobacco tax increase. The House Democratic proposal, which was approved by the full House this week, will cost close to $100 billion and is funded through a tobacco tax increase, cuts to Medicare Advantage plans and a 0.25 percent cut to hospitals (both inpatient and outpatient). The President, on the other hand, has threatened a veto of both these packages, saying they move far beyond the original intent of the SCHIP program—to cover low-income children. Wisconsin uses SCHIP dollars to fund BadgerCare, so how the federal government ultimately sets SCHIP funding levels and coverage parameters will have a direct impact on Wisconsin.

If you have questions or would like additional resources on any of the above-mentioned issues, please contact WHA’s Jenny Boese at 608-268-1816 or jboese@wha.org.

Executive leadership of Grant Regional Health Center in Lancaster visited with State Senator Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) on July 27.

During their meeting, CEO Nicole Clapp, Vice President Jennifer Rutkowski and CFO Van Osborn discussed issues of interest in the state budget, including a tax on hospitals. They also took the opportunity to discuss health care reform and health care access.

Hospital leaders are lynchpins in their facilities and leaders in their communities, but may not be advocating as often or as effectively for their hospitals and communities as they could be. In WHA’s continued commitment to grassroots development, it is launching a new program, the Grassroots Leadership Training workshop, adding to its robust set of grassroots offerings, which include the Hospitals Education & Advocacy Team (HEAT) program and annual Advocacy Day event.

"By the very nature of their roles in their facilities, hospital leaders are individuals of influence," said Jenny Boese, vice president of external relations and member advocacy. "We want this workshop to assist our leaders in developing their influence in the legislative arena as well."

Each half-day workshop includes two primary components: an in-depth issue analysis by a member of WHA’s government relations team, and hands-on grassroots training. Resource materials will be provided, as well as ample time to network and ask questions.

To make the training accessible for hospital leaders across the state, the workshop will be offered on four different dates in October in the following cities: Eau Claire, Green Bay, Madison and Pewaukee. A full registration brochure, listing each of the four workshop dates, is included in this week’s Friday Packet, as well as online. Easy, online registration is also available at www.wha.org.

5 Reasons Hospital Leaders Should Attend:

1. A $60 Billion State Budget. Learn how issues like the hospital tax, cigarette tax and raids on the Injured Patients & Families Compensation Fund and Medicaid fund fared. Were you involved in their outcomes?

2. Health Care Reform. From universal health care to consumer-driven approaches, health care reform will happen in Wisconsin. Will you be engaged?

3. Health Care Knowledge. Only four out of the legislature’s 132 members (3 percent) have a hands-on experience in our health care system. If you’re not helping legislators understand this delivery system, who is?

4. Credibility. Legislators need to find you as a credible resource. Learn what credibility means to legislators and how you can increase yours.

5. Leadership. Wisconsin hospitals are national leaders in health care, but as hospital leaders, are you demonstrating that same leadership in the legislative arena? You need to. The future of Wisconsin’s community hospitals depends on it.

Six organizations achieved Mastery Recognition, including: Agnesian HealthCare, Inc, Fond du Lac; MetaStar, Inc., Madison; St. Clare Hospital & Health Services, Baraboo; St. Clare Meadows Care Center, Baraboo; St. Mary’s Hospital, Madison; St. Mary’s Care Center, Madison; and one, Upland Hills Health, Inc, Dodgeville received Proficiency Recognition. Evergreen Retirement Community in Oshkosh also was recognized at the Proficiency level.

Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, keynoting the event, said, "It doesn’t escape me that tonight fully 80 percent of the awardees apply their trade in the field of health care, which is to say that they operate on the shifting ground that is marked by dramatic changes, ongoing changes in delivery of services in the market and changes in the very science of medicine itself."

WHA Chair Bob Fale, in accepting the award on behalf of Agnesian HealthCare, said, "We learned a lot in the process, and we know we have a lot more to learn. Among those learnings is that we needed to be intentional about what we do, how we deliver services and make sure that it always rises to a level of excellence of which we can each be proud," he added.

"Hospital and health system domination of the prestigious Forward Awards over the past few years speaks to their commitment to performance improvement—performance that led to Wisconsin hospitals topping the AHRQ rankings," said WHA President Steve Brenton.

Reinforcing their commitment to their communities, 13 more hospital and clinical laboratories around the state have qualified for the Certificate of Achievement for Laboratory Training in Emergency Preparedness from the Wisconsin Laboratory Response Network (WLRN). Twenty laboratories received the award in 2006.

The WLRN is a network of more than 130 clinical laboratories in Wisconsin, with the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene as the coordinating laboratory. The WLRN is a subset of the National Laboratory Response Network (LRN), a collaborative, voluntary system of laboratories that are equipped to respond quickly to acts of chemical or biological terrorism, emerging infectious diseases, and other public health threats and emergencies.

Laboratories in the WLRN have three primary roles in emergency response: 1) recognition of unusual organisms in patient specimens; 2) ruling out unusual organisms according to the laboratory’s testing capabilities and protocols; and 3) referral of unusual organisms to the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) in those cases where a bioterrorism agent or other unusual organism cannot be ruled out.

The WLRN developed a series of four laboratory examination modules (Biosafety, Emergency Laboratory Response, Packaging and Shipping Samples, and Laboratory Diagnostics for Bioterrorism) to document laboratory training achievements in emergency preparedness. To qualify for the award, at least two members of laboratory staff must successfully complete each module. There is no deadline for participation in the voluntary training program, so more laboratories are expected to qualify for the award in the future.

The 13 additional laboratories that have qualified for the award are (alphabetical by city):

Langlade Memorial Hospital, Antigo

Barron Medical Center, Barron

Black River Memorial Hospital, Black River Falls

Cumberland Memorial Hospital, Cumberland

Sacred Heart Hospital, Eau Claire

Consultants Laboratory, Fond du Lac

United Hospital System, Kenosha

Franciscan Skemp Healthcare, La Crosse

UW Health Medical Foundation-Central, Madison

Westfield Hospital, New Richmond

Mercy Medical Center, Oshkosh

Richland Hospital, Richland Center

Stoughton Hospital, Stoughton

More than just emergency preparedness

Although the WLRN was created to facilitate the response to acts of terrorism, according to WLRN Coordinator Carol Kirk its impact extends beyond emergency preparedness.

"During the multi-state E. coli O157:H7 in spinach outbreak last fall, Wisconsin was the first state in the country to identify the ‘DNA fingerprint’ of the organism that sickened nearly 200 and killed three people, and we also reported the most cases," Kirk explains. "We believe that this was at least partly due to our network of actively engaged hospital and clinic laboratories that swiftly forwarded to the WSLH E. coli 0157:H7 isolates from ill patients. This enabled the WSLH to rapidly identify the matching "DNA fingerprints" from multiple patients and spur the national response to the outbreak."

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene commends the staff and leadership of the laboratories that have qualified for the award, both for their commitment to emergency preparedness and their contributions to public health in Wisconsin.

Some surgical complications are unavoidable, but surgical care can be improved through the use of evidence-based practices and re-engineering of care processes that include safeguards. To achieve these improvements, 21 rural Wisconsin hospitals (see list) participated in the WHA Rural Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP). Participating hospitals focused on three key surgical care improvement areas outlined in the national SCIP initiative including:

• Reducing surgical site infections through the correct timing and use of antibiotics, appropriate hair removal, controlling glucose levels and maintaining normal body temperature during and after surgery;
• Reducing heart complications related to surgery; and,
• Reducing the risk of a blood clot after surgery.

The project included learning more about the research that supports these practices, seminars about related topics, group networking, and sharing of tools and strategies used by the participating hospitals. This foundation encouraged participating hospitals to implement multiple practice and process changes, using data to monitor their progress.

WHA Vice President Dana Richardson, who helped coordinate the project, said, " By learning from each other, hospitals that participated in this improvement project were able to move forward more quickly than they might have on their own, and we had some fun doing it."

This project was made possible through funding from the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health Flex Grant.

Rural SCIP Participating Hospitals

Amery Regional Medical Center, Amery

Baldwin Area Medical Center, Baldwin

Boscobel Area Health Care, Boscobel

Columbus Community Hospital, Columbus

Good Samaritan Health Center, Merrill

Grant Regional Health Center, Lancaster

Hayward Area Memorial Hospital, Hayward

Hudson Hospital, Hudson

Langlade Memorial Hospital, Antigo

Memorial Hospital of Lafayette Co., Darlington

Memorial Medical Center, Ashland

Memorial Medical Center, Neillsville

Reedsburg Area Medical Center, Reedsburg

Ripon Medical Center, Ripon

Sacred Heart-St. Mary’s Hospital, Rhinelander

Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital, Prairie du Sac

Southwest Health Center, Platteville

Spooner Health System, Spooner

Tomah Memorial Hospital, Tomah

Waupun Memorial Hospital, Waupun

Westfields Hospital, New Richmond

Mark R. Chassin, M.D., M.P.P., M.P.H., has been appointed president of The Joint Commission effective January 1, 2008.

Chassin is currently the Edmond A. Guggenheim Professor of Health Policy and Chairman of the Department of Health Policy at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and Executive Vice President for Excellence in Patient Care at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, he served as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health. He is a board-certified internist and practiced emergency medicine for 12 years. His background also includes service in the federal government and many years of health services and health policy research.

The Board on Nursing (BON) recently voted to release a statement clarifying its position that advanced practice nurse prescribers (APNPs) have the authority to issue verbal orders. The BON determined that the Wisconsin statutes and regulations permit APNPs to issue verbal orders to appropriate persons. The BON action was in response to a Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) provider memo (DQA 07-0004) that stated that APNPs do not have the authority to issue verbal orders. The BON intends to post the statement of its position on its website in the near future. DHFS also intends to issue a clarifying memo.

The Wisconsin Chapter of ACHE is presenting a workshop entitled "Sustaining a Financially Vibrant Healthcare Organization" September 21, following the adjournment of the WHA Annual Convention.

Today’s health care issues such as workforce shortages, the need to update technology and make facility infrastructure improvements, as well as provide safe, high-quality patient care make financial challenges extraordinarily complex. In addition, health care leaders face ever-increasing regulatory demands and diminishing financial rewards. What organizational strategies are available to health care executives to affect their organization’s bottom line? How can leaders use meaningful metrics to examine such areas as product lines and supply chain costs and revenues? What are the critical links that exist between financial and non-financial managers (or clinical and non-clinical managers) that can impact the financial health of departments and the organization as a whole?

Attendees of this session will learn how successful organizations are improving their bottom line; key strategies that enable organizations to provide high-quality patient care and be financially sound; and upcoming financial trends/possibilities and what should be done today to be successful in the future.

This program has been developed and is presented locally by the Wisconsin Chapter of ACHE. The American College of Healthcare Executives has awarded 1.5 Category I (ACHE education) credit hours to this program.

The conference will be held at the conclusion of the WHA Annual Convention, on Friday, September 21, 2007, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel in Madison. There is no cost to register for this event, but pre-registration is requested. A brochure with registration form is included in this week’s packet and on the Web site at www.ache-wi.org. Easy, online registration is available as well.

The profession of pharmacy is changing more rapidly than ever. Are you staying ahead of the trends or just keeping up? How is your practice preparing for the future of pharmacy services? What plans are you taking to expand your professional skills and take advantage of opportunities waiting around the corner? The 2007 Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin Annual Meeting, held September 6-8 in La Crosse, will help set you in the right direction and leave you poised for the changes that await you and the profession. Choose from over 30 hours of quality continuing education while enjoying yourself in a casual and social atmosphere.

According to the most-recent data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), almost 73,000 children under the age of five were treated in emergency rooms for toy-related injuries in 2005. Hazards such as magnets and lead can lead to injury and death if a child swallows them. But surprisingly, some toy manufacturers still use these types of materials in their products, leaving it up to parents and other caregivers to distinguish which toys are safe and unsafe for children to play with.

To bridge this gap, Sacred Heart Hospital’s Center for Healthy Living partnered with the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG) to host a community event to raise awareness and educate parents and caregivers about the hidden hazards found in some of the most popular children’s toys.

The event, which took place right before the busy 2006 Christmas toy-buying season, was the first time Sacred Heart Hospital had partnered with WISPIRG, and the hospital plans to continue the relationship for many years to come.

Paula Pater, Sacred Heart Hospital’s Center for Healthy Living representative, explains. "Our goal is to provide education and information to parents and caregivers that can help prevent unintentional injuries to children," says Paula Pater. "Working with WISPIRG on the toy safety hazards program was a perfect fit for us."

Sacred Heart Hospital’s community event provided the forum for WISPIRG to distribute its annual Trouble in Toyland report to community members. The report included safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children and provided examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential risks.

University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics (UWHC) President and CEO Donna Sollenberger will be leaving UWHC effective September 30 after over seven years in the leadership position in which she has served with both distinction and compassion in her mission to provide top care, safety and service to patients. Sollenberger will join Baylor College of Medicine in Houston where she will serve as chief executive officer of the Baylor Clinics and Hospital and executive vice president of Baylor College of Medicine.

WHA President Steve Brenton said Sollenberger has been very active on public policy issues as a member of the hospital association’s government relations committee and more recently as a member of its board of directors.

"I have been impressed with the depth of her understanding and commitment to advancing a proactive advocacy agenda for patients," Brenton said.

Sollenberger supported the hospital association’s plan to measure and report health care performance statistics.

"She was also a strong supporter for legislative initiatives that will improve coverage, such as Medicaid expansion proposals, and an articulate spokesperson for the role teaching hospitals play from a statewide perspective in teaching and training the next generation of Wisconsin physicians, nurses and other professional staff," Brenton said.

Sollenberger will begin her new position in late October where she will lead efforts in building the first Baylor-owned hospital. An Interim CEO will be named and announced by the UWHC Board in the near future.