• The HCAHPS Impact Report: The World is Watching
• HealthStream Live Webinar: HCAHPS Is Not Just a “Score” – Turning a Mandate into an Effective Tool for Improved Physician-Patient Communication
• How Can HealthStream Improve Your HCAHPS Scores?
• HealthStream Live Webinar: HIPAA Changes Created by the Stimulus Bill: What this Means to Your and What You Should be Doing
• HCAHPS Essentials 
• Discovery: The Impact of Physician Alignment
• HealthStream Hero Interview
• Ask the Experts - Employee Response Rates
• Summit - Save the Date 
• Submit your Success Story 

The HCAHPS Impact Report: The World is Watching

How do your hospital HCAHPS scores compare against the nation's hospitals as a whole? Overall, how did hospitals score? How have scores changed now that ALL hospitals are reporting? How did bed size impact HCAHPS scores? How about rural vs. urban location? Teaching status? Ownership type? Region of the country? Hospital type? Exclusively available from HealthStream Research - this report answers answer these key questions and more.

Click Here to request your copy of the HCAHPS Impact Report

HealthStream Live Webinar: HCAHPS is Not Just a “Score” – Turning a Mandate into an Effective Tool for Improved Physician-Patient Communication

Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 3:00 ET

This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^TM.

HealthStream is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

HealthStream is authorized to award 1 hour of pre-approved Category II (non-ACHE) continuing education credit for this program toward advancement, or recertification in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Presented by:
Barbara Paul, M.D., Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer
Community Health Systems

Bo Hansen, RN, MBA, Consultant
HealthStream Research


The purpose of this Webinar is to educate hospital administrators, physicians and nurses on understanding the behaviors that compound poor communication between physicians and patients and the consequences of those behaviors. Patients’ feedback through the HCAHPS survey on their experience with physician communication is more than a score; it is an opportunity for physicians to re-evaluate the risk associated with poor communication skills and it is an opening for them to consider their ethical obligation to create a therapeutic patient-physician partnership.

The goal of this educational Webinar is to identify behaviors and actions by physicians, hospital administrators and by nursing staff to eliminate barriers and build strategies to more effective physician-patient communication. This session includes specific actions by hospital administrators to facilitate that improvement. Additionally, participants are given examples of nursing decisions and actions that have a powerful impact on enhancing the therapeutic value of physician-patient communication.

For complete Webinar accreditation information, click here.

Barbara Paul, M.D.
Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Office
Community Health Systems/HealthStream Research Client

Dr. Barbara Paul is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Community Health Systems. Dr. Paul is responsible for maintaining and enhancing the company's relationship with affiliated physicians, developing physician leaders, and providing strategic direction to enhance the quality of care in one hundred and twenty CHS-affiliated hospitals around the country. Dr. Paul is a board-certified Internist who enjoyed 12 years of full-time practice in northern California. In 1999, she joined CMS (the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). She directed the Physicians’ Regulatory Issues Team, an agency-wide group at CMS working with physicians to minimize paperwork, reduce administrative burden, improve communications, and create Medicare policies that support physicians in providing care to patients. During 2002 – 2004, she directed CMS’s Quality Measurement and Health Assessment Group where she was instrumental in the development of Medicare’s first "pay for quality" demonstrations and development of the Hospital Quality Alliance. Dr. Paul represented the agency as a board member of the National Quality Forum and the Leapfrog Group. Named by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the "50 Most Powerful Physician Executives in Healthcare" in 2007 and 2008, Dr. Paul is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and received her M.D. at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Bo Hansen, RN, MB
Consultant, HealthStream Research 

Bo Hansen has twenty-nine years of clinical and administrative healthcare experience. In her current position as Consultant with HealthStream Research, Ms. Hansen assists healthcare system executives, hospital leaders, and front line managers with research-based recommendations to address deficiencies, initiate change, and improve operational strengths. Prior to her role as a healthcare research consultant, Ms. Hansen served as Assistant Vice President of LBA HealthCare, an affiliate of HCIA. She has also served as president of CareComp Solutions and BHA Healthcare, consulting firms that specialize in measuring and relating cost of care with clinical and service outcomes. Ms. Hansen’s clinical experience includes managing Emergency Rooms and Operating Rooms in Canada, Denmark, England and the USA. She is a published author and a frequent presenter on the use of data and communication tools to strengthen relationships. Ms. Hansen is a graduate of University of St. Francis, Joliet, IL, and received her MBA at the University of Phoenix.

How Can HealthStream Improve Your HCAHPS Scores?
HCAHPS Preparation and Improvement courseware

Now is the best time to begin improving your HCAHPS scores. For newsletter subscribers, we are making the following special offer:

If you purchase the HCAHPS Preparation and Improvement Library by May 14th, you will receive a 20% discount towards your order. If you purchase the courseware by June 12th, a 10% discount will be applied towards your order.

HealthStream’s HCAHPS Preparation and Improvement Library prepares your staff by educating them on the actual survey questions and focusing them on simple things that improve patients’ perceptions of their care. This course is designed for all hospital staff whose interactions with patients are measured on the HCAHPS survey. Learners will interact with typical patient scenarios to identify their behaviors that both positively and negatively impact patient care.  This library is essential for communicating the importance of the HCAHPS survey to all hospital staff and physicians, building integrated and fully aligned patient care teams, and constructing organizational readiness for future CMS developments. 

With the HCAHPS Preparation and Improvement Library, you’ll be able to:

Increase Patient Satisfaction

 Improve Key Business Outcomes

For more information about HealthStream’s HCAHPS Preparation and Improvement Library or to see a demo of the course, click here.

HealthStream Live Webinar: HIPAA Changes Created by the Stimulus Bill: What this Means to You and What You Should be Doing

Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 3:00 ET

HealthStream is authorized to award 1 hour of pre-approved Category II (non-ACHE) continuing education credit for this program toward advancement, or recertification in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Presented by:
Elizabeth Warren
Bass, Berry & Sims PLC


The purpose of this Webinar is to educate healthcare executives and employees on the changes to HIPAA in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The webinar will review what covered entities should be doing to protect PHI.  As enforcement of HIPAA regulations grows and penalties increase for violations, it is important for organizations to review their PHI safeguards and make sure that they are in compliance with OIG standards.  This session will identify common HIPAA violations and the negative impact they may now have to an organization.  It will explain all of the recent changes to HIPAA and how they affect the healthcare environment.  Additionally, it will provide an overall framework for appropriate PHI safeguards for a healthcare organization.

For complete Webinar accreditation information, click here.

Objectives
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Discuss the revised policies regarding PHI and HIPAA.
• Explain the new penalties associated with HIPAA violations.
• Describe common HIPAA violations and provide a framework for your organization to put in place appropriate safeguards.
• Describe what healthcare facilities should do to avoid having a privacy or security incident.

     
Date: Thursday, May 14
Time: 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET
Forum: Online webinar
Cost: $99 per log-in – the number of participants is unlimited – Clients save $50 and pay only $49! Email us at researchinfo@healthstream.com for the special client invitation code.

Registration Required. Click the link below to register online. Payment is required at the time of registration via credit card. Instructions on accessing the webinar will be provided with your registration confirmation.

Register Online Now 

HCAHPS Essentials - April 2009

Discovery: The Impact of Physician Alignment

Physician alignment is defined as “…the degree to which physicians and their medical groups share, identify with, and work toward accomplishing goals together with their affiliated health system.” (Budetti, Shortell, et al, 2002) This Discovery Paper will explore how aligned and non-aligned physicians differ (including breakouts by specialties) and ways you can increase alignment among your physicians.

Full Article

 
HealthStream Hero Interview
Hannah Dreher, Bolivar Medical Center

HealthStream conducts personal interviews with individuals from high-performance healthcare organizations. Learn how these HealthStream Heroes are changing the face of healthcare and redefining excellence!

Ask the Experts – Employee Response Rates

“How would HealthStream Research define a ‘good’ response rate for employee research?”

Click here for the answer

Summit - Save the Date

Has your hospital or healthcare organization done something worth shouting about? Are you ready to share your Success Story with the HealthStream community, packed with healthcare leaders and professionals just like you? HealthStream is committed to connecting everyone in the HealthStream community to your successes and best practices.

Go to http://www.healthstream.com/mysuccess/ and you’ll find an easy to use form that lets you provide the details of your success. HealthStream will transform your approved submission into a professionally-formatted Success Story document, which you can then use in your own marketing and recruiting efforts.