The Kidney Patient Advisory Council (KPAC) and the Forum of ESRD Networks Medical Advisory Council (MAC) have announced the release of the Dialysis Patient Grievance Toolkit. This toolkit was written BY PATIENTS and FOR PATIENTS and is intended to help guide dialysis patients through the grievance process. KPAC acknowledges the help and support of the entire ESRD Network system in creating the Toolkit. Find it and the other MAC Toolkits at http://esrdnetworks.org/mac-toolkits-1 .
We’ve added the September Monthly Patient Flyer/Poster to the Network 16 website at https://www.nwrn.org/patients-a-family/ptedres/mon.html . The Poster includes information about the flu, vulnerability, and the vaccine, links to a “Flu IQ Widget” or quiz, and how to get more information.
Don’t forget that healthcare personnel flu vaccination is part of the ESRD QIP, and must be reported to NHSN by May 15, 2017 for PY2019.
One purpose of the new CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule (see https://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Press-releases/2016-Press-releases-items/2016-09-08.html ) is to address a lack of communication and coordination between healthcare facilities and other state, county, and city emergency response systems. Northwest Renal Network is partnering with the Washington State Department of Health to present a webinar on Health Care Coalitions (HCCs) and Renal Services: Partnering for Emergency Patient Care.
Over the next three years, CMS will replace their traditional Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) patient identifiers with a new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). New Medicare Cards will be sent to all Medicare beneficiaries starting in April 2018, and all providers will be expected to have modified their software to accept MBIs by then. Between April 2018 and December 2019, either the HICN or the MBI will be accepted by CMS. After December 2019, the HICN will no longer be accepted.
The MBI will have eleven characters, numbers and upper-case letters only. A 2015 law (MACRA) requires CMS to remove Social Security Numbers (SSN) from Medicare identifiers. You may encounter the new acronym SSNRI, for the CMS SSN Removal Initiative. For more information see https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/SSNRI/Index.html and https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/SSNRI/Providers/Providers.html .
A “Great Shakeout” will be held October 20, 2016 to further earthquake disaster preparedness. The websites below offer links to many different types of resources, and regional summaries of who’s already signed up, for each state and in Spanish:
CDC has announced the formation of the Make Dialysis Safer for Patients Coalition, which aims to reduce bloodstream infections by half among dialysis patients. The CDC press release can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0927-dialysis.html . It includes a long list of professional, patient, and government organizations that have already joined the Coalition, and invites other kidney and dialysis organizations and providers to join.
Northwest Renal Network and the HealthInsight ESRD Alliance have been active in developing this effort, and our Quality Improvement Director Barbara Breckler-Dommert, RN, BSN, CNN, will give an educational presentation to the Coalition’s first meeting on September 29, 2016, describing our success at reducing BSI.
The Kidney Community Emergency Response Coalition is holding a “What If…Emergency Awareness Campaign,” encouraging dialysis patients to assess their level of preparedness, improve their ability to remain safe in an emergency, and engage with their care team to learn more about disaster preparedness in the facility. Participating is easy, and faciliies can select the best way to share Campaign resources and provide education to patients.
The Campaign will consider situations where there is no transportation, no phones, no power, and no dialysis facility. Find information at http://www.kcercoalition.com/contentassets/9b8fdc32e44c4fbe9e78dc7dde37cd42/kcer_what-if_campaign-overview-flyer_final_508.pdf and http://www.kcercoalition.com/en/patients/what-if…campaign/ , and register your facility in the Campaign at http://www.kcercoalition.com/contentassets/e8d8d02b05fc4d25b51272b1d33b0cac/kcer_what-if_facility-registration-form_final_508.pdf .
