We try to identify acronyms and abbreviations that aren’t in the standard nephrology vocabulary as we go, but if you’re new to nephrology or to our Networks, you may find an abbreviation you don’t recognize, so we’ve added a list of them on the page labeled “Acronyms” in the menu bar above. If you encounter an acronynm or abbreviation that you don’t recognize and that’s not on our list, please click on “Leave a Comment” and let us know, and we’ll add it to the list.
Continuing the theme of “New CMS Contract Requirements,” we’ve published the February Network 16 News. Find a copy to download at https://www.nwrn.org/providers-and-professional-staff/nw16n.html . We ask and briefly answer the questions,
We also announce a job opening at the Network (see top of this page), describe how to subscribe to the blog you’re reading, and catalog five professional meetings between February and May (see “Facility Calendar” at the top of this page), for many different healthcare professions.
As regular readers know, ESRD Networks 16 and 18 now both operate under the HealthInsight banner. Since most of our blog posts apply to all facilities equally (over 90% last month, for instance), we’ll publish one blog for facilities in both the five Northwest Renal Network states, and the Southern California Renal Network’s territory. We’ve renamed the blog from “nwrnbulletins” to “esrdbulletins.” We know that this blog is read in other parts of the US as well. To make it easy for you to bypass the few emails that don’t apply to your operations, we’ll make “NW” or “SC,” respectively, the first two letters of the subject line of any post that applies only to Northwest or Southern California facilities.
Feedback is always welcome; just leave us a comment below. Also please leave a comment if you think we’re missing anything important!
Some of the long links in some posts in this blog do not wrap from one line to the next, and may overwrite the menus on the right side of the screen. If this ever creates a problem, such as not being able to read a link, or not being able to access a menu item, shrinking the text size (usually <Ctrl><->, ie hitting the Minus or Dash/Hyphen key while depressing the Ctrl key) will alleviate the problem.
A question:
“I don’t see a place where I would leave my email address to continue to receive an email about the NW Bulletins.”
Great question, thanks! There’s a grey square in the lower right corner that says “Follow” – click on that square, and a window will pop up.
We’re in the process of replacing this Bulletin series with a Blog format that will provide automatic indexing and archiving, and will enable more timely bulletins. Network Facility Representatives are required to receive and disburse these bulletins; they are optional for all others. We’ve invited all Facility Reps to join, and until they all do, we’ll publish in both formats. If you wish to continue receiving these bulletins, please provide your email address at https://nwrnbulletins.wordpress.com/, and the blog will send you an email with the first several lines of each “post” (or bulletin) and a link to the details.
We will use blog Categories for indexing, and the Categories will be included in the email. On the blog, Categories are listed in alphabetical order, but they are actually hierarchical. For instance, you can scan only Patient Education bulletins by clicking on the Patient Education Category, but if you click on the Patients and Family Category, you’ll see all Patient Education bulletins along with all other bulletins relevant to patients. We’ll endeavor to link back to the threads and topics in the list of prior bulletins at http://www.nwrenalnetwork.org/news_bulletins.htm, to provide a complete indexed archive. We’ll put introductory and instructional bulletins like this one in a Blog Administration Category.
esrdbulletins 