Patient volume revives; Bon Jovi to play for CeDAR; FICA-less UCH staffers; the coming coding storm, more...

Volume 4 | Issue 13 | Through January 18, 2011

Comeback Patient volume at the hospital made a strong revival in November, after several months of falling short of budget assumptions. Earnings, good even in the shortfall months, stayed healthy. >>More

The FICA reduction UCH staff won't see Employees' retirement plans are doing well and probably better than Social Security. But the UCH plans, which are not part of the Social Security program, won't be getting
included in the temporary withholding break Congress gave Social Security participants. >>More

Newest Coloradoan debuts at UCH Desiree Losey and Jose Alfaro (left) planned to attend a New Year's Eve party last week, but they wound up seeing 2011 in at UCH, thanks to baby Emma. >>More

Prepping for 2012's big change 2011 will feature a routine-shaking new electronic medical record, construction cranes and an estimated 42 improvement initiatives. But work has already started for next January"s Big Change: a new Medicare form that means managing "about 500" additional data elements for claims, remittance and eligibility. >>More

ICD-10 codes pose even bigger challenges And following CMS's 2012 Big Change are "tens of thousands" of new ICD-10 diagnostic and procedural codes that go into effect in 2013. Preparing means plenty of training for coders and docs. On the plus side: a chance to be rewarded for the complex care the hospital provides. >>More

CU wins grant to co-lead a founding site for a young specialty Only half the nation's hospitals even offer palliative care programs. With stimulus funds and an NIH grant, Jean Kutner (left) and colleagues from Duke University are off to build a base to link care of the dying to more research. >>More

Sidebar: How a "crazy" idea led to $7 million in grant support Some surprises and even "a miracle of grant-writing" helped pave the way from a brainstorm to the start of a big, national trial. >>More

Speed saves! A UCH initiative, complete with Grand Rounds next week, seeks to get clinicians to identify sepsis - the 10^th leading cause of death in the U.S. and an even bigger issue in hospitals - faster, and start treatment sooner. The bottom-line advice: be "a clinical pessimist." The bottom-line obstacle: it's hard to standardize care. Right: MICU Medical Director Ellen Burnham, MD (left), and CICU Nurse Manager Maureen Dzialo, RN, are part of hospital's Sepsis Task Force. >>More

Family Medicine man Frank deGruy (left), newly named to the prestigious Institute of Medicine, may not look like a revolutionary, but he's been a leader in the national battle between "what today we call providing health care" and a system that rewards "fostering good health outcomes." He sees UCH employees as members of his coordinated care army.. >>More

Who is taking care of me? How do I get out of here? The humble white board in inpatient med-surg rooms may be the best AND most-overlooked tool for improving patient communication and answering their most basic questions. Med and nursing students are looking for ways to get clinicians and patients to use them more often. >>More

Our most quoted doc With a wide background in endocrinology, cardiology, physiology and biophysics and a knack for finding the right language for the right audiences, Robert Eckel (left) has for some time found himself dealing with the media about two or three times a week. He's come up with tips for colleagues, too. >>More

A novel trial for multiple breast cancer drugs opens A fast-moving, uniquely "open" clinical trial at the Cancer Center aims to identify rogue genes, and relate and even compare the effectiveness of a dozen or so new drugs. The goal: get new treatments to patients faster. The vehicle: a "streetcar" instead of a "limousine." >>More