January 2014
Message from A. J. Harper
Apology Law
ICD-10 Coding Camps
Insurance Enrollment Outreach
Flash Survey
Survey Update
Upcoming Committee Meetings
Future Committee Meetings
Past Committee Meetings
New Allied Members
Programs of Interest
Vol. 4 No. 1
Dear Members & Friends:
As we kick off a new calendar year, I want to take a brief moment and thank you for making 2013 a productive year at Hospital Council. Through your active engagement as member, allied member, health plan, and fellow health care association, we addressed meaningful and pragmatic issues facing all of us at the federal, state, and local level.
Together , we have an opportunity in 2014 to be the most prepared region in the country for the continued rollout of the Affordable Care Act, and ICD-10. Collectively , we can successfully implement the Governors' Healthy PA initiative. United , we must improve the health status of and reimbursement for our senior population, which is one of the oldest in the nation. We look forward to the challenge!
On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors, all the best in the New Year! Now let's get to work....

Pennsylvania's new "apology" legislation is the focus of Hospital Council's issues briefing on January 29,
2014. The briefing is open to Hospital Council institutional and Allied members and will begin with registration and networking at 9 a.m. The program will be held from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. at Hospital
Council's Conference Center.
Speakers for the program are Pittsburgh attorneys William Maruca, a partner with the firm Fox Rothschild,
L.L.P., and Alan S. Baum, a shareholder with the law firm Matis Baum O'Connor, P.C. They will provide a briefing on Act 79: The Benevolent Gesture Medical Professional Liability Act . Besides covering the details of Act 79, the speakers will also discuss what constitutes an "apology" under the legislation, what to say to patients and families, experience of other states with similar legislation and what multistate insurance carriers are advising providers in states with similar legislation.
The briefing is free of charge; however, registration is required. To register, email Monica Palmer by
January 24, 2014. For additional information, contact Pat Raffaele .
Hospital Council, in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association, is offering ICD-10 Coding Camps. The Camps will be held in four locations throughout western
Pennsylvania. Each three-day camp will include ICD-10 and PCS education. All registrants will receive the two AHIMA training manuals, the 2014 ICD10-CM Coder Training Manual and the 2014 ICD10-PCS
Coder Training Manual. There are a total of 22 continuing education credits offered and there is a registration option to buy ICD-10 CM and PCS code books. A detailed agenda, registration fees and online registration for each Camp is available through the links below.

Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania, March 12-14, 2014

Edinboro University, April 8-10, 2014

UPMC Altoona, June 9-11, 2014

Clarion Holiday Inn, July 9-11, 2014
For more information about Coding Camps, contact Jane Montgomery .
Hospital Council has received funding to partner with providers throughout the 30-county region to identify and enroll eligible individuals and families into the insurance exchange.
To be most effective, Hospital Council is asking each member to appoint a "key contact" to work with
Hospital Council on this initiative. The key contact will work with Hospital Council and other partners to help educate front-line hospital personnel such as case managers, discharge planners, patient advocates, patient registrars, social workers and others to identify and enroll eligible individuals in the insurance exchange. The key contact will also work with Hospital Council in arranging community-wide enrollment days with community partners.
Hospital Council received a grant from the Staunton Farm Foundation and a mini-grant from the Jewish
Healthcare Foundation for this outreach initiative.
For more information, contact Pat Raffaele .

The Flash Survey for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 shows a slight increase in the operating margin ratio, an increase in uncompensated care and a decrease in full time equivalents. The Survey includes data from 57 hospitals and covers the three months ending September 30, 2013.
The operating margin ratio increased from 1.91 percent in the First Quarter 2013 to 3.13 percent for the same period in FY 2014. Hospitals reported $287 million in uncompensated care for the First Quarter of
FY 2014, which is an increase of 17.08 percent from First Quarter 2013. There was also a decrease in the number of full time equivalents from the prior year. For the First Quarter of FY 2014, FTEs decreased
2.19 percent or 1,546 FTEs from the same period last year.
Hospital Council recently released the full report to participating members. For more information, contact
Denis Lukes or Carmela Breslin .
Hospital Council recently released two surveys: the Physician Practice Administrators Compensation
Survey and the Collective Bargaining Update. Hospital Council will be releasing the Management
Compensation and Benchmark Salary Surveys in the near future.
Physician Practice Administrators Compensation Survey
Hospital Council released the second Physician Practice Administrators Compensation Survey to participating members. The survey captures compensation and benefit information for 30 different positions of those employed at hospital-owned physician practices. The survey was developed a few years ago by Hospital Council's Human Resources Committee and the Physician Practice Administrators
Committee. There were 26 members participating in this survey, an increase from 20 participants in the initial survey. For more information, contact Jane Montgomery or Pat Raffaele .
Collective Bargaining Update
Earlier this month, Hospital Council released its annual Collective Bargaining Update to member Chief
Executive Officers and Human Resource Executives. The survey reflects current information on the status of contracts with bargaining units within western Pennsylvania healthcare facilities. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele .
Management Compensation and Benchmark Salary Survey
Hospital Council will be releasing the Management Compensation and Benchmark Salary Survey to participating members in the near future. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele .
Fund Development Committee
Hospital Council's Fund Development Committee will meet on January 24, 2014 at Hospital Council's
Conference Center. Giving clubs and societies, and how to use these programs to build a donor base will be the key topic of the meeting. Jim Lyons, a senior partner with the firm Pride Philanthropy, will provide a presentation and help lead a discussion on related best practices. The group will also discuss the role of event planning in fund development. The meeting will conclude with a roundtable discussion. For more information contact Pat Raffaele .
Accounts Receivables Committee
Hospital Council's Accounts Receivables Committee will meet on January 30, 2014 at Hospital Council's
Conference Center. Details of the meeting will be available in the near future. For more information, contact Denis Lukes .

Hospital Council will hold the following Committee meetings in early February:
Practice Administrators Committee
The Practice Administrators Committee will meet on February 5, 2014 at Hospital Council's Conference
Center. Details will be available in the near future. For more information, contact Jane Montgomery .
Compliance Committee
The Compliance Committee will meet on February 7, 2014 at Hospital Council's Conference Center.
Details will be available in the near future. In the meantime, Hospital Council welcomes two new co-chairs of the Committee. Sandra Sessoms, director of Compliance at the Allegheny Health Network, and Diane
Pringle, Compliance Officer for the Conemaugh Health System, have agreed to serve as the Co-Chairs.
For more information about the upcoming meeting, contact Pat Raffaele .
Fund Development Committee
The November 19th Fund Development Committee meeting focused on learning about a local foundation as well as two organizations, Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Health
Funders Collaborative. Michele Rone Cooper, executive director of McAuley Ministries, provided information on McAuley Ministries. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Grantmakers of Western
Pennsylvania and is a member of the Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborate. She gave an overview of both organizations and offered additional resources and information on funding trends in healthcare. The
Committee also held a roundtable discussion and discussed topics and meeting plans for 2014. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele .
Chief Nursing Officers Committee
The CNO Committee met on December 5, 2013 and heard a presentation on succession planning from
Terrence Murphy, an attorney with the firm Littler Mendelson. Kevin Moore, founding partner with XCEL, provided information to the group and demonstrated XCEL's web-based accelerated learning product for improving HCHAP scores. Denis Lukes, Hospital Council's vice president of Financial Services, led a discussion on Hospital Council's occupational mix survey. The meeting concluded with a roundtable discussion. For more information, contact Jane Montgomery .
Human Resources Committee
Hospital Council's Human Resources Committee met on December 6, 2013. The focus of the meeting was a presentation by Cowden Associates on the Cowden Associates/UBA 2013 Health Plan Survey .
The survey included participants from Hospital Council members. The speakers were Jackie DePolo, vice president of Health and Benefits, and Lesa Votovich, senior consultant for Cowden. The Committee also discussed compliance with influenza vaccines and held a roundtable discussion. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele .
Compliance Committee
Hospital Council's Compliance Committee met on December 12, 2013. The primary topic of the meeting was a presentation on The 2014 OPPS Final Rule by Christina Panos, RHIA, CTR, from the firm Wolters
Kluwer Law & Business. The Committee also discussed the 403(b) drug program as well as RAC and other audits. The Committee and Hospital Council also thanked and recognized the outgoing Committee chairs, Linda Lattner, director of Corporate Compliance & Risk at St. Clair Hospital, and Mary Ellen Read
(retired), director of Corporate Compliance for DuBois Regional Medical Center. The meeting concluded with a roundtable discussion. For more information, contact Pat Raffaele .

Hospital Council welcomes several New Allied Members.
Axiom Health
Axiom Health offers a product suite which utilizes clinical, operational and financial data to enable timely and informed decision making. The data is used to create "dashboards" so information is easy to understand. For more information, visit www.Axiomhealthbi.com
or contact Rich Wagner at rwagner@axiomhealthbi.com
.
DeBiase & Levine Associates, Inc .
DeBiase & Levine Associates, Inc. is a Pittsburgh-based hospital financial consulting firm specializing in establishing a patient's eligibility for Medicaid, Marketplace enrollment in commercial coverage, third party payor and motor vehicle medical benefits. The firm has been providing a local solution for meeting the reimbursement needs of the western Pennsylvania hospital community for more than 20 years. For more information, visit www.debiase-levine.com
or contact Robert DeBiase at debiase@debiase-levine.com
or
John Levine at levine@debiase-levine.com
.
M. Leco & Associates
M. Leco & Associates specializes in improving hospital revenue by finding and recovering lost revenue, by improving hospital charge systems, by outsourcing coding and by coding compliance reviews. The firm has clients throughout the United Sates and specializes in denied claims and managed care recovery services. For more information, visit www.mleco.com
or contact James Gehrig at jgehrig@mleco.com
or
Damian Kush at dkush@mleco.com
.
MedCom Solutions, Inc.
MedCom Solutions, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company, is a charge cycle consulting firm dedicated to the improvement of efficient and compliant charge practices for healthcare providers. MedCom Solutions offers clinical and financial consulting for charge master and ancillary systems. MedCom also offers products designed to facilitate accountable charge master management review. For more information, visit www.medcomsolutions.com
or contact William Hunt at whunt@medcomsolutions.com
or Allison
Simmons at asimmons@medcomsolutions.com
.
Parrish Law Offices
Parrish Law Offices, a Pittsburgh-based firm, specializes in obtaining and protecting reimbursement for health care providers including hospitals and health systems, physicians and physician practices, manufacturers, suppliers and laboratories. The firm has experience with medical devices, diagnostics, and therapeutic products and services. For more information, visit www.dparrishlaw.com
or contact
Debbie Parrish at debbie@dparrishlaw.com
.
Phigenics
Phigenics is a water management company that partners with health care facility owners and managers to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and safety, especially regarding Legionella, of all water systems.
Clients include health care, industrial and government leaders in institutional, commercial, military and manufacturing facilities. For more information, visit www.phigenics.com
or contact Tony Dallmier at tdallmier@phigenics.com
.
For more information about Allied Membership, contact Pat Raffaele .

Building Owners and Managers Association
The Pittsburgh Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) is part of BOMA International. BOMA
International is holding its annual national educational seminar to educate medical facilities managers about the latest best practices and response options of the industry. The seminar will be held in Nashville,
Tennessee from April 30 through May 2, 2014. For more information, contact John Java, executive director of BOMA Pittsburgh at bomajava@aol.com
.
is a strategic partner with health care providers and affiliated organizations, enabling them to realize their mission while maintaining their status as economically viable entities.
Visit: http://www.hcwp.org
Call: 1-800-704-8434