MHA Today | June 8, 2022

Staff Contact: Brian Kinkade or Sarah Willson

MHD is hosting a Q&A session at 1 p.m. Monday, June 13, to highlight the new specialty managed care plan, which takes effect Friday, July 1. The meeting is being held in-person in Jefferson City, Mo., and virtually.

The new plan, which is named “Show Me Healthy Kids,” will be administered by Home State Health for children in Missouri Medicaid category of aid (COA) 4, which includes children who are in foster care or state subsidized adoptive placements, as well as youth in the custody of the Division of Youth Services or juvenile court. Children enrolled in SMHK will have their medical care and behavioral health care provided through the plan.

Training documents on various facets of the SMHK plan are available online.

Staff Contact: Kara Amann-Kale or Keri Barclay

Yesterday, the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recommended EUA of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for use in individuals ages 18 and older. The Novavax vaccine uses traditional vaccine technology, and if approved, would be the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine available in the U.S. Additional steps are necessary in the approval process, including FDA, CDC and CDC ACIP approval. Facilities should await further guidance and approvals from the CDC before administering this new COVID-19 vaccine.

Staff Contact: Keri Barclay

On June 6, the CDC raised the monkeypox travel alert to level 2. Travelers are advised to use enhanced precautions when visiting countries with both endemic and nonendemic monkeypox outbreaks. Currently, 29 countries have reported 1,088 poxvirus infections; the U.S. has 35 cases of the virus in 15 states.

Hospitals and clinics should contact their local public health agency or DHSS’ Bureau of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention at 573-751-6113 or 800-392-0272 (24/7) to report a patient suspected of having monkeypox.  An epidemiologist will walk providers through the process for sample submission and testing.

The following resources are available for planning and response purposes.

• CDC: Monkeypox Situation Summary
• CDC: What Clinicians Need to Know
• CDC: Specimen Collection Instructions
• NETEC: Monkeypox Outbreak Updates
• CDC: Decontamination Guide for Smallpox (applicable to monkeypox)

Staff Contact: Stephen Njenga

This week is Community Health Improvement Week, a time to honor hospitals and health systems, along with their partners, that are working to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities. The following are key topics for community health improvement with several innovative, evidence-based resources and strategies available to MHA members.

• Population Health
• Community Health Needs Assessment
• Health Equity
• Social Determinants of Health
• exploreMOhealth
• Health Equity Dashboards

Staff Contact: Sherry Buschjost

The following Q1 2022 data should be submitted by the respective dates.

• Wednesday, July 6 — HCAHPS patient perspectives on care survey data
  • Review and correction period is July 7-13
• Monday, Aug. 1 — inpatient population and sampling counts
• Monday, Aug. 1 — outpatient clinical data, and population and sampling counts
• Monday, Aug. 15 — inpatient clinical sepsis data and PC-01 data
• Monday, Aug. 15 — HCP COVID-19 vaccination measure data into NHSN

Staff Contact: Jill Williams

A new APS vendor, Greenstaff Medical U.S., is available to help hospital members overcome nursing shortages by providing foreign-trained R.N.s that are qualified across a range of specialties. Through Greenstaff’s temporary-to-permanent model, the nurse candidates commit to providing 5,600 contract hours, or about 2.7 years of employment to the facility. The nurse remains an employee of Greenstaff during the contract term period, and the company is responsible for all salary, bonuses and benefits. For more information, contact Dennis George at 913-327-8730.