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Physician News
August 26, 2010
CMS Administrator, David Sayen will be in Reno on September 8th for an informal meeting to discuss the HITECH provisions of the federal stimulus package passed last year. HITECH is the part of the package that provides financial incentives to encourage physicians and hospitals to adopt and meaningfully use electronic health records. He will be available to speak to physicians and their staff to provide an update on progress and address questions and concerns. Staff from the HIT Regional Extension Center will also be on hand to discuss the services they provide. Click here for a flier with more details.
June 8, 2010: Renown Health Launches Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Renown is pleased to announce the addition of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a medical treatment that enhances the body's natural healing process and strengthens the immune system. Renown Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy will operate in partnership with Nevada Hyperbarics, a regional leader with 10 years of experience in treating patients with successful outcomes. All treatments are performed by certified hyperbaric technologists, led by Janet Albright, MD, FACS, Medical Director and Howard Chen, MD, Supervising Physician.
Renown Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy includes five oxygen chambers and will be located at Renown Regional Medical Center in the Center for Advanced Medicine B, Suite 104. The new location will begin seeing patients on July 1. To refer patients to Renown Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, call 982-4268. The clinical director will first do a phone consult to determine patient suitability. Your patient will then be scheduled for an initial consultation, during which the supervising physician will determine the overall treatment plan. In most cases, we will complete all pre-authorizations for hyperbaric therapy for your patient.
Medicare, Medicaid and most health insurance plans cover the following 14 conditions that are currently approved by the FDA:
- Osteomyelitis
- Non-healing problem wounds stemming from an injury or illness (such as diabetes)
- Radiation tissue damage
- Osteoradionecrosis
- Gas gangrene
- Compromised skin grafts and flaps
- Traumatic crush injuries
- Compartment syndrome
- Necrotizing soft tissue infection
- Carbon monoxide and cyanide poisoning
- Air or gas embolism
- Decompression sickness
- Thermal burns
- Limb salvage, reattachment and amputations
The amount of treatment approved by insurance varies according to plan benefits. For those patients without insurance, fees are determined on a sliding scale. For more information, call 775-982-4268.
About Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is administered in a state-of-the-art chamber where patients breathe 100% oxygen at pressures greater than sea level atmospheric pressure (the air we breathe contains only 21% oxygen). This allows for a higher concentration of oxygen to enhance the healing of tissues in the body.
Approved by the American Medical Association and the FDA, this form of therapy has been used for more than 30 years as a treatment for a variety of medical conditions, including non-healing wounds, radiation tissue damage and bone infections. Patient benefits include increased oxygen delivery to injured tissues, greater blood vessel formation, improved wound healing, reduced swelling and reduced risk of infection.
June 4, 2010: Your participation in annual physician survey is greatly appreciated
Over the next several weeks, a random sampling of physicians who practice at Renown Health will receive a call from the Gallup Organization to take part in our annual physician survey. Please take this opportunity to share how Renown Health can continue to meet your expectations. This confidential survey is short and takes 10 minutes or less. This survey is one of the many ways physicians can affect how Renown Health can improve its services to physicians, now and in the future. Thank you in advance for your participation.
June 3, 2010: New Chief Executive Officer joins Renown Regional Medical Center
Greg Boyer has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Renown Regional Medical Center. Boyer began his work at Renown Regional this week.
Boyer joins Jim Miller, president and CEO of the Renown Health network, and the comprehensive administrative team including Blain Claypool, vice president and administrator for South Meadows Medical Center, Ellen Kelly, administrator for Renown Skilled Nursing and Lisa Mukavitz, executive director for Renown Rehabilitation Hospital.
"Finding the right CEO for Renown Regional was important to further the continued success of the organization," Miller said. "Greg is the right person to complement an already strong leadership team."
Prior to his position with Renown Health, Boyer served as a CEO for several decades at hospitals in Florida and most recently at the 400-bed Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas. He joins Renown Regional with a successful record of fostering strong organizational teams, building programs and developing professional physician relationships.
"It's been an exciting career to this point, and I expect it to be even more exciting," Boyer said. "Healthcare is so creative in the way you have to work and be a partner with physicians and employees, as well as the work you do with the community."
June 2, 2010: Institute for Robotic Surgery Announced
Renown Health is pleased to announce the creation of the Renown Institute for Robotic Surgery.
In keeping with the exceptional surgical care for patients that includes being the first in northern Nevada to provide the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System, our dedication to skill, expertise and technology allows us to provide a world-class institute for patients and surgeons here in Reno.
With two da Vinci systems, we've been able to expand initial surgical specialties of gynecologic oncology, urology and heart to include gastroenterology, lung and gynecology, to name a few.
The Renown Institute for Robotic Surgery is championed by a steering committee including surgeons Peter Lim, MD, medical director, Angelo Kanellos, MD, Athan Roumanas, MD, Christos Galanopoulos, MD, and John Ganser, MD. These surgeons, along with more than 15 others, work with the skilled OR team at Renown Regional Medical Center. Their hard work has resulted in Renown being recognized as one of only 11 institutions across the country to use da Vinci Connect, an online training tool that allows surgeons to view surgeries remotely and interact with our surgeons.
May 28, 2010: Transcription Equipment Upgraded
In response to your feedback regarding dictation equipment, an upgrade of our present dictation system will be performed this week. During the upgrade, the transcription processing systems will have some downtime, but back-up toll free numbers are available. Saturday, June 5, the system will be down beginning at 4 p.m. lasting approximately 4 to 5 hours. Sunday, June 6, the system will be down for approximately 5 to 6 hours beginning at 2 p.m.
Back-up numbers are:
866-642-6957 - Renown Regional Medical Center HIM
866-642-6957 - Renown South Meadows Medical Center HIM
877-571-6829 Renown Rehabilitation Hospital
If you experience any problems or have any questions about the upgrade, please call 982-7655.
May 21, 2010: Susceptibility profile and analysis released
The 2009 susceptibility profile and analysis is now available for review. This report provides important information regarding antibiotic susceptibility patterns for common pathogens. Click to view the complete report. The analysis can be found here.
April 30, 2010: CMS Patient Status update
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires that patient status be verified at every point of entry to the hospital and with each change in service level. If patient status does not concur with physician order, payment will not be issued.
It is important to know that status is the service level required and is not a location. Typically, confusion occurs with inpatient, outpatient and observation classifications. Click here to read a short tutorial on the differences between these definitions. Additional information is also available for surgery patients and diagnostic and interventional procedures.
Quick tip cards are available. If you would like to receive copies for you and your office staff, please call 982-5166 to request yours.
April 26, 2010: UpToDate available at Renown Health
Renown Health now offers practicing physicians and clinical staff access to UpToDate®, a clinical decision support tool featuring original content that is written, reviewed and continually updated by a faculty of more than 4,400 physician experts.
UpToDate is an evidence-based, peer-reviewed information resource. With UpToDate, you can answer questions quickly, increase your clinical knowledge and improve patient care. The content is user-friendly and guides you step by step in navigating the content categories.
UpToDate offers:
Access UpToDate to receive specific, detailed answers to your clinical questions, often within minutes. UpToDate can also be accessed by clicking on the icon when logged into Hyperspace from any Renown network computer.
CME credits are also available when logged into UpToDate through EPIC. To gain CME credits, click on the new "Up to Date" icon on the tool bar. Then enter something in the "search" bar and you will be prompted to register for CME. Do the registration and you will be sent a user name and password. You will only need to use the name and password when you are checking on your CME credits. You will then be credited for 20-30 minutes each time you access a specific topic in "Up to Date" within EPIC. To redeem credits, click on the CME tab to see how many credits have been earned. Select those you want to redeem and print a certificate that can be sent into the awarding body of your choice.
A series of article are available on various UpToDate topics, including:
April 16, 2010: Pharmacy formulary changes
The Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee has approved new restrictions on doripenem which will go into effect April 19, 2010. Doripenem will be restricted to the following:
- Orders written by infectious diseases.
- Patients currently infected with a multi-drug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative rod (GNR) where no other suitable antibiotics are available for treatment - Patients must be in isolation to receive doripenem.
- Patients with a documented history of an MDR GNR that may be the cause of the current infection - Patients must be in isolation to receive doripenem.
- Patients with a history of non-IgE mediated allergy to penicillin and cephalosporin where no other suitable antibiotics are available for treatment
In addition, the committee has approved insulin detemir (Levemir) as the preferred formulary long acting insulin. Automatic substitution of insulin detemir (Levemir) for insulin glargine (Lantus) will also begin April 19, 2010.
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