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Currents Recently Mr. Tom Keating, administrator, Children's Healthcare System and Support Services, informed me that he will be retiring at the beginning of January. Mr. Keating has been employed with MUSC for more than 16 years and has held a number of key positions. He will be relocating to Georgia and will be employed with an organization that offers management training programs.  Mr. Keating personifies the Medical Center's values. MUSC has greatly benefitted from his innovative contributions over the years. He will be greatly missed. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center Trident United Way Campaign (TUW) The TUW campaign will continue through the end of December.  Fred Crawford, M.D., chairman, Department of Surgery, and chair of the 2000 MUSC TUW Campaign, sent brochures to employees at the beginning of the campaign and urged that we make gifts or pledges. This year's goal is $235,000. If you have not already done so, please consider returning the envelope with your gift or pledge. If you have made a gift or pledge . . . thank you very much.  If you need additional brochures or information, please contact Shelly Sinclair, TUW Campaign Coordinator, MUSC Development Office, at 792-1973. MUSC is the largest employer in the Charleston area and we need to demonstrate our support to the community. Your gift or pledge will be greatly appreciated. JCAHO Survey Summary and Change for Year 2001 Vivian Gettys, JCAHO program manager, once again commended everyone for a very successful JCAHO accreditation survey. Gettys stated that the surveyors were very complementary of the collaborative quality care and services demonstrated. As a follow-up to the survey, Gettys distributed a handout outlining recommendations for improvements as we move forward.  Gettys informed the management team that the JCAHO is considering a new initiative to improve the accreditation process. This new initiative looks at reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction, and making accreditation more relevant. Considerations include the use of a secure Internet-based survey process, an 18-month survey cycle, a customized on-site survey process, and further training and development of surveyors to reduce variability in survey findings. Gettys also reviewed new and revised standards for 2001 which include: —Patient Education—Organizational plan and appropriate resource allocation. —Discharge Planning—Use of discharge criteria, and providing patient information regarding the discharge planning process. —Pain Assessment and Management—Comprehensive program including assessment, patient education, treatment and follow-up, clinical education and performance improvement. —Anesthesia Care—Levels of sedation specified.  See MUSC policy C-44, Conscious Sedation/Analgesia by Non-Anesthesiologist. —Restraint and Seclusion—Restraint/seclusion requirements based on acute medical, post-surgical care or behavior management.  See MUSC policy C-22, Restraint and Seclusion. —Medical Staff—Physician health, telemedicine and credentialing. —Environment of Care Management Plans—Life Safety, Emergency Preparedness, and Utility Systems  For further information, please contact Vivian Gettys at 792-7688. Compliance with Federal Legislation on Non Discrimination in Post Hospital Referrals  Recent federal legislation requires that hospitals not limit post-hospital referrals to home health agencies and other entities.  Patients must be notified of home health agencies available in their area that wish to be listed as available for services. Medical Center staff can comply with federal guidelines by using the Home-care Agency Referral Program (HARP). HARP is a computer program available on all patient units in the Medical Center. After a home care referral (home health, DME or hospice) is written, unit staff should access HARP, select the service required and the county where the patient resides. HARP will provide a list of agencies in the county. Staff can take the list to the patient to select an agency for service. Staff enter the home care referral into HARP indicating the agency the patient selects.  If the patient has no preference, staff should select “None” under Choice Maker in HARP and the referral defaults to the MUSC preferred provider. HARP will automatically page a Home Care Coordinator and the referral will be made in keeping with federal guidelines. Please refer any questions to:  Carolyn Adams, Home Care manager; 792-1301 or adamsce@musc.edu.  Announcements June Stovall, nurse manager, Newborn Nursery/Post Partum, thanked all those who assisted in the relocation of the Level I and Level II Nursery and Postpartum to 2 East in the Main Hospital.   Stovall requested that anyone needing to access the Speech Pathology area and/or the DDC offices, which are housed in the same vicinity, use the entrance located at the D (visitor) elevators from the main hallway. This will aid in limiting traffic through the newborn nursery area.  Dave Northrup, director, Healthcare Computing Services, advised the group that on December 19 CCIT will retire the web browser access to Oacis called “Passport.” It will be replaced with another web browser solution called “Citrix.” Additional information will be communicated as Dec. 19 draws near.  Northrup also reminded everyone to work with University Communications regarding elimination of unneeded telephone extensions, fax lines, Audix (voice mail) and so forth. To date approximately $265,000 in savings have been achieved this year, and it is expected that more savings opportunities exist. Please contact the University Communications office at 792-9980. John Lancaster, director, Financial and Administrative Systems, CCIT, announced that beginning this month, financial month-end reporting will be web-accessible to all Smartstream users. Initially, the following reports will be web-accessible: Project Summary (Summary III) Unit Summary (Level II) Transaction Detail (Level I) Budget Detail Commitments and Encumbrances An added benefit aside from cost savings is that the information from the reports can be downloaded into either Excel, Word, or Access files.  Hard copies of these reports will continue to be available for a short while. For further information, contact Lancaster at 792-9506.