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Currents To Medical Center Employees: At the Aug. 27 communications meeting, Mary Brigman, Human Resources  Compliance Coordinator and Recruiter, gave an update on the Medical Center’s Affirmative Action Plan (AAP). Ms. Brigman pointed out that the components of the AAP include a narrative summary of our commitment, statistical reports, ongoing monitoring of employment activity and documentation of good faith efforts. The responsibility for carrying out the Medical Center’s AAP is shared by the Human Resources office, all managers and supervisors involved in the hiring process and the leadership team. The MUSC President’s Office oversees institution-wide compliance.  The Medical Center Human Resources Employment Policy No. 4 serves to ensure equal access to job opportunities and to underscore our affirmative action commitment. Our management team has done a good job in following the policy and in completing the Applicant Review Lists (ARLs), which enable detailed documentation of the selection process. While there is progress to be made with our AAP, through the efforts of all concerned we have made improvements to our documentation and demonstration of good faith efforts. Thanks to everyone for a job well done. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center   Affirmative action, employee training top compliance list Reece Smith, compliance officer, and Sharon Knowles, information security, provided updates on Compliance and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) training efforts at the Aug. 27 communications meeting. The Medical Center is in the third year of a five-year compliance training plan mandated by the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services (OIG), and January, 2003, will mark the beginning of mandated HIPAA training for all hospitals. This year’s compliance training for existing employees will consist of one hour of general compliance training, one hour of billing compliance training, and one hour of HIPAA compliance training.  Details on how employees can obtain this training can be found on the Compliance Office’s web site at http://www.musc.edu/compliance. New employees will continue to receive general training during New Hire Orientation and billing training through either Clinical Services Central Orientation or New Employee Billing Training.  For the past two years, employees who have been designated as “exempt” have been exempt from all compliance-related training. This training year, however, exempt employees will be required to complete the general compliance training packet. They will still be exempt from attending billing compliance training. “Because all MUHA employees are required to attend HIPAA compliance training, there will be no HIPAA exemption,” Smith said.  The mandatory HIPAA training will be accomplished through one hour of mandatory HIPAA compliance training, new employee orientation training and role-based training. The role-based training (which is required for certain employees in addition to HIPAA compliance training) will be organized in “train the trainer” sessions in which the administrator or director will be responsible for training their respective staffs. All of the HIPAA training must be completed by April 1, 2003. MUSC Affirmative Action efforts praised Mary Brigman, human resource recruiter and Equal Opportunity Compliance officer for the Medical Center Human Resources, gave the management team an update on the Medical Center’s Affirmative Action Plan (AAP).  Brigman explained that the Medical Center has two plans—one for the federal government and one for the State Human Affairs Commission. The AAP required by the federal government is a “living document” that is maintained in-house and must be available for inspection at any time.  The State AAP is actually submitted to the Human Affairs Commission. The two AAPs are similar and both must be updated each year. Brigman stated that for purposes of our AAP, the Medical Center has 24 job groups for “permanent” positions and an additional 17 job groups for temporary positions.  These job groups are used in assessing the actual Medical Center employee populations compared to the estimated availability of qualified applicants in the labor market by race and gender.  The difference between the actual representation versus the estimated availability of qualified applicants, based upon census data, is used to determine goals and develop affirmative action recruitment tactics. Brigman pointed out that goals are not quotas as quotas are unlawful. The Medical Center’s employment procedure and tracking of all applications enables for the sound documentation for our AAP. Our management team has done a good job in interviewing a number of qualified applicants for each position and in completing the Applicant Review List (ARL). The detailed analysis of more than 900 closed positions (job offers) indicates applicants are being given appropriate consideration and MUSC’s procedure is working as intended. Brigman announced that on Sept. 18 that the Commissioner of State Human Affairs, Jessie Washington, will be on campus. All managers and business officers are invited to attend a presentation at 2 p.m. in the Basic Sciences Building, Room 502. JCAHO identifies 2003 National Patient Safety Goals Six patient safety goals have been announced by JCAHO, according the Rosemary Ellis, director of quality. Organizations will be surveyed on their compliance with these goals, effective January 2003. The six goals announced by JCAHO are: 1) Improve the accuracy of patient identification 2) Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers 3) Improve the safety of high-alert medications 4) Eliminate wrong-site, wrong-patient, wrong-procedure surgery 5) Improve the safety of infusion pumps 6) Improve the effectiveness of clinical alarm systems. “While the hospital has implemented many of the recommendations, additional work needs to be done to enhance the safety of our processes,” Ellis said. Employees thanked for YES contributions Lynne Nemeth, Outcomes Management director, thanked all the employees who contributed to the Yes Campaign. “We were very successful,” she said. “The campaign reached its goal with more participation than ever.” Safety and Security was recognized for having the highest level of participation, and will be recognized with a pizza party. “I thank everyone for participating in a very successful campaign,” Nemeth said, encouraging staff members to submit suggestions for improvements for next year’s effort. Computer issues raised Dave Moses, manager of Healthcare Network Services for the Center for Computing and Information Technology, raised two issues of concern: The first issue focused on encouraging e-mail users to avoid forwarding messages that ask you to do so (unless it’s official MUSC sanctioned business). An example would be a message that asks you to please send this message to everyone you know. “These messages are created by the same people who make computer viruses and are designed to waste time and computer resources,” Moses said. The second issue concerned requests from department managers regarding confidential records (i.e., ex-employee data on the network/home directories/e-mail/etc.). “Network security can be set up so that the records can be viewed or accessed, but not altered,” Moses said.  Requests of this nature require the person’s manager to make the request in writing (e-mail is acceptable) to the manager of Healthcare Network Services, and also CC: the departmental director (i.e., the requestor’s director/equivalent) and MUSC/MUHA legal. For more information, call Moses at 792-9814. Operations manager named to Storm Eye Meredith Williams is the new operations manager for the Albert Florens Storm Eye Institute and the McGill Laser Center.  Williams has served as business manager for McGill and its satellite offices since 1999. This new position represents an expansion of her responsibilities.