[Fredslist] NYGBH - Swine Flu Preparation

Wed Apr 29 20:25:16 EDT 2009

 Gotham - the New York Business Group on Health has circulated an electronic newsletter (see below) that has links to various documents regarding the Swine Flu situation, it includes a Checklist for Business Pandemic Flu Planning - keep in mind that emergency preparedness is not just a topic for healthcare providers, governments and first responders - all of Gotham's business colleagues should assess their businesses and plans and see what might happen if their staff couldn't work from the office, supplies couldn't be obtained, etc...  Keep in mind there really is no need for panic, and I, at least, see what is happening now as more of a drill than a crisis - but even if I am right, preparing and drilling before a crisis hits is key to any successful business.

Also - an earlier circulated email advised against getting vaccinated - in response I think I should pass along some advice given within my hospital to management staff tfor us to pass on to our hospital employees:

1.  Unless you qualify under the limited guidelines that have been outlined by the CDC and/or the local departments of health - DO NOT try to get or use antiviral medication (such as Tamiflu and Relenza) prophylactically, even if you can get your hands on it now.  The supplies need to be available to those who need it for treatment and one important concern that is out there is that we do not want to build a resistant virus by using the medications when they are not necessary (in a sense similar to what 
has happened with respect to antibiotic resistant bacterial infections) - don't take it unless you need it.

2.  The health authorities are recommending that people who have not yet been vaccinated to prevent the seasonal flu that the vaccine was prepared for get vaccinated in order to make sure that they don't get the seasonal flu and get their symptoms and disease confused with a swine flu exposure.  The vaccine won't prevent the H1N1 disease that is causing so much concern, but it will help to keep you (and all of those you are exposed to) healthy.  (FYI - hospitals are again offering free vaccines to their employees even though the vaccination season has passed.)  The Flu vaccine is (and most other vaccines are) safe.

3.  Keep in mind that the seasonal flu kills thousands of people in the U.S. annually and so it is important to not become overly concerned about this - it is not clear that it has any more danger than the regular seasonal flu, but that we be prepared.

4.  Always use basic infection control practices, including washing hands (remember to sing "Happy Birthday" to yourself 2 times while lathering and rinsing to get your hands properly washed), covering your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough (preferrably with your elbow so your hands don't get exposed), and stay home if you don't feel well.

Susan Zinder
(women's group)

-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer Cole <nybgh at nybgh.org>
To: sfzinder at aol.com
Sent: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 5:16 pm

Subject: [NEWS] NYBGH e-Newsletter 04.29.09

New York Business Group on Health
e-Newsletter

April 29, 2009 - Vol. 32, Issue 9

In This Issue

Updates on Swine Flu from CDC and WHO

Flu Epidemic: What are Companies Doing?

Register Now! Worksite Weight Management Programs: Employer Strategy, Support & Success Stories

NY Hospitals Outperform Peers

NYBGH New Initiatives Help Members Manage Health Plan Performance

IRS and DOL Issue New Guidance Regarding COBRA Premium Subsidy

Group Issues Health Care Quality Report

A New Website for the Communication Toolkit: Using Information to Get High Quality Care

A Stimulus Package for Your Mental Health Benefits: Best Practices from Fellow Employers

Dependent Eligibility Audits: The Process - The Savings - The Right Partnership

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r for an NYBGH Conference or Meeting today!

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Upcoming Events

Thursday, April 30, 2009

A Stimulus for Your Mental Health Benefits: Best Practices from Fellow Employers

(Open to HR Professionals and Fund Administrators Only)

12:30 pm - 2:00 pm

Register Now!

Friday, May 1, 2009

NYBGH Conference Call:  Flu Epidemic:  What are companies doing?
(Open to NYBGH Employer Members Only)
=0
A
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

To register, contact jcole at nybgh.org

eValue8 Health Plan Meetings

(Open to NYBGH Member Employers Only)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

CIGNA

Aetna

Friday, May 8, 2009

United

Friday, May 15, 2009

Anthem/Empire

Register Now! 

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Dependent Eligibility Audits: The Process, The Savings, The Right Partnership

(Open to HR Professionals and Fund Administrators Only)

8:00 am - 10:00 am

Register Now!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Worksite Weight Management Programs: A Conference on Employer Strategy, Support, Successes

8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Register Now! 

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Anthem/Empire User Group Meeting

(Open to NYBGH Member Employers Only)

8:00 am - 10:00 am

Register Now! 

Greetings!

In this issue of the NYBGH e-Newsletter, we feature information on the swine flu, as well as other health benefits news items and upcoming events. 

Updates on Swine Flu from CDC and 
WHO

The following documents are available with information about swine flu: 

Swine Flu Questions and Answers includes information about symptoms, vaccine and medications, precautions, and antiviral drugs 

Pandemic Alert Information includes information about the alert levels and what they mean 

Checklist for Business Pandemic Influenza Planning includes planning information for employers to business continuity with policies and communications.  One immediate area for employers to review is their work at home and time off policies with the potential for school closures and persons with symptoms.  Another is the access to antivirals through their physician and how the health coverage will work for this prescription.

National Business Group on health has additional resources on their website: http://www.businessgrouphealth.org/healthtopics/swineflu.cfm  

Other resources:

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu 
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

Flu Epidemic: What are Companies Doing?

NYBGH will be hosting a conference call for NYBGH employer members on how companies are approaching the flu epidemic on Friday, May 1st, 2:00-3:00pm.  The featured speaker will be J. Brent Pawlecki, Corporate Medical Director for Pitney Bowes who will share their approach.  Members will be able to ask questions and share their own experiences.  

NYBGH Flu Epidemic Conference Call

Friday, May 1st, 2:00-3:00pm

Please RSVP by replying to jcole at nybgh.org.  

Registe
r Now!  Worksite Weight Management Programs: Employer Strategy, Support & Success Stories

Register Now! 

Worksite Weight Management Programs: 

Employer Strategy, Support & Success Stories

Keynote Speaker (invited):

William H. Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Also featuring

Elysa Jacobs, Pitney Bowes 

&

Ron Goetzel, Emory University

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

7:45 am - 12:15 pm

CUNY Graduate Center

365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street)

New York, NY 

Register Now!

Sponsored by:

NY Hospitals Outperform Peers

New York Business Group on Health is proud to announce that New York hospitals participating in the 2008 Leapfrog Hospital Survey outperformed their national peers on a number of important measures. One example is that in the New York Metro area, 63% of hospitals fully met the requirement for ICU Physician Staffing as opposed to 31% nationally. 

The Leapfrog Hospital Survey gathers information about the safety and quality of hospitals. NYBGH is the regional leader for the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and we recently mailed invitations to 134 hospital CEOs in New York and eastern Connecticut, asking them to complete the latest Leapfrog patient safety survey. The survey results are a great resource for employe
es and are available, free of charge, at www.leapfroggroup.org. 

Additionally, in the New York area, almost one-quarter of the hospitals fully meet Leapfrog medication error prevention (CPOE) standards. Although this may not sound like a large percentage of hospitals, nationwide, only seven percent of hospitals fully met the requirement. 

"Local hospitals that have stepped up to participate in the Survey are committed to their patients' safety and to high quality standards, as demonstrated by a willingness to share their performance publicly," said  Laurel Pickering, NYBGH Executive Director. "They know that transparency contributes to continuous improvement." NYBGH thanks all these hospitals for their efforts in completing the survey last year. We hope that they and their colleagues will complete it again this year.  

Of course, there is still room for improvement in many of the measures. For instance,  only 63% percent of hospitals have agreed to implement Leapfrog's "Never Events" policy when a serious reportable event occurs within their facility. 

NYBGH New Initiatives Help Members Manage Health Plan Performance

Announcing Health Plan User Groups

NYBGH will be hosting and coordinating health plan user groups.  The first one will be the Anthem/Empire User Group which will meet on June 16th, 9am-11am (location to be announced). 

The User Groups a
re designed to give customers the opportunity to share best practices in working with the plan, create a stronger voice when communicating with the plan about issues and concerns and create a forum where representatives of the plan can address customers.  The next health plan user groups will be scheduled following the "Get to Know the CEO" events for those plans.  

Click here to register for June 16th

eValue8 Health Plan Meetings Now Open to All NYBGH Employer Members

In the past, eValue8, a process that assesses health plan quality, has only been available to employers that pay to participate.  Those employers are inviting all the NYBGH employer members to join them at the eValue8 health plan meetings.  These meetings review health plans' performance in the following areas:

Disease management (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, back pain)
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Consumer Engagement
Provider Management and Medical Home
Pharmacy Management
Behavioral Health 

Please join us as we speak to senior leaders from the plan about their progress and goals in the above mentioned areas.

Register Now!

IRS and DOL Issue New Guidance Regarding COBRA Premium Subsidy

The IRS has released Notice 2009-27, which provides guidance on the COBRA premium subsidy available to certain involuntarily terminated employees under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Notice consists primarily of a series
 of questions and answers intended to clarify areas of the subsidy program that had raised questions. In addition, the Notice addresses what is perhaps the most frequently asked question about eligibility for the subsidy: What constitutes an involuntary termination? To learn more about the Notice and about an updated set of Frequently Asked Questions issed by the DOL that address the new model COBRA notices, please see Ropes & Gray's Employee Benefits Alert. 

Circular 230 Disclosure : To ensure compliance with Treasury Department regulations, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding U.S. tax-related penalties or promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein. 

Group Issues Health Care Quality Report

On March 24, the Stand for Quality coalition (www.standforquality.org) released Building a Foundation for High Quality, Affordable Health Care: Linking Performance Measurement to Health Reform, a report that provides recommendations for improving the efficiency and affordability of medical care. The Stand for Quality coalition represents more than 150 organizations, including NYBGH, across the health care spectrum.  Stand for Quality also is developing draft legislation for consideration by Congress as part of comprehensive health care reform.

The Stand for Quality report's six recommendations are:
1. Se
t national priorities and provide coordination for quality improvement;
2. Endorse and maintain nationally standardized measures;
3. Develop measures to fill gaps in priority areas;
4. Ensure that providers and other stakeholders have a role in developing policies on use of measures;
5. Collect, analyze, and make performance information available and actionable;
6. Support a sustainable infrastructure for quality improvement.

A New Website for the Communication Toolkit: Using Information to Get High Quality Care

Having trouble communicating to your employees about getting high quality, cost-effective health care?  The new Communication Toolkit website can help bridge that gap and can now be found on the National Business Group on Health website at: http://businessgrouphealth.org/usinginformation.  Containing free materials to download and adapt for use with employees about evidence-based health care, the Toolkit covers - among other topics - the basics of health care quality, how to receive value in health care, and using the internet to find reliable and credible health information.  In accessing these materials, employers will be better equipped to encourage employees to be actively engaged in their health while recognizing and insisting upon high quality, cost-effective care.

To learn more about the Toolkit, attend an introductory webinar on May 20, 2009.  To register, send an email to usinginformation at air.org with "Intro Webinar" in the subject line.

A Stimulus Package
 for Your Mental Health Benefits: Best Practices from Fellow Employers

A Stimulus Package for Your Mental Health Benefits: Best Practices from Fellow Employers  

(Open to HR Professionals and Fund Administrators Only) 

Thursday, April 30, 2009

12:30 pm - 2:00 pm

Log-in information will be sent to you when you register. 

Complimentary for NYBGH Members & Nonmembers 

Featured Speakers: 

Michelle Martin

Director Health & Welfare Benefits 

CBS

Dana Winfield

Head of Human Resources

The Frick Collection

Recently the NY Times reported, "anxiety, depression and stress are troubling people, many not suffering significant economic losses, but worrying they will or simply reacting to pervasive uncertainty".  Mental health benefits are always important but in tough times they become critical to workplace health and productivity.  Are you providing your employees a comprehensive mental health benefit? What are your colleagues at other companies doing? What are their challenges? On our next webinar, employers from CBS and The Frick Collection will talk about their approach to mental health benefits in these times and then participate in a group discussion to answer questions and share best practices.

For a comprehensive overview of mental health benefits for employers, see the soon-to-be released NYBGH publication Improved Mental Health Benefits, Improved
 Productivity, Healthy Employees. This mental health publication and webinar series are generously supported by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. 