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Friday, December 8, 2023

The Consortium is pleased to recognize HealthStream®, the Memorial Healthcare System, and the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics as the platinum sponsors for our next conference Clinical Excellence: Caring to Provide the Best in Patient Care. Pre-registration closes on the 10th of November. Register today to join hundreds of be sure that you can join us as the Nursing Consortium of Florida convenes leading and emerging nurse leaders from academic and practice settings for a day focused on sharing innovations and best practices for advancing clinical excellence.  It is not too late to become a conference sponsor and take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity for networking with conference attendees during registration, breakfast, lunch, and the morning and afternoon breaks. Don't miss what is certain to be a truly exceptional and professionally relevant educational conference and opportunity for building relationships with colleagues that have shared interests. The program will start at 8:00 am and will conclude at 4:30 pm.

AHA accepting applications through November 17 for Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Awards

McKinsey advises on the organization of the future: enabled by gen AI, driven by people

A recent Report from McKinsey focuses on how organization will function in the future with the impact Generative AI. The report notes that Generative AI can empower people—but only if leaders take a broad view of its capabilities and deeply consider its implications for the organization. The report says the sentiment shared by many global executive is that we were behind on automation and digitization, and we finally closed the gap. We don’t want to be left behind again, but we aren’t sure how to think about generative AI, given the speed with which generative artificial intelligence is advancing in the business world. Meanwhile, technologists keep reminding us that gen AI is only in its nascent stages of development and usage. This smart technology is only going to get more intelligent—and those who don’t learn to work with it, starting now, will be left behind. Please click here to read more.

A current Insight Report from McKinsey says Orthopedic care is among the most prevalent, most expensive, and fastest-growing categories in US healthcare. More than one-third of Americans received orthopedic care in 2021, making it the largest expenditure category for beneficiaries of employer-based insurance and the second-largest for Medicare. We estimate that the annual direct cost of healthcare for orthopedic conditions totals $350 billion to $400 billion,1 or roughly 10 percent of total US healthcare spending. And it is on track to grow rapidly in the coming years as the US population ages. The challenge of providing high-quality and consistent care is not unique to orthopedic care. In recent years, patient-centric pathways, often called “care pathways,” have gained momentum as an approach for promoting patient access to high-quality, evidence-based medicine. But challenges to implementing this approach still exist. In this article, McKinsey analyzes orthopedic patient-centric pathways and considerss moves that could increase cooperation among payers and care teams to promote evidence-based care and therefore improve outcomes and affordability for patients. Please click here to read more.

New NLN survey among nursing schools shows little progress in faculty and student diversity and admissions capacity

A new survey by the National League for Nursing among schools and programs of nursing across the spectrum of higher education showed disappointing results for nursing education leaders calling for greater diversity among faculty and students with increased capacity to admit more qualified applicants to help address the nursing shortage. Based on responses from deans and directors from 37 percent of 992 member programs and schools, the survey collected data from the 2021-22 academic year, showing little change from the previous biennial survey, conducted over 2019-20 and released in 2021. More than a quarter of qualified applicants to RN programs are currently denied admission, according to the survey. Increasing capacity is vital to easing a chronic shortage of nurses that is only predicted to worsen as demand increases with an aging U.S. population and significant numbers of nurses near retirement. Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that more students and faculty of color are needed to prepare a nursing workforce that can provide equitable health care with cultural humility to meet today’s ethnic, racial and socio-economic diversity among patients and caregivers. Please click here to read more.

FAU receives $1.3 million grant for Alzheimer’s outreach in Broward

Consortium member Florida Atlantic University’s María de los Ángeles Ortega, DNP, APRN, in the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, has been awarded a three-year, $1.3 million grant from the Administration for Community Living’s (ACL) Alzheimer’s Disease Program for a groundbreaking project designed to advance health equity and improve quality of life for individuals living with or at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and their family caregivers. The FAU project, “Connecting Communities to Caring-Based Dementia-Specific Services and Supports,” is designed to link historically underserved and marginalized communities in Broward County with specialized dementia services and supports. In addition, this initiative also aims to improve dementia capability for service provision to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are living with dementia as well as their families. Please click here to read more.

Moody's Investors Service upgrades Broward Health's revenue bond rating

Moody's Investors Service has raised its revenue bond rating to Baa1 from Baa2 for the North Broward Hospital District, which operates as Consortium member Broward Health. The rating reflects Broward Health's "durability of margins and liquidity," as well as its efforts to grow and diversify revenue by expanding retail pharmacy and other business lines, according to Moody’s. “Our focus on enhancing our health care services has resulted in improved financial performance and increased confidence in our organization,” said Alisa Bert, interim chief financial officer and vice president of financial operation at Broward Health. “We are pleased that our diligent efforts in managing our financials, reducing debt, and improving operational efficiency have resulted in an improved bond rating.”  Please click here to read more.

Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and iHeartRadio recognize student athletes with “Play Healthy Athlete of the Week”

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that average premiums, benefits, and plan choices for Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Part D prescription drug program will remain stable in 2024. Improvements adopted in the 2024 Rate Announcement, as well as the 2024 Medicare Advantage and Part D Final Rule, such as increased beneficiary protections around marketing and prior authorization and increased access to behavioral health, support this stability. CMS is committed to ensuring these programs work for people enrolled in Medicare, that benefits remain strong and stable, and that payments to plans are accurate. CMS is releasing this key information, including 2024 premiums and deductibles for Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, ahead of the upcoming Medicare Open Enrollment, beginning October 15, 2023, to help people with Medicare determine the best Medicare coverage option for their health care needs. Please click here to read more.

ANA calls for re-imagining nursing’s social contract with the public

In a recent issue of American Nurse magazine, The American Nurses Association takes an in-depth look at the current status of the nursing profession and offers important suggestions for change. The ANA notes that throughout the pandemic the nation’s 5 million plus nurses have been at the forefront of America’s response to the crisis. However, this has resulted in serious consequences for the nursing workforce, including staffing shortages, compensation inequities, unrelieved moral suffering, burnout, and collective grief. Although the public initially applauded the “heroism” and sacrifice of nurses, sentiment later shifted to anger and violence, reflecting a deep societal divide about individual autonomy and collective responsibility. The public, and by extension healthcare leaders and organizations, assumes that nurses will continue to serve—regardless of the circumstances—believing that their commitment to patients will take precedence over their own welfare and that they will continue to fill the gaps in stressed or dysfunctional systems. But the pandemic also has exposed fractures in conceptions of nursing by the people they serve and by social systems and structures. The social contract between nurses and the public has frayed in ways dissonant with the values and commitments nurses adopt through their education and professional code of ethics. As we emerge from the worst global crisis in a century, ANA is calling for critical examination of the collective experience of nurses and a re-evaluation of the profession’s relationship with the public. Please click here to read more.

McKinsey reports on how health systems and educators can work to close the talent gap

A new Insight Report from McKinsey says US health systems could address workforce shortages across a wide range of healthcare roles by setting up their own education entities or partnering with postsecondary-education institutions. The report says health systems are actively designing and planning for workforce models that are more sustainable, including by innovating care models, increasing the use of technology, and boosting efforts to attract, recruit, and retain workers. They are also becoming more involved in efforts to expand the pool of qualified talent in nursing and allied-health professions through education. These efforts can take many forms but can be clustered broadly into three models: health systems creating or acquiring their own education entities, health systems and educational institutions creating equal partnerships to educate the workforce, and health systems partnering with education providers to develop (at least in part) the talent supply they need. Please click here to read more.

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