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HASC Briefs

HASC Briefs for December 4, 2013

Hospitals in Orange County have embraced the Psychiatric Emergency Services model of care for patients experiencing psychiatric emergencies. In other news from HASC, Orange County is also continuing to work on constructing a new safety net program for the future. Fast Facts from the most recent Patient Safety Collaborative are now online, and early bird registration, through December 18, is open for the 2014 Palliative Care Conference.

Association News

Hospitals Embrace Psychiatric Emergency Services Model for Orange County

Orange County hospitals have embraced the Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) model of care for patients experiencing psychiatric emergencies, citing data from the Alameda Health System indicating that the model reduces the need for involuntary, inpatient hospitalization by 75 percent and reduces wait times for treatment for these patients in busy hospital emergency rooms by 80 percent.

Association News

Construct of Future Safety Net Program in Orange County Remains Controversial

Notwithstanding its own data supporting the health benefits to patients and the County Budget of a medical home model for the chronically ill and uninsured in Orange County as implemented through the County’s current LIHP/Welfare & Institutions Code Section 17000 program, and over the objections of hospitals and physicians, Orange County officials propose to abandon that care model going forward, forcing poor and uninsured individuals experiencing medical emergencies to seek care in costly hospital emergency departments in order to enroll in its future program.

Association News

Fast Facts from November Patient Safety Collaborative Meeting Now Online

Julia Slininger

The Patient Safety First Phase 2 Collaborative Meeting, focusing on Sepsis, Surgical Safety, Perinatal Safety and HAI – C. Difficile, convened 128 attendees from 45 of 81 PSF Collaborative hospitals in early November.

The full Fast Facts document, a one-page summary of meeting highlights distributed after each meeting and designed to offer senior leaders a communication tool that can be used to facilitate a short debriefing with meeting attendees, is available online at http://www.hasc.org/fact-sheet/fast-facts-18.

Topics included:

Association News

Early Bird Registration Now Available for 2014 Palliative Care Conference

Grow your expertise in palliative and supportive care at the 6th Annual Palliative Care Transitions Conference, February 25, 2014, at the Hilton Pasadena. Early bird registration for this event, through Dec. 18, 2013, is $150 per person. Visit http://www.hasc.org/palliative-care-2014 for full conference and registration information.

Association News

ReddiNet Used Extensively in 2013 Statewide Medical and Health Exercise

Soraya Peters

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) conducted a Statewide Medical and Health exercise on November 21, 2013. This year’s exercise was focused on the Homeland Security Target Capabilities of Medical Surge, Communication, Emergency Operations Center Management, Emergency Public Information and Warning, and Public Health Epidemiological Surveillance and the exercise scenario was a foodborne disease outbreak.

Association News

Mark Your 2014 Calendar for the HASC Annual Meeting

Please join us April 2-4, 2014, for the HASC Annual Meeting at the La Quinta Resort & Club.

Nationally recognized keynote speakers for the 2014 event include: