Association News
Who’s the biggest?
ALEXANDRIA, Virg. – Assisted Living Executive, the magazine of the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA), has released its annual list of the largest providers in the assisted living business.
This year’s top 10 companies, ranked by total assisted living resident capacity, are:
- Sunrise Senior Living, McLean, Virg.
- Emeritus Senior Living, Seattle
- Brookdale Senior Living, Chicago
- Sunwest Management Inc., Salem, Ore.
- Atria Senior Living Group, Louisville, Ky.
- Assisted Living Concepts, Milwaukee, Wisc.
- Merrill Gardens, Seattle
- Five Star Quality Care, Newton, Mass.
- HCR ManorCare, Toledo, Ohio
- Leisure Care, Seattle
Recent mergers and acquisitions dramatically changed the lineup of top companies this year. Emeritus Senior Living pushed Brookdale Senior Living from the No. 2 spot, thanks to its merger last summer with Summerville Senior Living (No. 6 on the 2007 list). Moving from No. 7 to Summerville’s former spot at No. 6 is Assisted Living Concepts, which increased its resident capacity by 728 (9%), due mostly to procuring eight Southeastern communities from CaraVita Senior Care.
Fanville, New Jersey-based Chelsea Senior Living made the biggest jump since last year, moving from No. 50 to No. 37. The company’s gains in capacity were made via the acquisition of just three management contracts. Also making a big move on this year’s list, Mt. Laurel, New Jersey-based Brandywine Senior Living gained 498 residents (or 45%) and jumped from No. 40 to No. 29. For more information, see www.alfa.org
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Best practices guide published
WEST CONSHOHOKEN, Penna. – ASTM International and AIIM, the international authority on Enterprise Content Management, have published the Best Practices Guide – PDF Healthcare (AIIM/ASTM BP-01-2008).
This document describes a proposed, voluntary, industry-wide reference tool and guideline to describe the features and functionality of the Portable Document Format (PDF) for the healthcare industry. It is designed to facilitate the way healthcare information is captured, exchanged, preserved, and protected so that participants within the healthcare system can use the well-known and trusted PDF specification as the electronic container of the information. ASTM International standards can be purchased at www.astm.org
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Keeping children safe
OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. – Medications specifically made for adults and administered to children in health care facilities put young patients at greater risk for drug errors, according to the Joint Commission.
The Joint Commission’s latest Sentinel Event Alert addresses pediatric medication errors, and urges greater attention to precautions such as medication standardization, improved medication identification and communication techniques, and use of kilograms as the standard weight measurement to calculate proper dosages.
Most of the harmful pediatric medication errors tracked during the past two years by U.S. Pharmacopeia involved either an improper dose or quantity, according to the Alert. Problems typically arise when hospitals and clinics are forced to prepare special volumes or concentrations because the drugs are formulated and packaged primarily for adults. The need to alter the original medication dosage requires a series of calculations and tasks that increase the chance for error.
To reduce the risk of pediatric medication errors, The Joint Commission recommends that healthcare organizations:
- Use the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals and Medication Management Standards to guide safe medication practices for pediatric patients;
- Weigh all pediatric patients in kilograms, which will then become the standardized weight used for prescriptions, medical records, and staff communication;
- Do not dispense or administer drugs classified as high risk until the patient has been weighed, unless it is an emergency situation;
- Require prescribers to write out how they arrived at the proper dosage, as dose per weight, so that the calculation can be double checked by a pharmacist, nurse, or both; and
- Use pediatric-specific medication formulations and concentrations when possible.
The Alert also encourages organizations to be open and transparent if an error occurs in order to facilitate learning so that future errors can be prevented and drug manufacturers can develop pediatric-specific formulations. It is also important for standardization of medicine labeling and packaging. For more patient safety solutions, visit www.jcipatientsafety.org
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NCI welcomes new director
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Hasnaa Shafik has been named Program Director in the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Cancers Branch.
Dr. Shafik joined the NCI Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine’s program staff in 2003. In early 2005 she assumed a new role as a Scientific Review Administrator in the NCI Division of Extramural Activities. She was in charge of the Prevention, Control and Population Sciences Special Emphasis Panel which reviews Program Projects and multi–site clinical trials.
Dr. Shafik earned her Medical Degree, and Masters in Public Health from Ain Shams University, Cairo Egypt. Through the Fulbright program she was awarded a fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (UTMB) to study the mechanisms of induction of cancer with emphasis on chemical carcinogenesis. She then joined the Graduate School at UTMB and earned a PhD in Preventive Medicine and Community Health with a major in genetic/environmental toxicology. Dr. Shafik’s research mainly focused on mechanisms of leukemogenesis in patients with Down syndrome. For more information, see cancercenters.cancer.gov
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IFMA hosts seminar series
HOUSTON — The International Facility Management Association (IFMA), in conjunction with the Corporate Realty, Design & Management Institute, and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) is offering a series of seminars titled High Performance Hospitals & Medical Research Facilities in a 14 U.S. cities.
Hosted by IFMA’s Health Care Council, the seminars will bring together hundreds of the health care industry’s top architects, engineers, service providers, and building designers. The theme of the half-day seminar is How Good Design, Effective Operations and Life Cycle Cost Analysis Overcomes First Cost Issues and will cover topics such as how to go green the right way, the latest in value added design and operations, and how to communicate your project’s return on investment in a way that resonates with healthcare CFOs.
Attendees can earn continuing education units from various organizations for their participation. Registration is still available for many of the destinations, and tickets can be purchased in advance or at the door. For more information or to reserve a space, visit www.squarefootage.net
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And the envelope please…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Winners of the 2008 Blair L. Sadler International Healing Arts Awards are:
- Melinda M. Bridgman coordinated Art as a Source of Healing, a model collaboration, now in its seventh year, between Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital in East Providence, R.I.
- Judith-Kate Friedman developed a comprehensive music program entitled Songwriting Works at the Jewish Home (SWAJH)in San Francisco, now in its eleventh year.
- Lisa Gallagher designed a program to study The Clinical Effects of Music Therapy in Palliative Medicinethrough her work for The Cleveland Music School Settlement in conjunction with the Harry R. Horvitz Center for Palliative Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic and funded by the Kulas Foundation.
- Patricia Caballero Schillaci created a year-long dance movement/therapy program, Prenatal Therapeutic Dance Project (PTDP), to improve prenatal education and care as well as to provide mind and body healing effects for pregnant women.
- Xueli Tan, a music therapist, conducted a study, The Effectiveness of Music Therapy Protocols during the Debridement Process, to explore ways that music therapy could help burn patients in intensive care experiencing pain, anxiety and muscle tension throughout the process of burn wound dressing changes. Key investigators (and co-winners of the Sadler Award) included two medical doctors, Richard Fratianne, MD, FACS and Charles Yowler, MD, FACS, FCCM.
For more information, see www.thesah.org/doc/Sadler2008PressRelease.pdf
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Joint Commission gets new chief
OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. – Anne Marie Benedicto today begins her new role as chief of staff and executive vice president of Support Operations for The Joint Commission.
Benedicto, who recently completed her Six Sigma green belt training, was previously the administrator for both the Office for Excellence in Patient Care at the Mount Sinai Medical Center and for the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Department of Health Policy. She also held finance-related positions at the New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation, including reimbursement director for Bellevue Hospital Center.
At The Joint Commission, Benedicto will provide day-to-day oversight and coordination of human resources, information technology, office services, and board and committee activities. Benedicto will oversee the development of Internet data products that provide information about health care providers to the public, purchasers, and health care professionals. In addition, Benedicto will be responsible for the leadership of The Joint Commission operations team and the coordination of common functions between The Joint Commission and its not-for-profit affiliate, Joint Commission Resources (JCR). For more information, see www.jointcommission.org
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ASHE presents Vista Awards
CHICAGO — The American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association (AHA) announced the 2008 Vista Award recipients for teamwork in the healthcare design and building environment, including three categories: new construction, renovation, and infrastructure.
The following organizations are the 2008 recipients of the award for their respective category:
- New Construction - Fairbanks Imaging Center, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital/Denali Center, Banner Health in Fairbanks, Alaska.
- Renovation - Center for Advanced Care, Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill.
- Infrastructure - Luther Midelfort Central Energy Plant, Luther Midelfort Mayo Health Systems in Eau Claire, Wis.
For detailed information on the 2008 Vista Award recipients and/or information on the 2009 Vista Awards go to www.ashe.org
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