POSITIVE PATIENT EXPERIENCE CONTRIBUTES TO FV HEALTHCARE AWARD
Patient experience is one criteria among several that ranked Floyd Valley Healthcare among the 2024 Chartis Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals.
Chief Nursing Officer Tara Geddes says the award confirms their hard work in all aspects of Floyd Valley Healthcare’s operation, including patient experience.
Geddes says patient experience is a comprehensive factor in itself.
Geddes says FV Healthcare places great weight on patient responses to their service.
Geddes says they meet regularly to discuss the patient experience.
The Chartis Center For Rural Health has a Rural Hospital Performance Index, but Geddes says FV Health has their own methods of gaining performance data.
VILSACK SAYS USDA EMPLOYEES ACCESSIBLE
USDA Secretary – and former Iowa Governor – Tom Vilsack, told a Senate hearing this week that his employees are accessible, and are hard at work serving the agriculture community.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst questioned Vilsack about a GAO report which stated only 11% of the USDA headquarters in Washington is in use, because of so many employees working off-site.
Vilsack took issue with Ernst question about how many USDA employees are unavailable because they aren’t in the office.
Vilsack says 82% of this Washington employees are in their offices daily.
The questions took place before a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee Wednesday.
HOUSE BILL GIVES SCHOOLS LIABILITY SHIELD IF STAFF WITH PROFESSIONAL LICENSES ARE ARMED
The Iowa House has approved a bill designed to give liability protection to schools that choose to let teachers or other staff volunteer to undergo training and carry a weapon to respond to a shooting. To get a professional permit to carry a gun on school grounds, a person would have to have medical training, learn how to communicate with law enforement during a shooting and participate in active shooter drills. There would also be a yearly background check. Republicans say seconds count during a school shooting and law enforcement may arrive minutes after the first shot is fired. Democrats say the answer to gun violence isn’t more violence and the state should enact gun safety measures, like raising the age to buy a semi-automatic firearm to 21.
IOWA SENATE PASSES BILL TO CRACK DOWN ON FOOD MARKETED AS ‘MEAT’ THAT’S PLANT OR INSECT BASED
The Iowa Senate has voted to establish fines for food processors that sell products in Iowa with labels suggesting food made with plant or insect based protein is a meat-based product. Senator Dawn Driscoll of Washington raises Angus cattle on her family farm near Williamsburg.
If the bill passed by the Iowa Senate becomes law, food processors could be fined as much as 10-thousand dollars for selling something labeled as meat in Iowa when it’s not.
The bill would provide some latitude to marketers, however.
The bill had included a ban on research at the state universities into the production or use of manufactured meat products, but that was removed. An addition to the bill calls for state officials to seek a waiver that would not allow food stamps or benefits for women with infants and young children to be used to buy manufactured meats.
The bill now goes to the House for consideration.
PAY CAPS PROPOSED FOR TRAVELING NURSES IN IOWA HOSPITALS, NURSING HOMES
The Iowa House has voted to set limits for the pay of temporary nursing staff working in Iowa hospitals and nursing homes. A traveling nurse could be paid no more than 150 percent of the statewide average wage being paid to full-time health care staff who provide nursing services. The bill is a priority for House Republicans, who contend temp agencies are reaping too much of the extra money the legislature has provided nursing homes. The bill passed on an 80-to-17 vote. Critics say the state should no tell businesses how much to charge for their services and if the bill becomes law some health care employment agencies may quit doing business in Iowa.
INITIATIVE EXPANDS TO HELP IOWA SENIORS STAY IN THEIR HOMES LONGER
A University of Iowa pilot program launched in 2019 to help older Iowans continue living independently in their homes is seeing wide success and will soon be available statewide. Brian Kaskie (CASS-kee), a U-I professor of health policy, says a senior citizen who is hospitalized for an illness or a medical procedure may wind up in a long-term care facility if their home isn’t fit for them to return, or if they’re having troubles getting around, or cooking for themselves. The Iowa Return to Community initiative is expanding in the state, an effort to identify people who may be at-risk and help them to make their homes more comfortable and safe.
