The holidays are rapidly approaching, and it’s apparent we’re all going to continue making more changes in our lives and traditions. While there is always the family story of the infamous in-laws or strange cousins who typically sidetrack a smooth Thanksgiving get-together, we will miss even weird Uncle Al this year! I pray you are all planning to be safe and will remain healthy. Luckily, patience is something inherent to value analysis!
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Wow!! What great presentations at the virtual conference this year! It started off with a bang with the CVAHP Review Workshop on Monday, Oct. 26. Beth Potter, BJ McCloskey, Anne Marie Orlando and Karla Barber did a great job reviewing Value Analysis concepts for attendees getting ready to take the certification exam.
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In the Beginning…
The pathway to CVAHP Certification began with a meeting of experienced value analysis professionals Feb. 5, 2014. Their task was to identify the knowledge and skills required to establish and maintain an effective Healthcare Value Analysis process. Skills and knowledge culled from numerous job descriptions and personal experiences were organized into four “Domains,” which we now refer to as “Pillars.” The resulting product was the Curriculum Outline that is in the CVAHP Handbook.
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The Central Region wanted to be able to connect regularly, so we started a CST Region Connect meeting, to be held once a quarter. We did a one-hour call over lunch Sept. 16 and had four topics with four speakers for 15 mins each.
This meeting was titled “Value Analysis Now, more than ever.”
The topics discussed were:
- Ways to think outside the box (examples) and pitch in where needed
- Supply Disruption – quickly finding alternatives
- Looking to your GPO for help
- Future standardization – what will that look like?
We are looking forward to our next meeting, to be held on Jan. 13. If other regions would like to join, we’d be happy to include them!
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Welcome aboard AHVAP’s newest Northeast Regional Members and Affiliates: Pamela Jagodzinski, Thomas Hickey, Yolanda Davis, and Kerry Riek from District #9 and Robert Marshall and Farzana Goldstein from District #10. The Northeast Region looks forward to getting to know you all and to have you joining us during the Northeast quarterly regional meetings.
The next Northeast Regional meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020 from noon – 1 p.m. EST. Kristen Sinke, MSN, RN, PCCN, Director of Value Analysis at Spectrum Health will be taking the Northeast on a Value Analysis journey by discussing an Outcomes Based Savings Program. If you haven’t received the electronic invitation, please feel free to reach out to Sue Toomey, AHVAP NE Regional Director at susan.toomey@lvhn.org.
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Occupational Health & Safety Online
What began as an outbreak of serious illness caused by a novel coronavirus in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, quickly spread around the world and was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. In the United States, the first laboratory-confirmed case was diagnosed in the state of Washington on January 20, 2020. Within two months, hospitals in numerous states were overwhelmed with cases of critically ill COVID-19 patients.
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Investor's Business Daily
Amazon thrashed the brick-and-mortar retail model with its e-commerce business. It put fellow tech titans to shame when its third-party web hosting unit set the standard for a new cloud computing model. Now it's taking on the nearly $4 trillion health care market, which could keep Amazon stock growing for years — if it succeeds. Amazon fired a big shot across the bow of drugstores and prescription drug wholesalers on Nov. 17 when it launched Amazon Pharmacy.
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Bloomberg
Japan is continuing its efforts to diversify its supply chains and beef up factories at home after COVID-19 and trade wars exposed the risk of being too concentrated in outside markets including China. The government announced the distribution of 146 subsidies totaling 247.8 billion yen ($2.4 billion) to businesses fortifying their domestic supply chains, the trade ministry said Friday. Some 57 applications received 57.4 billion yen in an earlier round of payments this summer as part of a program launched earlier this year.
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The Guardian
The British government has sourced PPE from factories in China where hundreds of North Korean women have been secretly working in conditions of modern slavery, according to evidence uncovered by the Guardian. The Guardian’s findings indicate that hundreds of thousands of protective coveralls ordered for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have come from factories using North Korean labour in the Chinese city of Dandong.
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As the U.S. remains gripped in a long-predicted autumn coronavirus surge, the nation is also reportedly experiencing a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), including important N95 masks. Levels of PPE at many health care facilities are well below what regulators recommend, according to The Wall Street Journal. While states have been trying to build supplies of N95 masks, those stockpiling efforts are being slowed by the latest increase in coronavirus cases.
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BBC
Emails reveal how the Health and Safety Executive said protective suits, bought by the government in April, had not been tested to the correct standard. But the emails describe "political" pressure to approve them for use. The government said all PPE is "quality assured" and only sent out if safe. Early on in the pandemic, the NHS experienced severe shortages of personal protective equipment, known as PPE.
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CNN
Denise Mourning tried to hold back the tears behind her face shield. The acute care nurse practitioner in Odessa, Texas, was reflecting on the emotional arc of the coronavirus pandemic, one that began with a sense of unity but has unraveled into exasperation. "At first it was, 'Thank you so much, you're frontline, we appreciate what you're doing,'" she said. "And now, I mean, I'm getting threats."
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