WISCONSIN CHAPTER

SOCIETY FOR SOCIAL WORK LEADERSHIP IN HEALTH CARE
OF THE AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION

 CHAPTER MEETING MINUTES

JUNE 6, 2002

QUALITY INN SOUTH, MADISON, WI

Introductions/Sharing

Safe Harbor - Child abuse advocacy group. Video interviews of children abused. B. Nelson reported positive outcomes: more cases pleaded out, children do not need to go to court, county saves money.

St.Mary's Green Bay - developing case management system.

St. Mary's Madison - UR/DC planning done by both RN and SW - all staff identify quality issues.

WPS now has SW doing UR case management of behavioral health patients.

Rhinelander which is critical access hospital had recent state and JCAHO survey. Emphasis on documentation, esp. handwriting and abbreviations as patient safety issue.

Monroe Hospice provides free short-term grief counseling to anyone in their area. Beginning to use animals (pet therapy) in hospice.

Columbus Hospital has active end-of-life committee. Recently opened Memorial Room.

Adams-Friendship hospital is critical access, working to increase Swing bed usage.

Several persons talked about new requirement for MDS for swing bed and how they were implementing.

Beaver Dam Hospital - recently began regularly scheduling discharge planners on week-ends.

Marshfield doing "major overhaul" of dept. based on West Hudson consultants. BSW, UR RN's and D/C planning RN will all be trained to same function.

Gunderson LaCrosse also working on nursing and care management re-design.

Bob Miller has job descriptions for blended depts., and tools for measuring health outcomes.

Stan Nielson of Meriter reports increased emphasis on competencies for volunteers.

Hartford Hospital - SW now part of CHF clinic.

UW SW working on outpt. diabetes and osteoporosis programs.

NASW UPDATE

Marc Herstand reported new licensure bill goes into effect Nov. 1. Summary of bill in last NASW newsletter and also on website www.naswwi.org.

Task force looking at AODA issues, i.e. can clinical SW do AODA counseling and bill for it. Any member of NASW who is interested in this task force should call Marc. 866-462-7994.

Revised "Rules for outpatient clinics" are due out in Sept. Also working on SW being able to bill MA directly.

Temporary certificates are available for SW coming from out of state.

NASW state conference recently completed. Gubernatorial Forum successful. NASW not endorsing anyone at this time.

Lobby Day 2003 - would like members of SSWLHC to participate in planning

Continuing Education - several programs being offered. Check web site for details.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Balance as of 6/6/02: $4,176.43

Membership application has been revised.

HEALTH POLICY COMMITTEE

Sharon Winter chairs this and is looking for members who are interested in serving on this committee. Meetings can be done through conference calls.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

Board members working on phone calls to potential new members

DISCUSSION

The group discussed continuing affiliation with national SSWLHC organization vs. affiliating with another organization, e.g. NASW or National Institute of Case Managers. NASW is beginning a health care section of the organization. Another possibility is becoming an independent organization in the state or midwest.

An idea to broaden education topics to attract other health care disciplines was also discussed.

PLAN: Will develop work group to address these issues and present recommendations. If interested in being on this work group, please contact Mary Jo Walsh (414-963-2600). Brian Thieler, Bob Miller, and Dave Schmidt (?) are already interested.

WEBSITE REPORT

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE NEW WEB SITE:

Neil O'Connor will be coming to next board mtg. to discuss further website possibilities.

NEXT MEETING: FRIDAY, SEPT. 13, Educational program on Complementary Medicine.

Respectfully Submitted, Deb Hupf, Chapter Secretary