October 24, 2014

MEC formally opposes Proposition 46 (aka MICRA Reform) (PDF)
California healthcare costs will significantly increase with new MICRA proposition. The Medical Staff Executive Committees of the Stanford Hospital and Clinics and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (the "MECs"), representing the over 2500 physicians who care for patients at these hospitals and clinics, formally oppose Proposition 46 dealing with patient drug checks, physician screening and medical malpractice lawsuits. The MECs believe that this initiative will compromise patient privacy, limit access to needed healthcare services, increase healthcare costs, foster baseless lawsuits, and create significant inefficiencies. Click here to read the joint statement of SHC and LPCH Medical Staff Executive Committees.

Prop. 46 / MICRA Questions and Answers (PDF)
Medical Staff members who desire to respond to or initiate discussion of Prop. 46 with patients and others have ready talking points with this Question & Answer sheet.

Next Phase of Ebola Preparedness
Should Stanford ever receive an Ebola patient, our top priority is the safety of our staff, patients and visitors. Stanford’s Ebola preparedness efforts began in early August and build on our emergency preparedness planning that has been underway for many years. On Monday we launch the next level of training for employees who have volunteered to care for any potential Ebola patients. Read the  full story about our preparedness efforts in a story on the Stanford Health Care intranet. (You will need to be on the SHC network to access the story.)

What's New and Coming Soon in Epic
Order Recurring Antibiotic Infusions for Patients Receiving Care in Infusion Areas
Starting Thursday 10/30, antibiotic therapy plans can be placed in Epic for patients receiving infusions at the Stanford Hospital Infusion Center (formerly ATIC) or Redwood City Infusion Treatment Center (ITC) for Tobramycin, Zosyn, Daptomycin, Epoetin Alfa and many more. Therapy plans are used for non-chemotherapy standing orders that occur repeatedly and need to cross patient visits. Providers can enter and sign orders in Epic for a patient's entire therapy at once and plans can continue over time. These orders can be initiated at discharge, from an orders only encounter or a clinic visit and will replace paper orders.

To learn more about therapy plans please review the following articles: Initiate a Therapy Plan (Video)| Discontinue a Therapy Plan | Merge Therapy Plans. Additionally, WebEx training sessions are scheduled through the end of November please email Moses Albaniel (malbaniel@stanfordhealthcare.org) for information.

Submit an article to medstaff@stanfordhealthcare.org