Tuesday, June 20, 2000
"POC Assessment, Regulations, & Billing" 

Meeting Minutes UCLA Medical Center, Hosted by Vida Montgomery

I. Introductions (by Vida Montgomery): Valerie Johnson (Roche), Alan Watson (MAS), Marcy Anderson, Senior Clinical Specialist (MAS)

II. Point of Care Testing and Data Management Issues (Marcy Anderson)

A. Reasons for POCT Growth.

1. Faster TAT

a. physician belief that bedside testing will decrease TAT.
b. TATs may decrease but really depends on location of central lab and logistics of sample procurement.

2. Vendors are making more POCT devices

a. in response to customer feedback
b. in response to a larger list of waived tests and home use testing kits.

3. Regulatory bodies are changing

a. more agencies are involved in regulation of POCT devices

B. Issues of Concern in POCT

1. Data Management

a. any new analyzers or systems should have data management capabilities.

b. CIC - Connectivity Industry Consortium

1) can be found on the web at "poc.cic.org".

2) a group of vendors that are coming together to set standards for consolidation of data management into ONE PC.

3) standards will then be presented to NCCLS for approval in the hope that any new analyzers can meet these guidelines for use on one data management system.

2. Standardization

a. of all hospital sites in a health care system managed by one coordinator will have only ONE type of glucose meter, ONE type of ACT analyzer, etc.

3. Bar-coding

a. if analyzers all had bar-code scanning capabilities, positive ID can be used for reagents, operators and pateints.

b. Of course, this would only be possible if all staff memebers had bar-coded Ids, and our patients al had bar-coded ID bands.

4. Financial assessment of a POCT program

a. most POCT managers are not aware of the financial side of a POCT program.

5. More POCT FTE's

a. too much work and not enough time!

6. POC Committee

a. sends awareness of POC testing to all facets of the hospital.

C. RALS Products

1. RALS-Link
2. RALS-G (for glucose)
3. RALS-Plus (other tests)
4. Lab scheduler (easier lab scheduling of personnel)
5. Clinical patient management ( patient trending)
6. POC Assessment (Consultation process available to evaluate the POCT program)

a. Executive Presentation

1) introduction to what the POC Assessment includes.
2) Done to get hospital wide interest and understanding of POCT.
3) Staff members to attend this session include: materials management managers, risk management managers, nursing managers, billing administrators, lab managers

b. Identify Issues

1) consultants will talk to RNs, MDs on patient care areas to collect information on :

a) how current procedures are performed
b) what things can be improved
c) what else is needed at POC

c. Executive Summary Presentation

1) Written report presented to those who were in initial Executive Presentation
2) Includes:

a) comparison of current findings to regulatory issues. Determining which issues are in compliance, which are not and how they can be made compliant.
b) Efficiencies of current procedures and suggestions to improve these if necessary.
c) Cost saving suggestions
d) Potential revenue

i) if not billing, best to start right away because any little bit helps

e) current status of resource utilization and suggestions for improvement.

d. Benefits of POC Assessment

1) Educates all facets of the hospital in POCT
2) Identifies eficiencies and cost savings
3) Builds awareness of POCT hospital wide
4) Regulatory viability review
5) Waste assessment
6) Quantify costs of POCT program

III. Discussion / Questions

A. Is an overview of HIS / LIS included in the POC assessment?

1. Marcy Anderson: No. More information is needed and staff at a higher level (CFO, CEO) need to be involved with suggestions involving a change in the HIS or LIS.

B. How many days does the POC assessment take?

1. M.A.: One to two days at the site. Then 6 weeks to prepare the final report

C. Is billing actually that useful when Medicare pays based on DRGs?

1. M.A.: Success of billing practices would be based on the patient mix…self-pay or Medicare.

D. Any comments on documentation of manual POC tests?

1. M.A.: Something that we're looking into with the RALS-plus

E. You mentioned about staff members not filling out sheets, how about addressing problems with staff filing out the sheets, but not sure if they actually do the QC testing?

1. M.A.: No answer.

IV. Announcements (Vida)

A. September 16th, at the Westin there will be a POCT seminar worth 6 CEU
B. Anna Huff will assist with updating the LA POCT User's website
C. Next meeting will be October 24th at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Intended topic will be ACTs.
D. Short discussion regarding future meeting sites. Decided that for 2001, meeting site will stay at UCLA Medical Center.
E. Committees:

1. Speaker / Topics: Monica Thomas and Lee Flores
2. Food: Porntip Weises and Anthony Johnson
3. Invitations: Jessica Graves
4. Meeting Minutes: rotating

V. Meeting Adjourned at 1340.

End of Meeting Minutes

Dateline: SoCalPOC Users Group, Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, February 9, 2000

A man in a wheelchair tries to negotiate his way through a gap in a crowded hallway at the same time that a nurse is trying to wheel a patient on a gurney through the same crowd of people. Judging from the look on his face, he wonders, "Who are these people, and why are they gathering here?

He was witnessing the initial gathering of a group of laboratorians who share the special challenge of managing the point-of-care testing that takes place in their various hospitals. There were 16 Point-Of-Care Coordinators in attendance, plus Roche Diagnostics Account Managers Curt Ryan and Valerie Johnson, who sponsored the inaugural meeting and provided great food, mailers and other support. This diverse group met with the goal of sharing ideas for refining policies and improving procedures.

Vida Montgomery, the POC Coordinator for UCLA Health Sciences Center, hosted the meeting and is enthusiastically ready to do it again. Her vision for the future of these meetings, shared by the others in attendance, involves educational and scientific presentations, product demonstrations and professional peer-group exchanges. As an added benefit, you'll enjoy some social interaction with a few other lab professionals who can relate to the task you face.

If you're reading this, consider it your electronic invitation to participate. In fact, this Website is intended as an encouragement to you, the coordinators of ancillary testing and laboratorians in general to communicate together. This is your resource to use as needed for the benefit of your profession, on a local, regional or national scope.

The next SoCal POC User's Group meeting features Marcy Anderson, formerly the POCC of Pinnacle Health System, a four hospital IHN in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Currently, Marcy manages the Point-of-Care Assessment Program, a consulting service which provides detailed information resources to a hospital's management team regarding their own POC testing activities. The topic for the June meeting will be "POC Assessment, Regulations, & Billing/Cost Saving Issues".

SoCalPOC User's Group
Moderator Guidelines for Discussions

1.Moderator duty will rotate among the members.
2.A member will volunteer at the close of each meeting.
3.The Moderator will choose the topic from a list prepared by the members including those turned in at the meetings and any sent via email.
4.The topic will be published at least 1 month before the meeting.
5.During the discussion, the Moderator will call on members who have indicated that they have something to say by raising their hands.
6.The moderator will watch the time, allowing no more than 3 minutes per turn for each member to speak.
7.We will stay with one topic until the Moderator suggests a change.
8.When the Moderator suggests a change, written topics/questions turned in during the meeting will be addressed first.
9.Time permitting, verbal topics/questions from the members may be addressed.
10.The last duty of the Moderator is to choose a volunteer to be the Moderator of the next meeting.