Section 1: from the President

KCRA News!

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SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER 2011 This newsletter is brought to you by the KCRA Executive Committee and is meant to give you the latest and greatest news and information happening in our organization. CONTENTS

SECTION 1: FROM THE PRESIDENT

 Note from the President  Cathy Lewis, RN, BSN Hello Everyone! I hope that everyone has had a great and relaxing summer, and that all of your programs are flourishing. Hopefully, some of you are preparing for your trip to the AACVPR national conference in Anaheim this week. If you have never been to the national conference and have the opportunity to go, you won’t regret it. Speaking of conferences, we are well into the planning of the 2012 conference that will be held in Louisville. We are looking at hotels and conference centers to book the event. We would like some input on topics. Please email your ideas to the planning/executive committee as soon as possible so that we can plan for a great conference again next year. I would like to discuss an issue that keeps coming up year after year. We still have some programs in the state that do not have any KCRA members. I must admit that I think that every single person working in cardiac/pulmonary rehab should be a member. However, I have encountered a few professionals that are sitting around waiting for their hospital to pay for their membership, and aren’t members because the hospital has decreased spending. Well, mine has too. However, as a rehab professional and as a nurse, I feel a sense of responsibility to enhance my services to patients. Sometimes this means that I pay for things like memberships, education, uniforms, poster presentation supplies, and other things on my own (that’s not always easy). I am disappointed to learn of directors that do not protect their programs by seeking out the most current knowledge in our field and staying networked to learn of best practices. I commend each of you that are reading this, because you value a membership that is very, very economical and provides you with valuable information, networks, and education opportunities. For directors that don’t want to provide easy access to information for your program and staff, protect your program from possible closure due to reimbursement issues simply because your hospital won’t pay a membership … shame on you. Okay, off of my soap box now. In closing, we do owe it to our patients to be the best that we can be, for them. If you know of a facility that does not have a KCRA member, tell us about them. Let us give them a call and invite them to come on board. Thanks you for all that you do to give patients a second chance at having a better life. I will leave you with this quote, “What you get by reaching your goals is not nearly as important as what you become by reaching them” - Zig Zigler. I hope that we can reach great goals together.

SECTION 2: REIMBURSEMENT NEWS

Proposed Reimbursement for 2012