CURRENTSA weekly publication for UPMC Susquehanna Service Partners and Volunteers

Recent news coverage about a coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China and a related case in Washington state impacting a recent traveler to the Wuhan region of China, has raised questions among providers, staff, and patients.

UPMC is staying informed of developments and taking proper precautions to ensure that our facilities and staff are well-equipped to properly care for patients with contagious diseases without exposing other patients, staff, or visitors. Here are three ways to help in this effort:

Be Aware of Potential Symptoms

If you encounter a patient who meets the following criteria, implement precautions and contact the Wolff Center via MedCall at 412-647-7000.

• History of travel from Wuhan, China within 14 days of symptom onset, or close contact with a person who is under investigation for coronavirus.

• Fever and symptoms of lower respiratory illness (cough, shortness of breath)

Implement These Precautions• Although transmission dynamics have yet to be determined,

follow these Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations:

• Mask the patient.

• Move the patient to a private room with the door closed. Ideally, an airborne infection isolation room, if available.

• Use airborne and contact precautions with face shield when entering the patient room.

• Engage the Wolff Center Infection Preventionists by calling MedCall at 412-647-7000.

• Practice normal environmental services cleaning.

Use Resources Available for Staff• Familiarize yourself with the foreign travel illness and infection

resources found on Infonet, including:• A list of travel screen alert countries, indicating areas with active

cases of infectious disease.• Detailed travel screen guidelines to use following a positive

registration screen. • Travel notice flier to place in registration areas to help patients

remember to self-report any travel.• These resources are updated regularly to reflect areas and

related infections of concern across the globe to assist in identifying potentially impacted patients every time a travel screen is performed.

• Any additional information regarding coronavirus will be shared in Extra and on Infonet as it becomes available. More resources, including travel precautions can be found on the CDC website.

January 29, 2020 • UPMCSusquehanna.org

Important Information about Coronavirus Outbreak in Wuhan, China

Missed the Town Hall With Don Owrey?To find the Q&A document from the Jan. 15 Town Hall, search “town hall” on Infonet. Leadership updates and Town Hall meetings will continue to be uploaded on Infonet in the future.

Valentine Chocolate Rose Sale at UPMC WellsboroSend Highland chocolate roses to coworkers, friends, and family to let them know how much you care about them.

Roses come in dark, milk, white, and sugar-free chocolate, and are $2 each. All proceeds benefit Wellsboro ALS Ambulance projects.

Roses will be delivered on Friday, Feb. 14, to your special person, with a card from you. Cards are available until Wednesday, Feb. 12.

To order, visit the Gifts From the Heart gift shop, or contact Faith Preston, volunteer services assistant, at prestonf@upmc.edu. You can pay for the roses when you return the card to the gift shop or Volunteer Services.

The New News ProcessAs mentioned in previous editions of CURRENTS, the newsletter will be going away effective Monday, Feb. 3.

The process for submitting content remains the same – you can email SUS-currents@upmc.edu or Courtney Klug at klugc@upmc.edu.

With the migration to Extra and Infonet news, there will no longer be a printed version of CURRENTS, however, you can access the news archive on Infonet and print a news recap. Here’s how:

• Search “news recap” and click the first search result.

• From there, you can select how many days of news you would like to print, and whether you’d like to include images or not.

• You can also click the “View All News” button on the homepage of Infonet, then select “Print a recap.”

The printable news recap allows you to share information with staff. If you have questions, contact Courtney Klug, communications specialist II, at 570-321-3740 or klugc@upmc.edu.

Meet the Care Transition Team

Let’s start with a win: UPMC Williamsport went the first full week of January with no readmissions, and Care Transitions plays a huge role in those statistics.

The Care Transition Team’s goal is to make sure patients who make frequent visits to the Emergency Department or are high risk for readmission, are taking the necessary steps in keeping their health in check.

The three departments responsible for coordinating care within Care Transitions are:

• Acute Care Management — Focused on the clinical care patients receive in the hospital.

• Ambulatory Care Management — Focused on managing the patient’s condition outside of the hospital.

• Social Work — Focused on connecting patients with the support services and resources in the community.

This multi-disciplinary approach allows the team to work together to build a comprehensive understanding of the patient’s condition by interacting with the patients on a regular basis. The nurses and social workers work together to understand the “why;” why these patients are experiencing lapses in care, missing appointments, not filling prescriptions, seeking non-emergent care in the emergency room visits, and getting readmitted to the hospital.

The team’s approach to patient care is helping reduce the likelihood of readmission to the hospital, avoiding unnecessary trips to the emergency room, and ensures they are receiving the proper level of care in the setting most appropriate to their condition — whether that’s self-care at home, having a provider come to the home, or seeing a primary care provider or specialist in an outpatient clinic.

2020 Federal Tax Exemption ClarificationFor new employees, and current employees who want to change their federal tax exemptions:

• Log into HR Direct and click on the following apps: ME, PAY, TAX WITHHOLDING. Use the pencil to edit the “Federal” section.

IRS Changes for 2020:

Previously, the employer did the calculations of how much money should be deducted from employees’ paychecks based on the number of exemptions listed and earnings.

Now, the IRS is having the employee calculate how much tax should be deducted. This can be calculated by using the attached worksheet. UPMC will not accept paper W4 forms. The employee should transpose their calculated deductions from the W4 into HR Direct.

Example:

Scenario: You have one child under the age of 17, and you are currently claiming one as your number of qualifying dependents. You need to claim another child under the age of 17, and want to change the number of dependents to two.

In HR Direct it now asks you for the Qualifying Dependents Amount in USD.

You should provide that dollar amount per the IRS worksheet attached under Step 3.

Because the Child Tax Credit offers up to $2,000 per qualifying dependent child 17 or younger, you would multiply the number of children under the age 17 by $2,000.

(For this example, it would equal $4,000)

This total should then be entered in HR Direct under the Qualifying Dependents Amount.