PEOPLE

Gregg Boothe has been promoted to associate director and chief operating officer at Hoxworth Blood Center.

Pamela Collins, RN, MSN, MS, FACHE, vice president and chief patient services officer at McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, recently was awarded the Southern Ohio Regent’s Senior Level Healthcare Executive Award by the American College of Healthcare Executives. The award recognizes outstanding health care executives who have demonstrated leadership ability, innovation and creativity, led key strategies of his/her organization and have committed to the development of others in the health care profession.

TriHealth has hired Charles Crowther as vice president and chief investment officer and Lisette Davis has been appointed director of diversity services.

Candace Novak has been appointed director of advocacy and government relations for both Mercy Health and Catholic Health Partners.

Atrium Medical Center has made the following appointments: Barry Robertson, MD, president of the Medical Staff; Judith Burichin, MD, vice president of the Medical Staff; and David Miller, MD, chair, department of Surgery.

The Business Courier named the winners of its 2012 Health Care Heroes Awards program:

• Manager: Thomas Boat, MD, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

• Community Outreach: Ruby Crawford-Hemphill, RN, BSN, MSA, UC Health – University Hospital

• Innovator: Punam Malik, MD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

• Provider: Nancy McMahon, RN, Mayfield Clinic

• 2012 Lifetime Achievement: George Strike, chairman of the board for UC Health

MEMBERS

The Christ Hospital has opened outpatient centers in Green Township and Fort Wright, Ky.

Fort Hamilton Hospital is adding 6,000 square feet to its 14,000 square-foot emergency department in a $5 million department upgrade that is estimated to be completed by August 2013.

McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital has completed its first-phase of attesting to the federal government’s electronic health record incentive program.

For the third time in a row, Mercy Health – Anderson Hospital has earned the Outstanding Achievement Award (OAA) from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. It is one of only two hospitals in Ohio and one of 13 hospitals in the U.S. to earn the OAA three consecutive times. Also, for the fourth year in a row Mercy Health – Clermont Hospital has been named a Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals®.

Mercy Health has formed a joint venture with Community EMS to provide patient transportation services for all Mercy Health patients. The service, which will operate as Mercy Health – Medical Transportation, will launch in June with an initial team of 50 employees and a fleet of 10 vehicles. Mercy Health also announced the opening of Mercy Health – Westside General and Vascular Surgeons. Formerly Cranley Surgical Associates, this group recently joined Mercy Health Physicians.

In the Ohio Department of Aging’s (ODA) 2011 satisfaction survey, Health Council affiliate member Ohio Valley Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center was one of only nine Ohio Center for Assisted Living members who scored 100 on the top two questions (Overall, do you like living here? and Would you recommend this place to a family member or friend?).

For the fifth consecutive year, Trihealth’s Good Samaritan Hospital delivered the most babies in the state of Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s Vital Statistics Division.

UC Health – West Chester Hospital was one of 11 Ohio hospitals presented with the Ohio Hospital Association’s premiere Energy Efficiency Awards. The award was presented to hospitals for earning the ENERGY STAR® label and/or achieving the most significant energy savings in 2011.

At the Business Courier’s Healthiest Employers of Greater Cincinnati award event, several Health Council members were recognized: HORAN (a Health Council associate member), first place in the 2-99 employees category; TriHealth, first place in the 5,000+ employees category; and Cincinnati Children’s, finalist in the 5,000+ category. The award honors companies for their commitment to creating a healthy workplace.

The Christ Hospital and St. Elizabeth Edgewood have been named as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals by HealthGrades (placed in the top 5 percent of hospitals for the last seven to 10 years of study), and Bethesda North and Good Samaritan hospitals made the 100 Best Hospitals list (in the top 5 percent for all of the last four years of study). The HealthGrades report is based on consistent clinical quality across service areas year over year for 26 different diagnoses and procedures.

The CPC initiative tests a multi-payer care payment model for primary care aimed at achieving better health care and lower costs through improved care management. Up to 75 primary care practices will be selected for this initiative and will be offered care management fees to better coordinate care for their patients.

Medicare’s payments to the selected physicians will average around $20 per member, per month, with additional monies to be paid by the participating health insurance plans: two Medicaid managed care plans (HealthSpan and Medical Mutual of Ohio), three commercial health insurance plans (Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Humana and UnitedHealthcare) and potentially Ohio Medicaid.

“The CPC intiative represents a phenomenal opportunity for our region to move toward a health care delivery system that rewards quality rather than the volume of services provided,” said Colleen O’Toole, PhD, president of the Greater Cincinnati Health Council. It will mean that doctors will get paid for being proactive in their efforts to keep their patients as healthy as possible.  The expectation is that primary care doctors will use the money to put systems in place that will help them better manage their patient’s care before, during and after they have episodes of illness – and will result in fewer emergency room visits and hospital admissions. “Hospitals that own primary care physician practices are obviously interested in learning more details about this opportunity as they unfold, and the Health Council will work with our hospital members to understand next steps for those interested in applying for the initiative,” said O’Toole.

Only seven areas nationwide were chosen by CMS to carry out this initiative. The Greater Cincinnati/Dayton region was recognized for its comprehensive health care transformation strategy and the active participation and successful history of collaboration among key health care stakeholder groups including health systems, commercial health plans, leading employers, and consumer groups.

The Greater Cincinnati proposal was supported by this broad set of stakeholders and a group of community-based organizations including the Greater Cincinnati Health Council, Health Collaborative, HealthBridge, Health Care Access Now, the Employers Health Coalition, Inc., and the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.

“This selection by CMS was a culmination of months of dedicated teamwork by these various groups,” said O’Toole. A symposium organized last year by these organizations brought together a mix of stakeholders who analyzed in great detail what delivery system and payment incentive approaches are most desirable for the Greater Cincinnati region in terms of addressing chronic disease management and major episodes of acute care.

Critical groundwork for this analysis was provided by a white paper developed by the Brookings Institution under contract with the Health Council that outlines Greater Cincinnati-specific recommendations for the community-wide infrastructure (common community-wide metrics, access to clinical and claims data, and a shared health information infrastructure) needed to support any type of payment reform model.  The white paper, Enhancing Accountability in Greater Cincinnati, in fact recommended enhancing and spreading the use of care management fees to primary care physicians as a short-term strategy on the path to more comprehensive payment reform.

Symposium participants reached agreement on critical next steps, including supporting the health plans and Ohio Medicaid to apply for the CPC initiative for the Greater Cincinnati/Dayton market. 

The financial impact of this four-year initiative to the region could be as high as $15M per year, based on an enhanced per member, per month payment from Medicare, as well as payments from the participating insurers. It sets the stage for an outcomes-based payment model that rewards value and not volume.

Next steps include Medicare and the participating plans signing letters of agreement and the development of an application process for interested primary care physicians. CMS is targeting the fall for actually initiating the program with the selected physicians.

By signing up, Health Council members are provided access to locally grown produce through distribution partner Ellenbee Leggett – reducing the carbon footprint of produce shipment and directly supporting sustainability in the Greater Cincinnati area.

Health Council members may also choose to host on-site Farmer’s Markets or participate in Seed to City, a Community Supported Agriculture program that allows employees the opportunity to order a weekly shipment of fresh, locally-grown produce and have it delivered to their workplace. The Christ Hospital, who first piloted Seed to City, recently received the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Green Business Award for this food and nutrition services program that was developed collaboratively by the Health Council, The Christ Hospital and Council food service vendor Ellenbee Leggett and is now available to other Council members.

Ellenbee Leggett is the only food distributor in the Cincinnati area involved with a program of this kind. Health Council members interested in the Sustainable Produce program, which begins in July and continues until October, can register by calling Barb Banks at (513) 878-2850.

A group is currently ironing out the areas of collaboration that would be beneficial to members. For example, it is looking at opportunities to: improve training effectiveness in the region; improve staff satisfaction; develop community standards around EPIC use for transfers from non-trauma to trauma facilities and around usage of the EPIC Everywhere module; and establish protocols for the handling of medical records in the event of a disaster.

Although details are not finalized, the likely scenario will be the creation of an EPIC Steering Committee with task forces that would work on specific challenges. Individuals interested in participating or learning more about this effort may contact Dora Anim at the Health Council.

Overall hospital employee vacancy rates have increased for the second consecutive year, and the total number of hospital jobs increased 3.7 percent in 2011, according to data just released by the Greater Cincinnati Health Council.

The Council’s annual Vacancy, Workforce Age and Retirement Report helps hospitals, health care leaders, schools and prospective health care students assess job openings and needs in Greater Cincinnati hospitals.

Vacancy rates have been trending up for two consecutive years, an indication that the health care job market may be in the midst of a recovery following the recession. Overall vacancy rates increased to 6.1 percent for full-time equivalents (FTE), up from 5.1 percent in 2010 and 3.4 percent in 2009. The 6.1 percent for 2011 represents the highest overall vacancy rate for Cincinnati area hospitals since 2007 when the overall vacancy rate was 6.3 percent.

Additionally, the total number of hospital jobs (openings plus employees) increased to 52,099 in 2011, a 3.7 percent increase over last year’s total of 50,252 jobs across the same sampling of hospitals.

“Health care recruiters at Health Council member hospitals anticipate that the trend of hospital job growth is likely to continue through 2012,” said Mary Duffey, executive director of the Health Council’s Health Care Workforce Center.

Registered nurses (RN) posted a 6.6 percent vacancy rate in 2011, up from 4 percent in 2010. Hospitals had 950 RN job openings at the end of 2011, significantly higher than the 562 RN job openings at the end of 2010 and the 382 openings at the end of 2009.

“The recent increase in hospital vacancies assists the local job seeker who has been frustrated with the lack of available positions,” said Duffey. “The data indicate that there are more vacant positions in the nursing field this year which should create additional opportunities for our new graduates.”

Among the jobs included in this year’s survey, 21 of the 33 “hard-to-fill” jobs saw increases in overall FTE vacancy rates. Nurse Practitioners (27.7 percent), Physical Therapy Assistants (15.6 percent) and Patient Care Technicians/Assistants (11.6 percent) all showed double-digit vacancy rates in 2011. Medical Record Technicians posted a 9.8 percent vacancy rate, and two other positions – Mammography Techs and Occupational Therapists – posted 2011 vacancy rates at just over 8 percent.

The number of employees approaching potential retirement age increased slightly for the fifth consecutive year. Employees over the age of 50 increased to 33.7 percent, up from 33.0 percent of the total work force in 2010 and 30.3 percent of the total work force in 2007. The retirement rate (percent of total hospital employees who retired) was .88 percent in 2011 for FTE employees compared to.69 percent the year prior.

A total of 115 RNs retired in 2011 (a retirement rate of .77 percent), up from 2010’s RN retirement rate of .51 percent during which time 77 RNs retired.

The vacancy and age data are obtained from an annual survey of Health Council member hospitals. Vacancy and age data are effective as of December 31, 2011, and the retirement data is effective for the period from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2011. A total of 23 hospitals participated in the report.

The data collection processes, developed by CES, allow the capture of patient race, ethnicity and language (REL) information in a standardized manner. An online training tool for primary care physician practices to use in collecting the same standardized patient REL data is now being tested at several physician practice sites.

CES, which is led by the Health Council on behalf of the Health Collaborative as part of the Cincinnati Aligning Forces for Quality initiative, developed the training tool over the last several months.

“The goal is to spread the REL data collection and disparities improvement work we’re doing with hospitals to primary care and eventually other ambulatory care settings,” said Nancy Strassel, Health Council senior vice president. “Standardizing the data collection processes is important so that we can accurately identify potential disparities from a community-wide perspective,” she said. Adding another data point to allow further examination of patient outcomes will fit well with other quality improvement work in physician practices that is being led by the Health Collaborative, Strassel said. Eventually, Cincinnati Expecting Success envisions a community dashboard that would provide a more detailed look at REL disparities in Greater Cincinnati and that would help to drive improvement.

To ensure the integrity of the data, the CES work group is in the process of developing standards for data collection and for training staff on collection practices. Then, the 19 CES participating hospitals will begin turning to identifying and eliminating any disparities in care.

“We hope eventually to be able do a deep-dive into our data to look for potential race, ethnicity and language disparities at the community-wide level,” said Lisa Sloane, a health care consultant who is helping to lead the work of CES for the Health Council. “We also want to recruit a few ‘champion hospitals’ to lead the way with us.”

A landmark 2002 Institutes of Medicine (IOM) report, Uequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, cited nationwide REL disparities in multiple areas, including cardiac care. For example, minorities are less likely to be given appropriate cardiac medications or to undergo bypass surgery. “Data collected locally will help us to know what is going on in our own community,” Strassel explained.

To that end, the Health Council in April will host an expert from the National Quality Forum, a group that recommends evidenced-based measures for tracking quality improvement, to Greater Cincinnati, in addition to a leader from a Kansas City hospital known for its REL data analysis and improvement approach. These individuals will help to educate local hospital leaders on using the REL data they collect to improve care processes and outcomes. The goal is to ensure that all patients – regardless of their race, ethnicity or primary language – are getting the highest standard of care, Strassel said.

“We are proud to be among one of only a handful of areas in the U.S. that have standardized our collection of REL data across an entire community of hospitals,” she said. We can all learn from each other and help each other to set the highest standards for equitable care.”

The Emergency Department Leadership group’s most recent discussions centered around ED avoidance initiatives, CMS Innovation challenge grant applications, EPIC implementation best practices, the region’s trauma annual report, educational opportunities, and the introduction of a new product, NaRx Check that is available for demonstration (system that provides a comprehensive prescription drug abuse platform for hospitals). The Council recently hosted a presentation by Dr. Jan Scaglione from the Drug and Poison Information Center entitled “Not for Human Consumption,” an informative look at new designer drugs.

A regional work group met in February to discuss EPIC Training for Physicians with a focus on the prevention of duplicative training for physicians who practice at multiple locations. The work group is comprised of hospital experts that provide the EPIC training for physicians in their organizations.

Through monthly action calls and quarterly learning sessions, the Harm Reduction Collaborative shares data, trends and best practices as it works collaboratively to decrease patient harm. This collaborative has set a bold goal of reducing the regional rate of pressure ulcers (stage 3 and 4) and serious falls by 50 percent by year-end 2012. A steady decrease is being observed as the group assesses community data monthly and the committee looks forward to seeing patient harm diminish as this work positively impacts the region.

Members are preparing for the transition from ICD-9 coding to ICD-10. The members noted two primary concerns in the Tristate: Will the payers be ready with a seamless transition, and will independent health care organizations and practices have the resources to prepare? The task force is working together to provide regional training options and payers are being contacted for readiness plans. Implementation of ICD-10 aims to advance health care by producing better data needed for quality measurement, public health, research, organizational monitoring and performance, and reimbursement.

The Limited English Proficiency Committee held their annual, day-long learning retreat in the first quarter of 2012. Members heard from national speakers, including a special session from The Joint Commission on preparing for surveys focused on the new effective communication standards. The committee also was updated on the national health care interpreter certification process, Cincinnati’s progress on collecting and utilizing race, ethnicity and language data to improve care and serving LEP patients with video remote interpreting.

A diverse group of members is focusing on regional Patient and Family Centered Care (PFCC) and sharing best practices in the Tristate. They met in February and discussed regional caregivers and their influence on optimal home care and prevention of patient readmissions.

The PR and Communications Committee discussed the dissemination plan for results of the recently conducted Community Health Needs Assessment. (Many Health Council members and community health organizations partnered to conduct one common regional CHNA.) Members also offered input on potential changes to the Health Council’s Innovative Solutions Award – an annual awards program that recognizes hospitals for innovative quality improvement/change projects – in order to offer even greater benefit to members. Also, the 21 hospitals participating in the Health Council’s Harm Reduction Collaborative were asked to share periodic updates on the project with all hospital staff through internal communication channels. Finally, members discussed the Council’s Data Sharing Policy that, among other things, states neither hospitals nor the Health Council may use proprietary data to calculate a market share for public marketing purposes or release it to the media.

The Health Council’s TAP MD program began its second annual program in January 2012 with 25 new students participating. The high school juniors will attend monthly events until December when they will graduate from TAP MD. In 2011, over 50 percent of the students planned to apply to medical school upon graduation.

Tristate Health Care Supplier Diversity Consortium members shared best practices in the area of inclusion of minorities as owners in hospital real estate development. Projects featured were Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center/Vernon Manor and The Christ Hospital/237 Taft. Results of a hospital employee baseline supplier diversity awareness survey were discussed and decisions made aimed at improving awareness and engagement of staff regarding economic inclusion initiatives. The consortium also agreed to convene a National GPO (Group Purchasing Organization) Call to Action Summit in April, reviewed the Supplier Diversity Spend Report, and discussed the Associated Construction Industry’s training programs to better prepare minority/women-owned businesses with health care facility bids. The Supply Chain Executive Committee continues to meet in advance of the Consortium to support their executives’ goals by sharing best practices that streamline implementation and promote standardization across the membership.

The Tristate Trauma Coalition had a presentation by Hamilton County Public Health demonstrating the AHEAD (x) web-based reporting tool. Utilizing regional trauma data and injury prevention data from Hamilton County, The coalition will be co-authoring articles for the public. The coalition has written a five-year strategic plan to be approved in April. Also, Trauma Nursing Core Courses (TNCC) and Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses are scheduled for 2012. The goal of this group is to find a seamless transition of patients from non-trauma hospitals to trauma hospitals in a timely fashion utilizing technology to provide necessary information to the receiving facilities. This will result in improved communication, increased efficiency, quality care and cost savings.

The Utility Committee kicked off 2012 with presentations covering key energy topics including: natural gas strategies and trends by contract provider Interstate Gas Supply; electric power regulatory update and efficiency program offerings by Duke Energy; and results/applications of the Council members’ energy efficiency benchmarking study conducted recently by contract vendor Pathian, Inc. Members plan to meet quarterly to explore collaboration in areas including fuel oil contracting, water mitigation and training for frontline facility department staff.

PEOPLE

St. Elizabeth Physicians announced the appointment of Jacob Bast, MHA, FACHE, FACMPE as its new chief operating officer. Bast comes to St. Elizabeth after most recently serving as vice president of the Joplin, Miss., division of Mercy Clinic.

The Christ Hospital welcomes Joseph N. Bateman, MD, as medical director of The Christ Hospital Medical Associates, the primary care physician practice owned by The Christ Hospital.

Mercy Health added new medical chiefs of staff at these hospitals: heart surgeon Donald Buckley, MD, Mercy Health – Anderson Hospital; emergency care physician Joe Renusch, MD, Mercy Health – Clermont Hospital; anesthesiologist William Beckmeyer, MD, Mercy Health – Mount Airy Hospital; and surgeon Elliott Fegelman, MD, The Jewish Hospital.

Jeff Drapalik has been named chief financial officer and director of finance for West Chester Hospital. Previously, Drapalik served as director of financial analysis/payor relations for UC Health.

Sarah Giolando, senior VP and chief strategy officer for St. Elizabeth Healthcare, and Uma Kotagal, senior VP of quality and transformation at Cincinnati Children’s, have been named among the “20 Professional Women to Watch” in 2012 by the Cincinnati Enquirer – chosen for business distinction and the impact they’ll make this year.

Roger Karam, MD, assumed the role of medical director of the TriHealth Hatton Research Institute and continues his role as chairman of the Institutional Review Board at TriHealth. The Hatton Institute focuses on academic research, sponsored clinical trials and minimally invasive surgery training/education.

The Cincinnati Enquirer named Margaret “Margie” Namie, divisional vice president of quality for Mercy Health, one of its Women of the Year.

A former president and chief executive officer of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, William Schubert, MD, passed away in February. Dr. Schubert established the Division of Gastroenterology in 1968 – only the second pediatric gastroenterology division in the U.S. He went on to hold nearly every major leadership position at the medical center, including chief of staff, director of the pediatric residency program, chairman of Pediatrics, and in 1983, president and CEO. After he retired in 1996, he continued to serve on the board of trustees.

HOSPITALS

As of March 1, 2012, Butler County Medical Center has a new name: Bethesda Butler County – A TriHealth Hospital. Its centers are referred to as: Bethesda Butler County Sleep Center, Bethesda Butler County Imaging Center and Bethesda Butler County Pathology Center.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and CincyTech have formed a new health care IT company named QI Healthcare, which will commercialize the medical center’s proprietary quality-improvement software. Cincinnati entrepreneur and health-tech executive John Atkinson has been hired as chief executive officer.

The Christ Hospital announced a $265 million expansion and improvement plan for its Mt. Auburn campus. Plans for the development include a new orthopaedic and spine center, parking garage and new materials management building. Construction is set to begin in June with the opening set for summer of 2015.

McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital announced Oxford Internal Medicine (OIM) has begun serving in a Hospitalist role. The OIM group will admit and treat patients at McCullough-Hyde – inpatients admitted from both their own practice and other community physicians.

Mercy Health – Fairfield Hospital earned accreditation for its acute inpatient rehabilitation program for a period of three years from the independent international accrediting body CARF International. This is the first accreditation CARF has awarded to Mercy Health – Fairfield Hospital and represents the highest level of accreditation that is awarded.

For the third consecutive year, St. Elizabeth Healthcare has been rated in the highest quality tier (a “3 star” rating) by the comprehensive Society for Thoracic Surgeons benchmarking rating system for quality of cardiac surgery. This level rating is bestowed to only 12-15 percent of hospitals throughout the country.

TriHealth won the 2011 Healthy Ohio – Health Workplace award, presented by the Ohio Department of Health and sponsored by Medical Mutual of Ohio. The award recognizes Ohio employers that commit to improving employee health by incorporating comprehensive workplace health promotion and wellness programs. TriHealth was one of three large employers in the state to receive the Gold level of the award and one of only two winners from Hamilton County.

UC Health Hematology Oncology has relocated and expanded its outpatient care and infusions services to the West Chester Hospital medical campus. The new facility offers an extended lab, in-house bone marrow biopsies and the ability to perform blood tests within minutes. A remodeled treatment area will include massage chairs for infusion services, iPad and Wifi access for patients as well as exam and conference rooms for consultations and group meetings.

HealthGrades recently came out with its findings from a study of emergency medical care in hospitals. The results revealed that Cincinnati’s hospitals rank in the top 10 nationwide. Also, those 263 hospitals performing in the top five percent in the nation were designated as Emergency Medicine Excellence Award hospitals and from this region included: The Christ Hospital, Fort Hamilton Hospital, Mercy Health – Fairfield, Mt. Airy and Jewish hospitals, St. Elizabeth Edgewood, and TriHealth – Bethesda North and Good Samaritan hospitals.

In Greater Cincinnati, the CMS funding will allow the Council on Aging (COA) to expand a successful program it started at University Hospital, The Christ Hospital and The Jewish Hospital that uses coaching, health information technology, help with medications, and chronic disease management to help hospitalized seniors better manage their conditions to help prevent the need for re-hospitalizations.

How It Will Work: Better Care, Better Health, Lower Cost

Patients that will benefit from the service are Medicare patients hospitalized at the five participating hospitals and diagnosed with heart failure, heart attack, pneumonia, or multiple chronic conditions.

During their hospitalization, hospital staff should conduct a risk assessment for readmissions and if certain criteria are met, the Council on Aging will get notified. Eligible patients receive a visit from a COA care transitions coach before leaving the hospital and the transitions coach continues to work with the patient once home to provide the care transition services that aim to prevent a readmission.

It is estimated that the program will serve an additional 5,400 seniors per year and will bring an annual net savings (achieved through reductions in hospital readmissions) to Medicare of more than $1 million dollars due to reduced hospital readmissions.

Roles and Responsibilities

All of the following organizations will work together in new or more efficient ways to improve the coordination of care between hospitals and caretakers such as nursing homes or home health providers to prevent medical complications and costly, potentially avoidable return trips to the hospital:

• Participating hospitals (Clinton Memorial Hospital, The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health, Mercy Health – Fairfield Hospital, The Christ Hospital, and UC Health – University Hospital) – facilitation of discharge planning to transition coaches and physician offices

• Council on Aging (the leading partner in the newly formed Southwest Ohio Community Care Transitions Collaborative which will carry out the contract with CMS) – project management, data collection and analysis. They will provide transition coaches who will provide the care coordination services.

• The Health Council - overall program coordination with COA, coordination of quality management processes, program evaluation

• HealthBridge – health information technology and exchange

• Health Care Access Now - coordination of patient access to primary care and specialty services

• Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board - mental/behavioral health assessment of identified patients

• Health Collaborative – facilitation of physician participation and physician education

A Leadership Team comprised of leaders from all of the partner organizations has been crafting the implementation plan and timeline, and work teams are already actively putting pieces in place for the program launch.

Work teams are fine-tuning the processes that will be used to alert partner organizations when a patient is nearing release from the hospital; identifying the best way to facilitate the data exchange needed to successfully provide these care transition services; and identifying measures for success. Learnings will be shared with all Health Council member hospitals.

Also, this region will benefit from the CMS-funded programs going on in the other seven regional markets. Learning Collaboratives will be held, allowing project leaders from Greater Cincinnati to share and bring back best practices from other regions.

For more information about the Health Council and hospitals’ roles in this program, please contact Nancy Strassel at (513) 878-2854.

PEOPLE:

• Alyssa Alden is the new manager of care management at Clinton Memorial Hospital and Mike Meade is the new manager of laboratory services. 

• Mercy Health has announced the appointment of new medical chiefs of staff at three of its hospitals: Donald Buckley, MD, Mercy Health – Anderson Hospital; Joe Renusch, MD, Mercy Health – Clermont Hsopital; and William Beckmeyer, MD, Mercy Health – Mt. Airy Hospital.

• TriHealth has announced the appointment of new medical staff presidents: Stuart Donovan, MD, president of Queen City Surgical Consultants, will oversee the medical and dental staffs at Bethesda North Hospital, Bethesda Medical Center Arrow Springs and the recently purchased Butler County Surgery Center. Stephen Blatt, MD, FACP, TriHealth’s medical director for infectious diseases and vice president of Infectious Diseases Consultants of Cincinnati Inc., will oversee the medical and dental staffs at Good Samaritan Hospital and Good Samaritan Medical Center Western Ridge.

• TriHealth has appointed Lisa Dye, RN, MSN, executive director for the TriHealth Heart Institute, a unified program of comprehensive cardiac services, and Mark Witte as executive director for the TriHealth Cancer Institute.

• TriHealth’s Jenny Skinner and Darla Olsen will be involved in a presentation on the Health Careers Collaborative being given to the White House Council on Community Solutions. The Health Careers Collaborative is a partnership with the mission to develop a pool of workers for career pathways into health care.

• Two area hospital leaders were named CMS “Innovation Advisors”: Srikant Iyer, MD, of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Margaret Namie of Mercy Health. The Innovative Advisors Program focuses on efforts to transform the health care system by supporting individuals who test and refine new models to drive delivery system reform.

HOSPITALS AND OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS:

• Care Tech Solutions, a Health Council affiliate member, has earned the Best in KLAS designation for the fourth straight year. KLAS is an independent monitoring organization that surveys and ranks health IT vendor performance in areas of knowledge, quality, implementation, service and support.

• Cedar Village Retirement Community is launching the first elder abuse prevention shelter in Ohio and one of the first in the nation. The Shalom Center will care for abused seniors, age 65 and older, from Hamilton, Warren, Butler and Clermont counties. Services will include medical, nursing and therapy services as well as meals, legal services and other programming to care for victims in the community.

• The Christ Hospital and St. Elizabeth Healthcare received the “Get with the Guidelines – Heart Failure Gold Quality” achievement award from the American Heart Association, given to hospitals that follow treatment guidelines in certain key measures at least 85 percent of the time and have maintained this level of performance for consecutive 12-month intervals.

• The Christ Hospital has acquired Cincinnati Hematology-Oncology, a multidisciplinary group of eight physicians.  Also, Christ is expanding its office space for non-clinical offices into Mount Auburn. This expansion will boost the Uptown Cincinnati community and allow The Christ Hospital to remain in the neighborhood that has been its home since 1893.

• As a result of an eight-month construction and renovation project, Dearborn County Hospital has added two operating rooms and a second endoscopy suite bringing the surgical department of the hospital to a total of five operating rooms plus the endoscopy and cystoscopy accommodations.

• HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital began seeing patients last month at its new Drake Center location. The new hospital renovated the east wing of Drake and has 40 beds for patients recovering from conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, hip fractures, and cardiac and pulmonary conditions.

• Mercy Health has implemented a new software, Care Everywhere, from Epic Systems Corporation at Fairfield Hospital, Anderson Hospital, Clermont Hospital and The Jewish Hospital that enables health care providers in different parts of the country to access portions of electronic health records for patients whom both are serving. Also, Mercy Health has started a $2.5 million expansion and renovation project of its emergency department at Mercy Health – Clermont Hospital that will include a four-room suite for behavioral health patients to better serve their needs. In other news, three Mercy Health hospitals (The Jewish Hospital, Anderson Hospital and Fairfield Hospital) recently earned three-year accreditation with commendation by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons.

• St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Select Medical have entered into a partnership to offer long-term acute care at St. Elizabeth Fort Thomas, and the 33-bed facility will be called Select Specialty Hospital. In other news, Cranley Surgical Associates has entered into an agreement to join St. Elizabeth Physicians. The agreement, which covers only physicians in Northern Kentucky, is effective March 1. Also, St. Elizabeth Business Health Services is adding a third Business Health Center in Hebron in April to better meet the needs of Northern Kentucky employers. 

•  TriHealth recently announced the implementation of a brand advertising campaign, which includes a new logo, with the goal of further strengthening the position of the health system in the Greater Cincinnati region. Also, TriHealth has been named among 2011 Top Performing Hospitals in the Premier health care alliance’s national QUEST collaborative, in recognition for performance in increasing delivery of recommended evidence-based care as well as safely reducing the cost of care in the community. Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and other health care sites.

• Wesley Community Services, a Health Council affiliate member, will receive an “Outstanding Contribution by a Non Member” award from the Ohio Dietetic Association for its Meals-on-Wheels program that provides texture-modified meals as well as physician-prescribed diets for their clients with renal or cardiac disease or diabetes. They are also doing a pilot study on the effectiveness of oral nutritional supplements for clients with unintentional weight loss.

• Three hospitals/health systems have been named among 19 finalists in the Business Courier’s 2012 Green Business Awards competition: The Christ Hospital (for its Community Supported Agriculture program, created in partnership with the Health Council, Ellenbee Leggett, Laughery Valley Growers Co-op, UC Dietetic Interns and The Christ Hospital food service); TriHealth (for its environmental commitment statement); and UC Health (for its operating room recycling program). Winners will be named at a March 20th event.

• Mercy Health and TriHealth been named among the top 20 percent of health systems nationwide by Thomson Reuters. The fourth annual health system study evaluated 321 health systems on eight measures of clinical quality and efficiency. The study relied on public data from the 2010 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data and the CMS Hospital Compare data sets.

Clinical Quality Director

About the Initiative

The Southwest Ohio Community Care Transitions Collaborative is a promising opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of seniors in the region. The Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio, in partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Health Council and several area hospitals and health care organizations, is one of the nation`s first recipients of a major federal contract designed to reduce preventable hospital admissions among seniors.

In November the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced its first seven site selections for the Community-based Care Transitions project of the Partnership for Patients initiative. Council on Aging is the leading partner in the newly formed Southwest Ohio Community Care Transitions Collaborative which will carry out the contract with CMS.

It is estimated that the program will serve nearly 5,400 seniors per year and bring an annual net savings (achieved through reductions in hospital readmissions) to Medicare of more than $1 million dollars. The funding will allow the Care Transitions Collaborative to expand a successful program Council on Aging has started at University Hospital and The Christ Hospital that uses coaching, health information technology, help with medications, and chronic disease management to help hospitalized seniors recover without coming back to the hospital.

To apply for the CMS funding, Council on Aging worked with the Health Council to form a collaborative with five hospitals and several other health care organizations. The hospitals include: Clinton Memorial Hospital, The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health, Mercy Health – Fairfield Hospital, The Christ Hospital, and UC Health – University Hospital. The other partners include: HealthBridge (health information technology and exchange), Health Care Access Now (coordinate patient access to physicians), Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board (for behavioral health needs), and the Health Collaborative (for physician education).

The funding will allow this initiative to expand Care Transitions to Medicare patients hospitalized at the participating hospitals and diagnosed with heart failure, heart attack, pneumonia, or multiple chronic conditions.

Mike Abrams, an experienced health care association executive with expertise in physician relations, has been selected to succeed Jim Castle as president and CEO of the Ohio Hospital Association. Abrams, 50, has been executive vice president and CEO of the Iowa Medical Society since 1996. He previously led government relations for the Indiana State Medical Association. Castle is retiring December 31, and Mike will take over in February.

The Health Council’s Dora Anim, assistant vice president, quality and data, and Sharon Fusco from the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio were invited to speak as part of a plenary session at the IHI National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care earlier this month to an audience of thousands of attendees from across the nation and world. The invitation was a result of the recent CMS announcement that Greater Cincinnati has been selected as one of seven communities across the country for its Community-based Care Transitions Program, which will look at methods to improve collaboration among caregivers to reduce preventable readmissions. The primary funded agency is the Council on Aging along with the following partners: the Greater Cincinnati Health Council, HealthBridge, Health Care Access Now, the Health Collaborative, Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, Clinton Memorial Hospital, The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health, Mercy Health - Fairfield Hospital, The Christ Hospital, and UC Health – University Hospital.

St. Elizabeth Physicians has appointed Bruce Henley as its new chief financial officer. Prior to joining St. Elizabeth, Henley was CFO at the Oklahoma Physicians Group in Tulsa.

Amy Katz, PhD, from Baker & Daboll LLC (a Health Council affiliate member) was awarded the runner-up award for Woman of the Year – Entrepreneur in the WE Celebrate Awards program, part of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Women Excel, a women’s leadership initiative that honors women in business, woman-owned businesses and their advocates for achievement, innovation, social responsibility and mentoring.

UC Health has announced the appointments of Robert G. (Bob) Wones, MD, as vice president and chief quality and medical informatics officer, UC Health and John Deledda, MD, as vice president, medical affairs, University Hospital.

The Cincinnati Business Courier has selected George Strike, chair of the UC Health board, as the 2012 recipient of the Health Care Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award.

Also, many Health Council members have been chosen as finalists for the 2012 Health Care Heroes awards, which recognize individuals and organizations that make an impact on health care in the Greater Cincinnati region. View list. Finalists and winners will be announced in March.

Hospitals

The Christ Hospital has announced a new outpatient center coming soon to Northern Kentucky. The Christ Hospital Outpatient Center in Fort Wright will be located at 1949 Dixie Highway in the former Stein Mart location. The 44,000 square-foot center is scheduled to open in spring 2012.

The Christ Hospital has been named to the Leapfrog Group’s 2011 class of top hospitals. The Christ Hospital is one of 65 hospitals nationwide named to the list, and the selection is based on the results of the Leapfrog Group’s national survey that measures hospital performance in crucial areas of patient safety and quality.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has been named to the Leapfrog Group’s 2011 list of top children’s hospitals.

Health Council affiliate member Garden Manor Retirement Village received a national quality award from the American Health Care Association.

After a lengthy and sometimes grueling negotiation process, Duke, PUCO staff and the vast majority of stakeholders including the Council agreed on a new three-year plan in late October to become effective January 1, 2012.

Background

Ohio’s Electric Energy Program (SB 221, passed 5/08) gave a utility two options for setting electric rates, either a Market Rate Offer (MRO) or an Electric Security Plan (ESP). Duke’s first ESP plan as a result of that legislation expires at the end of 2011. ‘Succession planning’ began in earnest in last fall.

In October 2010, Duke proposed an MRO plan that was ultimately rejected by the PUCO in February, largely in accordance with Council arguments. In June 2011, Duke filed a new ESP plan with a nine-year term and average 50 percent rate increase for members, which the Council opposed. Duke eventually abandoned that plan in favor of a three-year term plan with annual credits.

Benefits to Health Council Members

Following is a list of key benefits tied to the Health Council’s Intervention:

• Elimination of 50% rate increase, cost avoidance of $2.7 million
• Half million dollars in annual credits for Health Council hospital members (Duke will recover $110 million/year for three years through this new plan, but due to a negotiated adjustment favoring high load factor customers like hospitals, most of our members will ‘net’ a credit)
• Term of the plan was shortened from the proposed nine years to three years
• No increase in distribution charges; existing distribution reserve capacity was preserved for Health Council member hospitals at no charge for the duration of the ESP

For now, hospital performance data continues to be available on the Council’s website (updated 2010 data will be added next month). It will move to the YourHealthMatters (YHM) website around mid-year 2012.

YourHealthMatters launched last year and provides public reporting on physician performance. It is considered “top in class” among communities that have pursued similar public reporting efforts and was developed with extensive input from consumers and in consultation with leading-edge national experts to ensure it is relevant and actionable.

As the Health Council works with the Health Collaborative to expand the website to include consumer-friendly and relevant hospital data, it is important to secure local consumer input to inform the development of hospital reporting. Consumer research is currently under way.

An Ad Hoc Committee on Hospital Public Reporting has been formed to provide guidance on the overall plan to expand YHM reporting of consumer-relevant hospital data. It is chaired by Gayla Harvey, Senior VP, Strategic Planning and Business Development at UC Health, and members include:

• Berc Gawne, CMO, The Christ Hospital 
• Joe Kelley, PR, TriHealth
• Paul Hiltz, President – Physician Hospital Organization, Mercy Health
• Bob Prichard, CMO, St. Elizabeth Healthcare
• Nancy Strassel, Senior Vice President, Greater Cincinnati Health Council
• Lori Barhorst, Project Manager, Greater Cincinnati Health Council

Participating hospitals in the Council’s public reporting effort have succeeded in vastly improving community core measure performance for targeted health conditions over the last five years as they have used this transparency to make continual adjustments to further improve care while sharing best practices with one another. This change will facilitate the continuation of this progress while also making the data more meaningful and useful for consumers.

This year is the third and final year of a continuation grant from the Ohio Department of Health that allocates more than $1.2 million in federal funds to the Southwest Ohio region. Approximately $500,000 of these dollars will be provided to individual hospitals for sustainment, enhancement, and preparedness efforts. The remainder of funds is utilized to support community partnerships, regional initiatives, sustainment, and grant administration.

“Results of the Council’s annual regional Hazard Vulnerability Assessment guides priorities on a regional level,” says Tonda Francis, vice president and regional hospital coordinator. For example, recent priorities have focused on water mitigation with the purchase of a system that will supplement members’ HVAC systems during a water outage. The funds also purchased an evacuation trailer stocked with multiple evacuation devices that could be utilized by fire departments, EMS, hospitals or long-term care facilities to evacuate a minimum of 100 patients out of any facility.

The coming year’s grant cycle will purchase a water purification system that can be requested by any facility in the region. This device can provide purified drinking water to any facility that has lost water supply or whose current water supply becomes contaminated or compromised. In addition to the water mitigation efforts, the region will be purchasing additional radios to be used during an event. Funds have also supported the Emergency Medical Service providers with DuoDotes that are stocked on each squad. This is a life-saving medication to be administered to providers if exposed to chemicals. Dollars are also used to provide educational opportunities and exercises throughout the grant cycle.

The Council also facilitates the storing and maintaining of a regional cache of supplies and equipment that can be used to quickly augment the hospitals in the most extreme cases, and it coordinates mutual aid agreements among the hospitals for the sharing of resources and assets during a time of need.

Charles W. Crowther (“Chip”) was recently named Bethesda Inc.’s new chief investment officer. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Bethesda, Inc. Investment Programs including investment strategy, policy development, monitoring of investment managers, selection of service providers, reporting and communications.

Local surgeon James Fitzpatrick, MD, has been named the new medical director of the Center for Wound Healing at Fort Hamilton Hospital. The Center celebrated its five-year anniversary this month.

Hospitals

TriHealth’s Bethesda North Hospital has been named one of the top 50 hospitals by Thomson Reuters in its annual study identifying the top U.S. hospitals for inpatient cardiovascular services. The study examined the performance of more than 1,000 hospitals by analyzing outcomes for patients with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary interventions.

The Christ Hospital has earned the Get With The Guidelines®–Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that The Carl H. and Edyth Lindner Heart Failure Treatment Center has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients with 85 percent compliance for at least 24 months with core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients. Also, The Christ Hospital has been accredited by The Joint Commission’s Disease-Specific Care Advanced Certification Program in Heart Failure and was fifth in the nation to be named an Accredited Heart Failure Institute by the Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium.

Clinton Memorial Hospital Home Care Services has again been named to the HomeCare Elite™, a compilation of the top-performing home health agencies in the United States and the only performance recognition of its kind in the home health industry. Winners are ranked by an analysis of performance measures in quality outcomes, process measure implementation, and financial performance. This year CMH ascended into the top 100.

Shriners Hospitals for Children® – Cincinnati has received designation by the American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association as a cleft palate team. The designation recognizes the comprehensive services available for cleft lip and palate conditions at the hospital.

St. Elizabeth Healthcare has announced that it will implement a tobacco-free campus policy effective Dec. 31, 2011.

TriHealth finalized the agreement to purchase the Butler County Medical Center which will be consolidated into Bethesda Hospital, effective March 1, 2012. The center’s 180 current clinical and management employees join the other 10,000 employees at TriHealth. Bethesda Hospital Butler County Medical Center is a 10-bed surgical hospital with eight operating rooms, three endoscopy suites and two procedure rooms. Bethesda North Hospital will assume operation of the center’s surgery services, medical imaging services, sleep medicine center, pathology, laboratory services and physical therapy services. Cardiology and cancer care will be introduced in the next few months through the TriHealth Heart Institute and TriHealth Cancer Institute. In addition, Bethesda North Hospital will open a 15-bed emergency department at the medical center in 2013. The center is located on 23 acres at 3125 Hamilton-Mason Road in Hamilton, Ohio.

Nov. 17, 2011

Hospice of Cincinnati is the 2011 recipient of the Greater Cincinnati Health Council’s sixth annual Innovative Solutions Award, created to celebrate unique approaches to clinical or non-clinical health care process improvements, patient care initiatives, or innovative change projects. The award is sponsored by SANOFI and was presented to the winning team at the Health Council’s recent Solutions in Quality and Patient Safety event.

This year, the Health Council partnered with the American Society for Quality (ASQ) to present the award. ASQ is the world’s largest membership organization devoted to quality, including health care.

Hospice of Cincinnati won for its project to improve diversity outreach in hospice care. Through the work of the Hospice of Cincinnati Diversity Outreach Initiative, hospice care information is more readily available to all minority groups. As part of the project, cultural diversity training was provided, and cultural consideration sheets for various groups (such as Latinos, Muslims, Asians and others) were developed and made available to all staff to ensure that the care provided is respectful of the many cultural preferences and beliefs found in this region’s diverse community. Access to hospice care has increased for minorities; for example, Hospice of Cincinnati had a 43 percent increase in hospice patient days among African American patients as a direct result of the Diversity Outreach Initiative.

In addition, The Christ Hospital received Honorable Mention recognition for its project to ease the burden of serious illness in its palliative care department. Palliative care supports the Patient and Family-Centered Model of Care utilized by The Christ Hospital by attending to the body, mind, and spirit of people struggling with serious illnesses and assuring that the medical care provided aligns with a patient’s and family’s wishes, values and beliefs.

A total of nine health care projects from six hospitals were submitted by area health care organizations and were under consideration for the award. The total nominees:

• Atrium Medical Center – Emergency Trauma Center/Laboratory Collaboration of Specimen Management
• The Christ Hospital – Inpatient Palliative Care Consult Service
• The Christ Hospital – Outpatient Lactation Program
• Good Samaritan Hospital – Readmission Risk Assessment and Intervention Algorithm
• Good Samaritan Hospital – Zero in on Zero (Improving Joint Replacement Outcomes)
• Hospice of Cincinnati – Diversity Outreach Initiative
• The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health – The Clostridium difficile (Cdiff) Project
• St. Elizabeth Healthcare – Fall Reduction Program
• St. Elizabeth Healthcare – Total Care Plan

Submitted projects were evaluated on a multitude of criteria, including project purpose, improvement opportunities, methodology, results, goal attainment, sustainability of innovation and the ability to replicate the project in other health care settings.

This is the first time a non-hospital Council member has received this award. As winner, Hospice of Cincinnati will also receive a complimentary Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) – a $5,000 value – from Johnson Consulting Services, LLC. An FMEA is an analytical process for identifying all possible failures in a design, process or service. The results can then be fed into a continuous quality improvement process to reduce the probability of errors or mitigate their impact.

Learn  more about all nine nominated projects.

Registration and Networking: 5:30 p.m.
Dinner: 6 p.m.
Location: Raffel’s Catering, 10160 Reading Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45241, (513) 563-9996
Register Now

Please join ASQ for its annual health care quality improvement project presentation, award and dinner.

The Greater Cincinnati Health Council and ASQ-hosted Innovative Solutions Award winner will be invited to present their award-winning project. Additionally, Pat Matt, a six sigma black belt process improvement consultant with Barnes Jewish Healthcare System in St. Louis, will discuss her organization’s network quality management system and present the project that took her team to the ASQ International Team Excellence Award Finals, “Improving Patient Care Processes and Patient Safety in Women & Infants Services.” Learn how they prevented sentinel events, eliminated bottlenecks, and reduced costs by $1.5 million.

At the recent Accountable Care Transformation (ACT) Leadership meeting, members examined regional hospital readmission data, completed an analysis of heart failure patient chart reviews and selected two areas of patient experience for future improvement. There was also initiation of planning and collaboration with partners on a community-wide medication management intervention program. Further, there was consideration of a partnership with a community agency to apply for a grant that would deliver therapeutic meals to patients recently discharged from the hospital. This opportunity will be further explored and next steps will be completed as appropriate. A special drill-down session is being held on Dec. 1 to identify readmission reduction gaps and formulate solutions. This session is free of charge and is a benefit of membership to the ACT Leadership Committee. The group’s priority focus is to reduce heart failure readmissions.

The Limited English Proficiency Committee met in October for the final step in a rigorous telephonic interpreting request for proposal process and vendor presentations. The presenting companies were finalists chosen from a pool of 16 different providers who submitted information in the early phases of the process. Key decision factors for members included interpreter qualifications and training, accessibility and competitive pricing, which led to members selecting incumbent provider Pacific Interpreters. The committee will meet again in November to plan their annual, all-day retreat, which will be held in January.

At the Occupational and Environmental Safety Committee, Amy Chapman from the Ohio EPA provided an in-service on Pharmaceutical Waste for the group. Committee members will receive updates on “green” initiatives taking place in the hospitals at the next meeting.

A sub group of the Utility Committee (the Electric Power Workgroup) has been working diligently over the past several months intervening with the Public Utility Commission of Ohio in regards to Duke Energy’s proposed Electric Security Plan. Over the course of nearly nine months of negotiations, Duke proposed a variety of plans ranging from a 10-year plan that would have resulted in increases of 25 percent or more to the final three-year plan that will have a very modest impact on large hospital accounts. In addition, Duke committed to meet with member hospitals to discuss distribution infrastructure, reliability and service issues. Other important projects the Utility Committee has been working on include energy efficiency benchmarking and a discounted group buy for chillers.

Isaiah Fidler, DVM, PhD, one of the world’s leading experts in brain metastasis, has been recruited to head the University of Cincinnati Brain Tumor Molecular Therapeutics Program’s new scientific advisory board. Dr. Fidler is the distinguished chair in cell biology and head of the metastasis research laboratory in the department of cancer biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The Molecular Therapeutics Program is a collaboration between the UC Cancer Institute and the UC Neuroscience Institute.

Edward “Ted” Inman has been named the CEO of Oncology Hematology Care (OHC), an affiliate member of the Health Council. Inman comes to OHC from Spectrum Health Medical Group, a multispecialty group of 400 physicians and 150 advanced practice providers in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he was senior vice president of Strategic Planning and Business Development.

Hospitals and Affiliate Members

The Health Council congratulates the Cincinnati Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired on its milestone birthday of 100 years.

McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital’s imaging department has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in computed tomography (CT) as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology (ACR). The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety.

As Mercy Health Partners evolved into a comprehensive system of care, its name changed to Mercy Health in September with a new logo and identity to signal the evolution publicly. The new logo builds on the organization’s history of serving Greater Cincinnati for more than 150 years and builds on its mission of providing compassionate clinical care. To help present one clear voice to the community, Mercy Health is also updating the name of each of its hospitals. Going forward, please use the official names listed below for the Mercy Health family of hospitals.

Mercy Health – Anderson Hospital
Mercy Health – Clermont Hospital
Mercy Health – Fairfield Hospital
Mercy Health – Mt. Airy Hospital
Mercy Health – Western Hills Hospital
The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health
Mercy Health – West Hospital (scheduled to open in 2013)

A study released by HealthGrades named Bethesda North Hospital and St. Elizabeth Edgewood recipients of its 2011 Women’s Health Excellence Award for ranking among the top 5 percent of all hospitals in the nation in women-specific care. To determine which hospitals excelled in women’s care to receive the 2011 award, HealthGrades analyzed mortality rates and in-hospital complications among 16 of the most common procedures and diagnoses among women ages 65 and older.

St. Elizabeth Healthcare will launch the first emergency department-based telepsychiatry program in Northern Kentucky this winter thanks to a $100,000 Social Innovation Fund grant announced by The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. The high-tech program will enable patients experiencing mental health emergencies to receive timely, “face-to-face” professional evaluations at all five St. Elizabeth emergency departments. NorthKey Community Care is partnering with St. Elizabeth to provide this service during nighttime hours.

Thomas Broderick, MD, FACC, has been selected by his peers as the next medical staff president at The Christ Hospital, succeeding Patrick Kirk, MD. Dr. Broderick, an interventional cardiologist, will also serve as chairman of the Medical Executive Committee and as an Ex Officio member of all other medical staff committees.

The board of trustees of Dearborn County Hospital announces that the hospital’s executive director and CEO, Peter Resnick, will retire effective May 2012 after heading up the regional hospital for the past 19 years. In preparation for Resnick’s retirement, the board will work with a national search firm in its selection of a new chief executive.

William Schubert, MD, former president and CEO of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center from 1983-1996 and current member of its Board of Trustees, has been inducted into the 2011 Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame.

St. Elizabeth Healthcare has announced the appointment of Larry Warkoczeski as vice president of its Foundation. Before joining St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Warkoczeski was the chief development officer and vice president of a health care foundation which is part of the 4,800-employee Pinnacle Health System in Harrisburg, Penn. He also served as chief development officer of Mountain States Health Foundation, part of a Tennessee-based health care system with 10 hospitals, physician practices, outpatient clinics and more than 9,000 employees.

Hospitals

The Christ Hospital has been named one of the “70 Hospitals with Great Cardiology Programs” by Becker’s Hospital Review. Final selections were based on clinical accolades, quality care and contributions to the field of cardiology. Also, the hospital’s cardiovascular rehabilitation program has received certification by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR).

Cardiology Associates has joined the TriHealth Heart Institute. Its 13 physicians and staff will become employees of TriHealth, and Cardiology Associates will continue to see patients in its offices in Clifton, Anderson, Montgomery, Western Hills, Mt. Airy, Montfort Heights, Batavia and Sardinia.

The Psychiatric Emergency Services department of University Hospital has moved off of the hospital’s main campus and into its new location at the Deaconess building (311 Straight Street). The move was effective October 17. Any patient being transported should be taken to the new location. All police, EMS and medical transport services are asked to call ahead when transporting a patient: (513) 585-9890. Please note that patients displaying both a medical and psychiatric condition should be taken to the nearest emergency medical facility.

HealthBridge and the Greater Cincinnati Health Council announced a new Transitions of Care demonstration today as part of the Greater Cincinnati Beacon Collaboration (GCBC). This demonstration is one of several health care innovation projects planned under the $13.75 million GCBC grant to improve care and health outcomes while addressing rising health care costs.

Currently, patient records are typically printed then faxed or mailed to community providers after patients are discharged from the hospital. This demonstration is testing a new way to send the information electronically at discharge – or just before – and do so in a secure and confidential way. The demonstration is an example locally of a national movement away from paper processes to more secure and efficient electronic communication among health care providers.

The Transitions of Care demonstration uses a new, open source technology protocol developed under the HHS Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) Direct Project. NwHIN Direct connects health providers who care for the same patient across multiple organizations.

Specifically, the demonstration is testing the transmission of patient discharge documents electronically between hospitals and primary care providers, long-term care facilities and home health care agencies. Two Cincinnati area hospitals – The Christ Hospital and Mercy Health – Anderson Hospital – are participating in the initial pilot. Plans are to have three additional hospitals begin using the new transitions in care technology in 2012 after the testing and pilot phase is complete.

“This is an opportunity to speed the exchange of patient information along the continuum of care, using simple, secure and easy-to-use technology,” said Keith Hepp, interim Chief Executive Officer of HealthBridge. “It truly puts the IT into transitions and moves us toward more efficient, effective information flows to support better patient care.”

Greater Cincinnati is one of 17 innovative Beacon communities nationwide selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT to develop and showcase new models for health care transformation. In Sept. 2010, HHS Secretary Sebelius announced the Beacon Community award at a ceremony at the University of Cincinnati.

This announcement is part of the Greater Cincinnati Beacon Collaboration’s effort to focus on care transitions, pediatric asthma, adult diabetes, and consumer engagement. The Transitions of Care work is sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Health Council. The aim of the new Transitions of Care work is to reduce significantly the avoidable 30-day hospital readmissions rate for heart failure by the end of 2012.

“Hospitals in Greater Cincinnati are active participants in seeking innovative approaches to care transitions,” said Colleen O’Toole, President of the Greater Cincinnati Health Council. “The Greater Cincinnati Health Council is pleased to facilitate collaboration and demonstrations among health care providers across the continuum of care to make transitions of care smoother and more efficient using electronic technology.”

For more resources and information on the Greater Cincinnati Beacon Collaboration, visit www.healthbridge.org/beacon. For more information for providers, patients and families related to health information technology and exchange, visit the new ONC sponsored website www.healthit.gov.

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About HealthBridge

Founded in 1997, HealthBridge started as a regional effort to improve health care quality, by sharing health information electronically in the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky tri-state area. Today, HealthBridge is recognized as one of the nation’s largest, most advanced and most financially sustainable health information exchanges (HIE). HealthBridge’s innovative information network has grown to encompass more than 50 hospitals, 800 physician practices and 7,500 physicians in five different communities in three states. HealthBridge’s secure electronic network sends roughly 3.2 million electronic messages per month, including clinical lab tests, radiology reports, discharge summaries and other information vital to better care for more than 2.5 million patients.

About the Greater Cincinnati Health Council

The Greater Cincinnati Health Council is a widely recognized association that provides a unique forum where hospital and health care leaders connect to create a stronger health care community. For more than 50 years, the Council has served as a trusted voice on hospital and health care issues for the Tristate region.

Support for the Greater Cincinnati Beacon Collaboration is provided under cooperative agreement 90BC0016-01 from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

In an effort to increase the amount of blood donated locally to serve patients in Greater Cincinnati, the Greater Cincinnati Health Council and Hoxworth Blood Center have collaborated to increase blood donations at hospital blood drives. Area hospital blood drives produced a combined 7,283 red blood cell donations for the community in fiscal year 2011. This past week five hospitals were recognized for their outstanding results.

Winners were announced at the Council’s recent Solutions in Leadership event, and Health Council president Colleen O’Toole, PhD, joined Gregg Boothe, interim associate director of Hoxworth, to present the awards:

• The Most Improved Award (given to the hospital that increased its overall donation rate by the most substantial amount over the previous fiscal year) was presented to Mercy Hospital Fairfield for the 68 percent increase in its blood donations. Honorable mentions were given to St. Elizabeth Ft. Thomas and Dearborn County Hospital for commendable increases.
• The Award of Distinction (based on a variety of factors including overall donation rate and meeting/exceeding individual goal) was presented to Dearborn County Hospital. Margaret Mary Community Hospital and Veterans Affairs Medical Center received Honorable Mention awards.

“We are proud of the hospitals that were specifically recognized through the Blood Donation Awards as well as the other hospitals that have taken steps to increase donations and for their outstanding commitment to assuring a stable and adequate blood supply for the community,” said Boothe.

The Health Council and Hoxworth provided support to hospital blood drive coordinators in various ways to positively influence the number of units donated locally both at hospital blood drives and at neighborhood donor centers on behalf of hospitals. Together they shared best practices for successful drives and strategies to increase donations, and regularly reviewed blood drive donation data.

“By working together, we’re able to not only improve the quality of care for patients in our community, we’re able to save lives,” said O’Toole. “We hope these awards highlight the great work of our hospitals to increase the blood supply in our region by engaging both their employees and their communities in the effort. Hospital blood drive teams worked very hard to meet and exceed their individual hospitals’ goals, as well as to contribute to the overall community goal.”

The Hoxworth/Health Council Blood Donation Awards program continues into 2012, and hospitals have already begun to host and schedule blood drives. Individual donations may also be made on behalf of any hospital at Hoxworth neighborhood donor centers. Visit http://www.hoxworth.org for a complete schedule of on-site hospital blood drives or to find a neighborhood donor center and schedule an appointment to donate.

The Greater Cincinnati Health Council is a widely recognized association that provides a unique forum where hospital and health care leaders connect to create a stronger health care community. For more than 50 years, the Council has served as a trusted voice on hospital and health care issues for the Tristate region.

Hoxworth Blood Center, University of Cincinnati, founded in 1938, serves 31 hospitals in 17 counties in Southwestern Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana. Annually, Hoxworth collects more than 90,000 units of blood from local donors to help save the lives of patients in area hospitals.

Terry Foster, RN, clinical nurse specialist at St. Elizabeth Edgewood, has been inducted into the Academy of Emergency Nursing (AEN) by the Emergency Nurses Association. The AEN fellowship is a prestigious honor recognizing emergency nurses for their contributions to patient care in and out of the emergency department.

Greer Glazer, PhD, dean and professor of nursing at the University of Massachusetts Boston, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, has been appointed dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing. The appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2012, pending UC Board of Trustees approval. Glazer replaces Cheryl Hoying, PhD, who has served as interim dean since Jan. 1, 2011, following the retirement of Andrea Lindell, PhD. Hoying will now return full time to her position as senior vice president of patient services at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

The Academy of Medicine installed its president and 2011-2012 Council at its annual meeting last week: Thomas Maynard, MD, president; Barry Webb, MD, past president; Robyn Chatman, MD, president-elect; and councilors Elizabeth Alexander, MD, Steven Johnson, MD, Christopher Juergens, MD, Peter Kambelos, MD, Eric Kuhn, MD, Thomas Lamarre, Jr., MD, Andrew Markiewitz, MD, Emmett O’Neal, MD, Manisha Patel, MD, and James Sosnowski, MD.

Hospitals

The Business Courier has named 50 finalists for the 2011 Best Places to Work program – including Catholic Health Partners and the Health Collaborative. Other finalists include Health Council associate members Cintas Corp., HORAN and Paycor, Inc. and affiliate member Oncology Hematology Care Inc. More than 100 firms were nominated to participate in the competition. Of these finalists, winners in five categories will be selected at a Nov. 3 afternoon event at the Duke Energy Convention Center.

Various Health Council members – including TriHealth, Hospice of Cincinnati, The Christ Hospital and University Hospital contributed to a series of articles on end of life care that were part of the forum section in Sunday’s Cincinnati Enquirer on Sept. 18.

The Christ Hospital Outpatient Center in Anderson Township opened in September. Located on Beechmont Avenue (former Kroger location), it includes offices for primary care, cardiovascular care, women’s health, physical and occupational therapy, diagnostic imaging and lab testing. Also, a new physician practice dedicated to women’s health and wellness has opened at that location, and a second location in The Christ Hospital Medical Office Building in Mt. Auburn will open in fall 2011.

The Christ Hospital has been named among the Top 100 Hospitals for Patient Experience by WomenCertified® and has earned the company’s Women’s Choice Award. It ranked #19 nationwide among major hospitals (400+ beds) based on female consumer satisfaction. Hospitals are selected based on a proprietary scoring process that incorporates Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores along with a higher level of analysis that weighs criteria identified as the most important to women for patient satisfaction.

Clinton Memorial Hospital recently celebrated its 60th anniversary. On Sept. 21, 1951, more than 3,000 people attended an open house where the new 64-bed, $950,000 hospital was called a “cathedral to healing.”

Fort Hamilton Hospital and Mercy Hospital Mt. Airy are two of 14 in Ohio to be included in a list of the nation’s top-performing hospitals, according to an annual report released for the first time by The Joint Commission. They were two of 405 top performers nationally listed that excelled in 22 accountability measures for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care and children’s asthma. The list of top performing hospitals and the measure set or sets for which the hospitals were recognized are available at www.jointcommission.org/accreditation/top_performers.aspx.

TriHealth has established a new physician practice, Premier Obstetrics and Gynecology, located on Glenway Avenue in Green Township. Services include pre-natal care for routine and high-risk obstetrics (including diabetes and hypertension), basic fertility treatment and care, well-woman care including annual exams and treatment for gynecological concerns and menopausal treatment.

Working Mother Magazine has selected TriHealth for the seventh time as one of the 100 Best Companies with family-friendly benefits. This year TriHealth ranked seventh on the list out of hundreds of companies nationally who participated in the survey. TriHealth has also been recognized among the top employers to receive the 2011 AARP Best Employers for Workers Over 50 award. It ranked number 23 nationwide on the top 50 list. This is the third time TriHealth has received this honor. Major areas of award consideration include recruiting practices, education and career development, job sharing, flexible scheduling, health care and retirement benefits, and workplace accommodations.

Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program for COPD – in existence for roughly three years – has received certification by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. It is the second VA program of its kind in the United States to receive this certification. The program is a 12-week, multidisciplinary program that incorporates breathing exercises, education about the disease and treatments to help patients live a more satisfying life.

West Chester Hospital has earned a U.S. EPA Energy Star certification – the only Ohio hospital to receive the designation – for its energy efficient operating procedures. To qualify, a building must perform in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meet strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA. Commercial buildings that earn Energy Star certification use an average of 35 percent less energy than typical buildings and release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. West Chester Hospital was built with energy-efficient electrical and mechanical equipment, such as tankless water heaters and automated lighting controls that turn lights off when areas of the hospital are unoccupied. In addition, heating and cooling systems automatically adjust to account for weather temperature variations.

Hospitals are required to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment according to a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 that amends the IRS Code. The CHNA project, with its multi-stakeholder partnership, serves as a cost-effective way for hospitals to meet this requirement. And, by working together to analyze and address any community needs that are revealed, greater impact can be made than if hospitals were tackling this alone. This will also help the region make even better use of charitable dollars for community health improvement.

The data collection process has begun with the collection of secondary data by the UC Action Research Center (ARC). The status of the remaining data collection process includes focus groups, surveys and stakeholder interviews.

Following the completion of data collection, an analysis will be conducted to identify disparities, determine health trends and needs, and gain insight from consumer experiences of care. The findings will be presented in a report that will be designed to demonstrate, and lead to dialogue around, the opportunities related to improving health status and eliminating the challenges that impact residents of the communities in the Tristate. This report is expected to be released in January 2012.

The CHNA will be conducted on a regular cycle moving forward, with consistent data elements that can be monitored over time.

Funding for the CHNA has been secured from participating hospitals, Health Departments of Hamilton, Highland and the city of Middletown, Greater Cincinnati United Way, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.  The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati and Health Landscape are providing in-kind support.

The Food Service Resource Committee (FSRC) participated in an Association for Healthcare Foodservice webinar and heard from local health care consultant Dianne Carroll on resolving staff issues. The FSRC will meet again on October 12 at the Ellenbee Leggett Foodshow, located at the Sharonville Convention Center.

The Infection Prevention Advisory Group reviewed results of the annual Healthcare Workers Immunization Program. Results are dramatically increasing as more facilities implement vaccination requirements. Discussion was held regarding community-wide vaccination changes. Dora Anim attended the meeting to obtain a clinical perspective for infection prevention as it relates to the Council’s efforts in transitions of care. The group also reviewed articles written for publication in October for Infection Prevention week.

The Limited English Proficiency Committee met earlier in the quarter to conduct a surprise audit of the on-site interpreter companies; some discrepancies were identified, discussed with the companies and corrected. Companies were required to submit qualification documentation for individuals who served hospitals in the prior 30 days. Members reviewed the documentation to assure that interpreters met the contract requirements, including legal work status, criminal background check, drug test, updated immunizations and basic and continued language or interpreter training. 

The Tristate Trauma Coalition reports that the transition to the new web-based TraumaLite software, used by all non-trauma hospitals to report trauma data, occurred in July. A dashboard of the quarterly report was presented with great discussion. There are some Trauma Nursing Core Courses and Advanced Trauma Life Support courses remaining for 2011, as well as plans for additional courses for 2012. See the website for details. The Coalition is also working on strategic operational and educational goals for the upcoming years.

Last week the Health Council sponsored a community-wide decontamination training at Good Samaritan Hospital, and earlier this year a training was held at West Chester Hospital. Marty Conway, Advanced Eco Systems, conducted the trainings and provided an overview of the scenarios (an overturned truck from a chemical plant with hazardous materials) before attendees were given the opportunity to deploy and dismantle the decontamination tent on their own. More than 170 first responders and first receivers attended these trainings.

Current hospital decontamination capability for the region is 822 victims per hour. There are several regional decontamination trailers available for deployment upon request, and most hospitals have the specialized tents that would be utilized in the case of a large community exposure (such as an Anthrax exposure).

The Health Council advocates that hospitals practice deploying their decontamination tents every six months. The next Health Council training will be offering in spring 2012. For more information, contact Tonda Francis.