UHS Quality and Chief Medical Officer:
Providing the best possible care during unprecedented challenges Editor’s note: In the following letter, Paul Stefanacci, MD, FACS, MBA, vice president, quality and chief medical officer, acute care division, Universal Health Services, Inc., shared with The Journal of Healthcare Contracting what UHS was doing at press time to leverage its resources and collaborate with federal, state and local health authorities.
As healthcare providers, we fulfill a
ʯ Alternate, external
of patients, as we
critical mission in society. And as the
screening locations
mitigate the risks of
novel coronavirus creates unprecedented
for the Coronavirus
community spread.
challenges nationwide, we are continuing
have been set up away
to provide the best possible healthcare
from the main EDs
Our Supply Chain
across our served communities. Our
to ensure the safety
team is continuing to
hospitals are collaborating with each other
of patients, staff and
source for necessary
for best-practice sharing and leveraging
visitors and allow for
the resources we share as an organization.
patient access for other
supplies and equipment, Paul Stefanacci
emergency conditions. We are working closely with the Centers
including actively seeking alternate supplier channels. UHS Supply Chain is
ʯ We have suspended visitation,
working daily with customers, distribu-
and with local health authorities. We are
with limited exceptions. We
tors, and manufacturers to manage our
actively taking precautions to protect the
are screening all individuals
supply needs across the organization.
health and safety of our patients and staff
upon entering the facility. We
We have established tracking, reporting
members, and to help reduce the spread of
are monitoring patients for any
and have daily calls with our internal
the virus in our regions. Specifically:
symptoms and implementing
customers to ensure their needs are be-
isolation protocols, if needed.
ing met. We are redeploying supplies to
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
ʯ We are in daily communication with all clinical workers to share updated guidelines/protocols. Providing updated training to ensure we can
facilities who are experiencing unusually
ʯ We are scaling telehealth to continue to provide care.
ramp up quickly.
ing our hospitals of the importance of conservation of supplies, especially
ʯ All volunteers have been asked ʯ Taking temperatures daily; reporting
high spikes in volumes. We are remind-
PPE. We are utilizing corporate re-
to temporarily suspend their
sources across the enterprise to manage
symptoms, as appropriate. Using
scheduled times at the hospital,
consistency and information flow dur-
isolation, when warranted.
for their own safety as well as that
ing this evolving situation.
Paul Stefanacci, MD, FACS, MBA is Vice President, Quality and Chief Medical Officer for the Acute Care Division of Universal Health Services, Inc. Dr. Stefanacci provides UHS with the clinical leadership to face the challenges of the rapidly evolving healthcare environment and advance an ambitious quality and performance improvement agenda.
The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | Special Issue 2020
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