Volume 25
Number 23
November 14, 2014
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
A
Positive PAT I E N T EXPERIENCE: Every Visit, Every Day Service excellence is a top priority for the Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania (CPUP). Over the past several years, the group has seen improvement in key patient satisfaction areas among its 200 practices, including its access to care, overall care, and the likelihood to recommend scores. Last month, CPUP launched a new initiative to thank employees for all their efforts and successes, and to motivate them to keep the high energy flowing to do even better. The theme of the newly launched initiative was “Be Someone’s Umbrella.” Why this particular theme? “Being a patient can be overwhelming. Patients are anxious, frightened, worried,” said Deborah Driscoll, MD, chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at
INSIDE Reducing a Repeated Cycle of Violence.................................2 Speaking with HUP’s Leaders.......................................3 Ebola Preparedness at Penn Medicine.......................3 Valet Parking Employees Receive Award...........................4
`` During the Patient Experience kick-off, Deborah Driscoll encouraged CPUP staff to make every patient experience a positive one.
the kick-off event. “We need to protect them, make them feel welcome and comfortable — in the practices and in the hospital.” CPUP has worked on many fronts to improve the outpatient experience. “We focused on communication between employees and patients, on training to get the right people in the right jobs and continuous quality improvement processes,” she continued. “We are changing our culture to one focused on service excellence and improved patient care.” During Patient Experience Week, practices held events to celebrate achievements. For example, CPUP’s Psychiatry practice offered a day of massage and of yoga, and brought in lunches for employees all week. Practices also offered activities to keep improving the patient experience, including
motivational speeches on a variety of topics: mindfulness and stress reduction, managing wait time, communicating with patients, and improving the patient experience. An awards ceremony at the end of the week recognized the many practices and individuals who have helped to raise patient satisfaction to a higher level in the three focal areas. Two practices — General Internal Medicine in the Perelman Center and the Renal practice at Radnor — received the Best Overall award. Both practices scored above 95 percent in all three categories in the Press Ganey patient satisfaction surveys! For a complete list of this year’s winners, see http://news. pennmedicine.org/inside/hupdate. (continued on page 2)
1
A P O S I T I V E PAT I E N T E X P E R I E N C E : Every Visit, Every Day (continued from page 1)
Sometimes Simple is Best As part of the kickoff, a panel of former patients spoke about their experiences and what helped them through the long journey towards health. “Something as simple as a smile can make you feel that much better,” said Bill, a patient who underwent proton therapy for prostate cancer. `` The General Internal Medicine practice in the Perelman Center was one of two CPUP practices to receive this year’s Best Overall award. Both practices scored above 95 percent in the Press Ganey survey for access to care, overall care, and the likelihood to recommend categories. Celebrating their accomplishments are (from left) Lillian DiPaolo, Gary W. Crooks, MD, Robin D. English, and Latosha Searles.
“No one wants to come to the hospital, but a warm greeting every time you come in makes it easier on you and your family,” agreed Brendan, who suffered traumatic injuries after being hit by a car.
“We are grateful for the care he received here, not only technically, but the human gift,” added Brendan’s mother. “We were always welcomed with kindness, caring and compassion. It helped sustain us during some extremely hard times.” Sharing these stories helps us remember why we do what we do, Michele Sparrow, MBA, BSN, director of Clinical Operations for the Abramson Cancer Center, told members of the audience. “This week is about celebrating what you do for our patients and to inspire you to keep doing it.” “We need to make the patient experience a positive one, every visit, every day,” Driscoll said.
Reducing A REPEATED CYCLE OF VIOLENCE Meditation and yoga have been shown to help reduce anxiety and enhance a person’s mood and overall sense of well-being. So what better place to use these relaxation tools than in an environment which carries an inordinate amount of stress: prison. That’s why Anup Sharma, MD, PhD, a fourth-year psychiatry resident, decided to volunteer his time for Prison SMART (Stress Management And Rehabilitation Training), a program that brings yoga and meditation techniques to prisons around the globe to help end the repeated cycle of violence, abuse and a return to prison. The program is part of the International Association for Human Values. “These sessions help people control anger and better manage their emotions,” he said, “increasing self-esteem, providing an alternative to violent behavior, and teaching practical conflict resolution.” Sharma heard about Prison SMART through his interest in stress management tools, especially for people with mental health conditions. He has served on the Prison SMART advisory committee and helped to implement the program in Philadelphia. He continues to meet regularly with the organizers and teachers.
2
Each session of the 4- to 5-day course runs three hours. He said there are separate but similar programs for prisoners and prison staff. Prison SMART is currently offered in three prisons in Philadelphia. Sharma’s Penn Medicine CAREs grant will help purchase equipment for `` Anup Sharma, MD, PhD, (c) with Warden Karen Bryant and SMART instructor Anil Enum the sessions, such as yoga at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. mats, as well as offset costs to train volunteer facilitators and print I feel stressed or angry .... It shows you your materials explaining the workshops to prison own little way to relax yourself.” wardens and administrators. “It’s essentially To learn more about Prison SMART, go to a volunteer-based program. The prison http://www.prisonsmart.org/. systems don’t have the money to pay for it,” he said. “We’d love to be able to offer it in additional prisons and have regular Employees who weekly follow-up sessions.” volunteer their time in outreach activities are Attending the sessions is not a requirement, encouraged to apply but the feedback from those who have come for a Penn Medicine has been “remarkable.” Said one prisoner, “It helped me figure out what was deeper CAREs grant. Go to inside of myself. It also helped me to release http://uphsxnet.uphs.upenn.edu/ negative energy and find peace.” Another community to learn more. said, “Now I have something I can do when
Speaking with HUP’S LEADERS At a recent Meal with an Administrator, HUP executive director Garry Scheib encouraged everyone to consider Garry Scheib giving to the Penn’s Way campaign (which ends this Friday, November 14). Any donations to HUP go directly to a special fund to provide discharge meds to those who can’t afford them. “Last year we raised over $25,000 for the fund.” To contribute, simply go to the Intranet home page and click on “Penn’s Way Campaign” under What’s Hot. Scheib said Penn is doing well financially, especially for this market. HUP was slightly behind its targeted net operating margin budget the first two months of FY15 (this past July and August), but “I’m anticipating that we will be on target for September,” he said. On average, hospitals in this market have seen admissions drop by 10 to 14 percent in
the last few years; admissions to UPHS have decreased between 4 and 6 percent. Much of that reduction results from Medicare’s observation status. “Medicare will not pay inpatient rates for stays of 24 hours or less, even though these patients stay the same amount of time in the hospital and we use as much or more resources to care for them,” he said. “On average, we lose about 80 percent of revenue for every patient who goes into observation status.” Approximately 12 percent of the Health System’s patients are observation status but the average in the region is twice that. “To put this another way, the average hospital in our market has lost about 80 percent of its revenue on 25 percent of its patients.” Scheib spoke about Tandigm Health, a new joint venture between Independence Blue Cross and DaVita Healthcare Partners that uses primary care physicians to help keep patients out of emergency rooms and hospitals. “When their patients get sick, they
can call and speak with a nurse or nurse practitioner who then determines the next step,” he said, adding that “physicians are given data and resources, as well as financial incentives, to help patients stay out of the ER and the hospital when not necessary.” So far Tandigm has recruited over 300 primary care physicians in the region. Currently, UPHS gets more revenue from its outpatient services than inpatients, a shift which started several years ago. The construction of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine was completed to allow us to meet this growing demand for outpatient services. Construction on the South Pavilion of the Perelman Center continues that strategy. Ambulatory practices from HUP and Penn Tower will move into that space when completed. Although not yet board approved, the tentative plan is to tear down Penn Tower and its garage and build a hospital tower and a 1000-car underground parking garage in that location.
Employee Flu Campaign Ends December 1st Over the past four years, 99% of HUP and UPHS employees have been vaccinated for seasonal influenza. Getting the flu vaccine reduces the risk of illness for our staff and helps keep our patients, colleagues, and families safe and healthy. Over 75% of all employees at Penn Medicine have now already received their flu vaccination! If you have not already done so, please submit your documentation with your bar-coded consent form attached immediately to occhealth@uphs.upenn.edu for processing and compliance, or come to any Occupational Medicine or Employee Health clinic for your flu vaccination.
EBOLA PREPAREDNESS at Penn Medicine Penn Medicine is able to provide expert clinical care under a broad range of circumstances, keeping the safety and protection of our patients and staff as our top priority at all times. As our preparations for the potential of receiving an Ebola patient continue, plans have been made to provide care at HUP for any suspected or confirmed Ebola patients who may present at a Penn Medicine hospital or outpatient practice. HUP will provide inpatient care to these patients in a special isolated area of the hospital. Information is added daily to the UPHS Intranet site for Ebola preparedness. Clinical staff are encouraged to check this site regularly to stay abreast of
updates: http://pennpoint.uphs.upenn.edu/sites/ebola/default. aspx. Additionally, two phone lines have been established to assist clinicians and staff around the clock: Clinicians with patient-related questions should call `` 215.614.0524. A physician will answer and handle calls about screening, isolation and, if necessary, lead arrangements for patient transport to HUP from another entity.
General questions not pertaining to direct patient care `` can be directed to 215.615.2929.
3
Valet Parking Employees Go Above and Beyond HUP honored four of the hospital’s valet parking employees for responding to car fires in the Perelman and Penn Tower parking garages this summer. In one incident, after noticing that a car entering the garage was on fire, Abalo Praise and Reginald Holland helped the patient out of the vehicle and then put the fire out with an extinguisher. In another, Nouhoum Traore and Sekou Jalloh saw smoke coming from under the hood of a parked car. They sounded the alarm and attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher before heavy smoke forced them to leave the area. The Fire Department extinguished the fire. Bernard Dyer, director of UPHS Safety & Emergency Management, thanked the employees for going “above and beyond. Both actions demonstrated a concern for our patients and visitors.”
`` (From left) Bernie Dyer, Nouhoum Traore, Reginald Holland, Abalo Praise, Sekou Jalloh and HUP executive director Garry Scheib.
HIPAA Update: Clinical Systems Monitoring for Inappropriate Access You may recall from earlier communications that Penn Medicine has launched a new software-enabled program to proactively monitor clinical systems to help detect inappropriate access to patient medical records. The program was initiated in September to implement HIPAA requirements and to help maintain the confidentiality of information that our patients expect and deserve. Always remember that access to clinical information must be for the purpose of conducting official (i.e., job-related) duties. Even a wellintentioned review of a friend’s or family member’s record in Penn Medicine clinical systems is not permitted if it is not part of your job function. Any questions regarding access to clinical systems can be directed to privacy@uphs.upenn.edu or issecurity@uphs.upenn.edu.
>>> For further information about these policies, please visit http://bit.ly/10FEMMO.
JOIN THE GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT The Health System is proud to join the American Cancer Society in promoting the Great American Smokeout on Thursday, November 20. Did you know that tobacco use is the single-most preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States? In fact, tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in this country. You can earn Healthy Reward points for joining the Great American Smokeout challenge in the Healthy Rewards site and quitting for the day or supporting a loved one or co-worker quit for the day. To earn your points:
• Go to the HR and You website
(www.uphshrandyou.com) • Click on Healthy Rewards • Log in with your network credentials • Join the challenge.
4
Research shows that if you pick a quit date in the next 30 days and stick to it, you’ll be more likely to quit for good. To learn more about the free UPHS Tobacco Cessation Program (for employees and dependents covered under a medical plan) through Health Advocate, call 1.866.695.8622. Additional resources can be found on the UPHS HR and You “Wellfocused” website under the “Tobacco Cessation — Quit Smoking” section.
HUPdate EDITORIAL STAFF Sally Sapega Editor and Photographer Abby Ernst Designer
ADMINISTRATION
Susan E. Phillips Senior Vice President, Public Affairs Holly Auer Director of Communications CONTACT HUPDATE AT: 3535 Market Street, Mezzanine Philadelphia, PA 19104 phone: 215.662.4488 fax: 215.349.8312 email: sally.sapega@uphs.upenn.edu HUPdate is published biweekly for HUP employees. Access HUPdate online at http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside/hupdate.