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Calling All Mentors!

Do you worry about who will take care of your patients when you retire? Are you looking for a meaningful way to give back to your community? If so, look no further! SJMS is currently recruiting volunteer mentors to join our Bridge to Medicine (BTM) committee. BTM guides high achieving students (high school & college) along their academic journey so that they have the best chance of being accepted to medical school and ultimately return to practice in our community.

The committee meets every other month (virtually via Zoom) and consists of physicians (working & retired), alliance members and even a local college professor. Most importantly, you don’t need to be an expert! We have committee members with a wide array of skill sets and resources, so you are never alone. For more information, please contact Lisa Richmond at 952-5299 or Lisa@sjcms.org.

Cal-HOP HIE Funding Opportunity Expiring Soon

In September 2020, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) launched a new effort to boost the use of health information technology by providers. The California Health Information Exchange Onboarding Program (CalHOP) committed $50 million to help more practices participate in health information exchanges (HIEs) by reducing or eliminating of the obstacle of paying for the interface between their EHR and the HIE.

This funding opportunity expires in September 2021, so it is important that practices get the process started ASAP to take advantage of this opportunity. Cal-HOP will enable HIEs to provide direct assistance to individual practices and hospitals that seek to leverage a health information exchange to improve care coordination, engage with public health resources, and enhance patient outcomes through the use of comprehensive clinical data.

Under Cal-HOP, Qualified Health Information Organizations (QHIOs) will support providers and hospitals in connecting their electronic health records to QHIOs to enable the exchange of admission, discharge, and transfer messages; connect to the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES); and implement advanced data exchange interfaces. The funding provided by Cal-HOP will greatly reduce the cost of onboarding to QHIOs for individual practices and hospitals. Providers are encouraged to contact their local HIO for more information at https://www.manifestmedex.org/ for-providers/. For more information about program requirements or how to begin enrollment under a QHIO, visit https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Pages/CalHOP.aspx or email HIEOnboard@dhcs.ca.gov.

San Joaquin General Hospital’s Trauma Center Advances to Level II Designation

San Joaquin General Hospital’s Trauma Center has been upgraded from a Level III Trauma Center to a level II designation. A Level II Trauma Center is one that can deliver and initiate definitive care for all injured patients. A Level II Trauma Center is one where a hospital demonstrates the ability to provide basic assessment, resuscitation, surgery, intensive care and stabilization of injured patients. The advancement to Level

II designates a hospital’s exemplary trauma care and its proven ability to provide 24-hour immediate coverage by general surgeons, as well as coverage by the specialties of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology and critical care.

The designation of a Level II Trauma Center is awarded by both the San Joaquin County Emergency Medical Services Agency and the American College of Surgeons (ACS). The accreditation from the ACS will come later in the Summer. This achievement recognizes the trauma center's dedication to providing optimal care for critically injured patients within San Joaquin County. Trauma Centers not only provide emergency hospital resources necessary for trauma care, but also the entire spectrum of care to address the needs of all injured patients. This spectrum encompasses the Hospital’s pre-hospital phase through the rehabilitation process.

The benefit of having a Level II Trauma Center in San Joaquin County means that local residents now have the security of having immediate and accredited emergency care for all life-threatening injuries. Trauma Centers provide a tremendous asset to local communities. San Joaquin General began a Level III Trauma Center in 2014, and through the years we have added the necessary staff & technologies to be recognized as a regional Level II Trauma Center.

Family Honors San Joaquin General Hospital with a Gift of $350,000

San Joaquin General Hospital’s Foundation has received a gift of $350,000 in remembrance of the work of the late Dr. Samuel Hanson and his family. Dr. Hanson was a practicing OB/Gyn physician at San Joaquín General for many years. The gift was from the estate of Dr. Hanson’s daughter, Deborah Hanson Murphy in recognition of her father and the humanitarian efforts of San Joaquin General Hospital. Ms. Murphy had fond memories of visiting her father at the Hospital and witnessing the work of a caring medical staff. The Deborah Hanson Murphy gift represents the largest financial contribution to the Hospital’s Foundation in its history.

Deborah Hanson Murphy was born at the Hospital in Stockton in 1931. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in 1953. She studied at the Art Students League in New York from 1957-1958 and after a brief career in journalism, lived in France and Italy from 1959-1967. After a brief return to live and work in Washington, D.C., where she was a docent at the National Gallery, she returned to France where she lived in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris from 1986 until her death. Her work has been shown in various galleries and exhibitions in Paris and French provinces, New York and Los Angeles. Her works are found in the permanent collections of the Louvre and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Ms. Hanson Murphy has additionally donated six of her paintings to the Hospital and they will hang in both the maternity wing and the surgical wing. Her artistic work was deeply inspired by the renaissance painters and their use of light. She was also fascinated by the still life paintings of Georgio Morandi (1890-1964). Her husband, Richard W. Murphy, was a writer for Time Life who wrote a biography of the French artist Cezanne. Deborah was the oldest of three children of Irene and Samuel Hanson.

“We are very honored that our Hospital has been recognized by the estate of Deborah Hanson Murphy. The gifts of Ms. Murphy are a wonderful example of saying ‘thank you’ to the efforts of our entire staff. These funds will go directly to support the health of all San Joaquin County residents.”, said David Culberson, C.E.O., San Joaquin General Hospital

Hospice of San Joaquin Introduces New Team Physicians

Hospice of San Joaquin introduces new Team Physicians, Medical Director, and Pacific Palliative Care Physician. A patient’s hospice care team consists of a highly-trained, multidisciplinary group of care professionals, with each member playing a role in the planning, provision, and management of the patient’s holistic end-of-life care. Playing a crucial role in the care team are the Hospice Team Physicians and Medical Director, an expert team of physicians that are responsible for ensuring that every patient’s care wishes are honored, that the hospice team is supported, and that the care goals set for each patient are being achieved. Hospice of San Joaquin has expanded its original strategic plan of having two team physicians and one Medical Director to introducing a total of four new team physicians and our new Medical Director, Dr.

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Deepak Shrivastava, to enhance all home-base patient care. Transitioning from two teams, both covering the greater North and South county regions, to now having four, each team physician is responsible to oversee the patients on their particular team. The smaller teams result in less patients per team, which will help enhance Patient care, allows for greater oversite and teamwork between our Registered Nurse Case Managers and Hospice Clinical Staff to provide the highquality, compassionate end-of-life care we are committed to providing.

Please welcome the following Team Physicians and Medical Director: • Dr. Herrera, Team Physician • Dr. Goswami, Team Physician • Dr. Vasavda, Team Physician • Dr. Shrivastava, Medical Director Also, please welcome: • Dr. Puthillath (AJ), Pacific Palliative Care Physician

Health Plan of San Joaquin Marks 25th Anniversary

Established by San Joaquin Valley residents in 1996 as a public health plan with the goal of improving community health through local engagement, Health Plan of San Joaquin (HPSJ) has been deeply rooted for more than a quarter of a century in the richly diverse communities they serve. For over two decades, HPSJ has been dedicated to broadening access to high-quality health care services by engaging members and local stakeholders to expand the provider network and effectively deliver programs to support the health care safety-net.

Health Plan of San Joaquin continues helping get out the word: Authorized Vaccinators & California Vaccination (myCAvax) Program

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) list of professionals currently able to administer COVID-19 vaccines, including conditions for giving the shots, is at https://tinyurl.com/4th2nj3j. The myCAvax program updates for providers are at https://eziz.org/covid/. HPSJ adds it is encouraging its Provider Network to communicate with members to have them make an appointment for their COVID-19 vaccine appointment and at the same time check-in with them for medical and/or preventative care issues. For HPSJ members who have barriers with transportation, they can call HPSJ for assistance.

HPSJ Myth Busters, COVID-19 Vaccines –Help for talking with patients

As vaccine supplies ramp up, more and more of us will have opportunities to be vaccinated for COVID-19. To help you and your staff have conversations with patients, Health Plan of San Joaquin offers information, based on current science and public health guidance. Created to be accessible for lay people, and to answer many of the concerns HPSJ has been hearing from members and the community, find the fact sheets at https://www.hpsj.com/coronavirus/. HPSJ also offers a Spanish version at https://miembros.hpsj.com/coronavirus/

Keeping HPSJ members and community safe during California fire season –Helping Providers prepare

With California facing drought conditions and a more yearround fire season, Health Plan of San Joaquin now offers members detailed information and support at www.hpsj.com/stay-safe-during-fire-season/. To help health care providers be ready for fire, smoke and ash emergencies, as well as power outages, HPSJ points to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where CDC offers great tools to help serve your patients. Find the CDC tool kit at www.hpsj.com/providers/. HPSJ also asks members to

KNOW THEIR COLORS when it comes to air quality and California’s fire season. The EPA’s AirNow site has valuable information on how to stay healthy and safe, at www.airnow.gov/. Their free, colorful AirNow app, available at the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, has hyper-local air quality updates so everyone can track the air quality in their area.

Health Plan of San Joaquin Language Services – Essential for members’ access to best quality of health care

Research has shown lack of language assistance is a major contributor to health disparities and poor treatment outcomes. In this richly multi-cultural community, HPSJ offers every member services to bridge language gaps and achieve health equity. Language services include providing medically qualified interpretation and written assistance to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) individuals in their primary language. This helps ensure patients understand their treatment process, are able to ask questions during the medical encounter, and facilitates timely access to care services. It also makes more likely each patient will adhere to their provider’s treatment plan and thus have the best possible health outcomes. HPSJ patients are encouraged to use these services, at no cost to them. For more about HPSJ’s services, including support for members who are deaf, hard of hearing, or blind, and how providers can help schedule services during office visits through HPSJ Customer Service, go to https://www.hpsj.com/language-assistance/.

Improved Payment Experience – coming soon to Health Plan of San Joaquin Provider Network

Look for information and updates, plus provider staff training opportunities, as HPSJ approaches the July 2021 switch-over date, at www.hpsj.com/pay.

MORE Help for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Health Plan of San Joaquin is helping its Provider Network stay on top of additional supports to keep children safe, especially during this pandemic. California’s ACEs Aware is hosting a series of activities to promote shared learning and quality improvement among Medi-Cal providers in adopting ACE screenings and providing trauma-informed care. View upcoming webinars and previous sessions at https://tinyurl. com/hbvczrn2.

Hospital Surgeons See Benefits in Telemedicine

Physicians at Shriners Hospitals for Children —Northern California have found that telemedicine has some serious benefits, not unlike a house call.

Dr. Payam Saadai is the director of the hospital’s Pediatric Colorectal Center and leads a team that cares for patients with complicated gastrointestinal disorders, many of them surgical patients. Even in his area of medicine, he’s found telemedicine is beneficial.

It is helpful to see where patients live, he said, and in a telemedicine visit, the physician can consult with home nurses, talk with family members and identify risks in the home.

“Video visits are particularly useful in the early days of a diagnosis when new patient families have so many questions about their child’s care,” he said in a recent article. A study in the Lancet found telemedicine reduced outpatient visits and hospital admissions in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, he notes.

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Kaiser Permanente Northern California Hospitals Receive Top Marks for Patient Safety

The Leapfrog Group recognized 16 Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals with a top score of “A” in its biannual Hospital Safety Grades report, which examined and graded approximately 2,700 hospitals throughout the United States.

Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California with “A” scores include Fremont, Fresno, Manteca, Modesto, Oakland, Redwood City, Richmond, Roseville, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, South San Francisco, Vacaville, and Vallejo. Additionally, Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Antioch, San Jose, South Sacramento, and Walnut Creek received “B” scores.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for the collective national health care system. Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals continue to be consistently recognized as among the country’s best for outstanding patient safety, positive outcomes, and patient experience.

In addition to the Leapfrog Group ratings, Cal Hospital Compare, which features quality and performance information on California hospitals, also recently named eight Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals to its Patient Safety Honor Roll. The hospitals include Fresno, Manteca, Redwood City, Roseville, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, South San Francisco, and Vallejo.

The Patient Safety Honor Roll uses patient safety measures to evaluate hospitals across a variety of areas including hospital acquired infections, adverse patient safety events, sepsis management, patient experience, and Leapfrog Hospital Safety grade. The eight Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals were among a total of 73 California hospitals that made the honor roll.

“Patient safety and positive outcomes are top priorities and goals shared at every level of Kaiser Permanente,” says Corwin Harper, Senior Vice President and Area Manager for Kaiser Permanente, Central Valley Service Area. “We are proud to see these efforts recognized, though this only

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IN THE NEWS

Providing staff, physicians, and patients with relevant & up to date information

renews our ongoing commitment to ensure our patients, visitors and staff find safety and comfort throughout our facilities.”

Doctors Hospital of Manteca Names Gregg Garrison Chief Financial Officer

Doctors Hospital of Manteca has appointed Gregg Garrison as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective March 12, 2021.

“Gregg brings a high level of expertise to support our financial and growth strategies as we expand to meet the needs of our growing community,” said Murali Naidu, M.D., CEO of Doctors Hospital of Manteca. “He has many years of experience in understanding the various services we provide from a financial perspective and we are thrilled to have him on our team.”

Garrison is currently the CFO at Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock, a sister hospital of Doctors Hospital of Manteca, and will now serve as CFO over both hospitals. Prior to joining Emanuel in 2020, Garrison served as CFO for HCA Houston Healthcare West for nearly 11 years, CFO for Summer Branch Medical Center in Houston, Texas, and CFO for Twelve Oaks Medical Center, also in Houston. He’s no stranger to Manteca. Garrison served as CFO of Doctors Hospital of Manteca for two years from 1995-1997.

Garrison earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri, as well as his Master of Business Administration degree from the same university. He also completed graduate studies in Health Services Administration at the University of Kansas. Garrison is affiliated with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

Gregg Garrison

Doctors Hospital of Manteca Employee Recognized as Tenet Hero

Special honor is part of Tenet Healthcare’s annual recognition program

Doctors Hospital of Manteca is proud to announce that Emily Hoogendoorn, Social Worker, has been honored by Tenet Healthcare as part of its annual recognition program. Emily has been named a “Tenet Hero” for her incredible contributions in 2020.

The Tenet Heroes program celebrates individuals who make a meaningful impact within their respective communities that goes above and beyond their daily job responsibilities. Nominated by fellow colleagues, Tenet Heroes exemplify the company’s core values and key tenets of its Community Built on Care.

Emily Hoogendoorn

Emily was recognized as a Tenet Hero for her amazing dedication and commitment as the hospital social worker. She covers every unit within Doctors Hospital of Manteca with ease and compassion, from the Emergency Department to the ICU to Labor & Delivery and everything in between.

“Emily has inspired us through her actions to make a positive and meaningful difference in our community,” said Murali Naidu, M.D., CEO of Doctors Hospital of Manteca. “We are grateful for Emily’s efforts, selfless nature and commitment to compassionate care particularly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are proud to work alongside her.”

Eddie Lira Joins BAC Community Bank Executive Team

Eddie Lira has been appointed to the executive team of locallyowned BAC Community Bank as Executive Vice President, Chief Business Development Officer. Eddie is a commercial banking professional with over 15 years of experience in leadership, portfolio management, and business development.

Most recently, Eddie worked for a large national bank, overseeing a team of business professionals across the Central Valley. This team was focused on providing business lending, cash management, and deposit solutions for customers under their care. Eddie’s past responsibilities include serving as Vice President, Commercial Banking Officer for 6 years at BAC Community Bank. “We welcome Eddie back to BAC, and we are excited to see him in this new role,” said BAC’s Chief Executive Officer Dana Bockstahler. “His business banking expertise and years of delivering exceptional service and solutions will be of great value to our customers.”

Committed and invested in the local community, Eddie volunteers for local non-profit organizations and currently serves as a board member of the San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Eddie can be reached at (209) 4736827 or eddie.lira@bankbac.com.

St. Joseph's Nationally Recognized with an ‘A’ for the Summer 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade

Dignity Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center was awarded an ‘A’ in the Summer 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinction recognizing St. Joseph’s Medical Center’s achievements providing safer health care. The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety. The Safety Grade is a letter grade assigned to all general hospitals across the country and updated every six months, assessing how well the hospital prevents medical errors and other harms to patients.

“Patient safety is everyone’s goal at St. Joseph’s Medical Center, and I am thankful for the dedication to safety and quality that I see demonstrated by our team every day,” said Don Wiley, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s. “The Leapfrog Hospital Safety ‘A’ Grade illustrates our commitment to providing the highest quality care to our community.”

Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

St. Joseph’s Launches New Residencies in Psychiatry and Anesthesia

This summer, St. Joseph’s Medical Center will be launching a new Psychiatry Residency program and an Anesthesia Residency program. The two newly accredited programs will welcome seven psychiatry residents and six anesthesia residents to St. Joseph’s this summer

With established residencies in Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine and Transitional Year already

underway, St. Joseph’s Graduate Medical Education Program plans to train more than 180 doctors yearly, once the program is fully implemented, making it one of the largest and most complex graduate medical education programs in Northern California.

With both primary care physicians and specialists being in short supply in the Central Valley, St. Joseph’s Graduate Medical Education Program will help to meet both the current and future need for care in our community. Studies show that as many as half of all residents go on to practice within 50 miles of where they trained. That staying power is crucial for the Central Valley, where both primary care physicians and specialists are in chronically short supply.

St. Joseph’s Awarded Honor Roll Designation by Cal Hospital Compare

St. Joseph’s is proud to have received the 2020 Honor Roll Award for Patient Safety, Opioid Care and Maternity Care by Cal Hospital Compare. To receive the Patient Safety Award, a hospital must have a high patient safety profile in comparison to other hospitals across a variety of care domains including hospital acquired infections, adverse events, sepsis management, and patient experience.

To receive the Opioid Care Award, hospitals must have scored ≥ 21 points on the 2020 Opioid Management Hospital Self-Assessment and scored at least one point in each of the following 4 domains of care: safe and effective opioid use, identifying and treating patients with opioid use disorder, overdose prevention, and applying cross-cutting opioid management best practices.

In order to receive the Maternity Care Award, St. Joseph’s had to achieve the statewide cesarean section rate of 23.9 percent or lower for low risk, first birth deliveries, and participate in California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative’s Maternal Data Center.

Cal Hospital Compare provides quality and performance information on California hospitals to help healthcare consumers make smarter and more informed choices when making medical decisions. Cal Hospital Compare firmly believes that by making this information publicly available — will improve the health care system.