Facility Brings Together the Medical Expertise of UPMC Passavant and UPMC St. Margaret Under One Roof to Deliver Coordinated Primary Care for Adults and Children

UPMC has unveiled a first-of-its-kind facility in the region to deliver coordinated primary health care for children and adults. The ribbon was cut today at the UPMC Outpatient Center located in Hampton Township, 4490 Mt. Royal Blvd., Allison Park, Pa., and the 44,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art medical mall complex opens for service next week.

“This represents a significant strategic landmark in UPMC’s history of providing exceptional patient care,” said Dave Martin, senior vice president, Health Services Division, UPMC, and president, UPMC Passavant. “This $19 million community investment provides a wide range of outpatient services for patients in the area and brings together the talent and expertise of the clinical and administrative staff of UPMC St. Margaret and UPMC Passavant,” Martin added. “Our UPMC teams worked very hard behind the scenes paving the way for a facility of this magnitude to open and operate here for our patients.”

“Our Hampton center provides a full spectrum of primary care services for both adults and pediatrics,” said Dave Patton, president, UPMC St. Margaret. “This facility is UPMC’s debut of our medical home concept in which we create a base for primary care and related services under one roof. Hampton and surrounding communities can now locally access coordinated outpatient services that have been carefully considered with patient access and convenience top of mind.”

Patton added, “Its central location also is by design. Whether you consider your community hospital to be UPMC St. Margaret or UPMC Passavant, the Hampton outpatient facility is for you.” [Read more…]

The Abie Abraham Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Center is Officially Unveiled

Construction for VA Butler’s new Health Care Center (HCC) is complete, and an official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony was held on Tuesday, August 29, 2017 to mark the occasion. The new facility, officially called the Abie Abraham Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Center, will open for Veterans on September 5, 2017.

“It is a privilege to serve my fellow Veterans at VA Butler, and I could not be more excited to do so in this new, state-of-art facility,” said David Cord, VA Butler Healthcare’s Director. “This new facility is fittingly named after one of our nation’s greatest heroes, and it is my promise to those we serve that we will honor his legacy every day by providing our Veterans with accessible, quality health care.”

The HCC is named after WWII hero, Bataan Death March survivor, and former POW Sergeant Major Abie Abraham. Abraham volunteered at VA Butler Healthcare for 23 years, spending 36,851 hours caring for fellow Veterans.

The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony included remarks from VA Leadership and Cambridge Healthcare Solutions PA, LP, and the keynote address was provided by U.S. Representative Mike Kelly. Additionally, former Pittsburgh Steeler and longtime friend of Abraham, Rocky Bleier, provided a special tribute to Abraham as the new facility sign was officially unveiled. [Read more…]

As part of Monongahela Valley Hospital’s (MVH) mission to enhance the health of the residents of the mid-Monongahela Valley, MVH has created a new initiative called the Community Care Network (CCN).

The CCN, which is available free of charge, has been developed to help people receive the best health care possible through a comprehensive series of care coordination and educational strategies. The CCN helps people transition to the next step of care and avoid readmission to the hospital. Whether it’s home or to a skilled nursing facility, rehab center or another hospital, MVH works to ensure a seamless continuity of care.

The CCN consists of an interdisciplinary team made up of a medical director, CRNP, pharmacist, dietitians, social worker, behaviorist, and patient navigators. The team focuses on the signs and symptoms of chronic diseases and works with current care providers to help people understand and manage their care.

The team also works with other community agencies to utilize all available resources to take medical follow-up care to a new level. The team, under direct medical supervision, can help ensure that people are following treatment plans and actually taking medications as prescribed. In addition, the CCN focuses on eliminating missed appointments with PCPs and specialists. With an emphasis on early detection, in-home monitoring can be provided to help identify changes in symptoms early on, which could eliminate unnecessary readmissions.

“Personally, I like all aspects of this program,” said Louis J. Panza Jr., president and CEO of Monongahela Valley Hospital.  “One of the best benefits of the CCN is that we can begin care coordination during hospitalization, especially those with challenging conditions or circumstances that result in readmissions or multiple emergency room visits.”

(from left to right) Cheryl Brazelton, social work,  Laine Greenawalt, nutritionist,  Rhea Regul, navigator, Pam Suehr, RN, care coordinator,  Kristen Graney, pharmacist, Lynda Nester, executive director, Megan Murphy, behaviorist, Susan Flynn, CEO Vale-U Health, Hailey Wiant, intern, Sarrah Park, navigator.  Missing from the picture is Deborah Holman, RN, care coordinator and Kristen Cunic, CRNP.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Planned for August 29, 2017

Construction for VA Butler’s new Health Care Center (HCC) is complete, and the new facility will officially be open for Veterans on September 5, 2017. An official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony is planned for Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 10am to mark the occasion.

“This is a milestone I could not be more excited about as it renews our commitment to providing high quality, accessible health care to our nation’s Veterans here in Butler Pennsylvania,” said David Cord, VA Butler Healthcare’s Director. “This new facility not only will improve, but also enhance and help us expand the outpatient health care environment for our Veterans and their families.”

The new HCC located at: 353 North Duffy Road, Butler, PA 16001 (approximately 1.4 miles from the existing campus) includes primary care, specialty care, mental health, dental, diagnostic, laboratory, pathology, radiology, podiatry, optometry, pharmacy, physical rehabilitation, and women’s health. It is also fully equipped to continue as well as expand the technology used by VA to provide care. This includes telemedicine equipment for telehealth, clinical video telehealth, teledermatology, teleretinal exams, and teleaudiology. [Read more…]

On Monday, July 31, UPMC Jameson’s new Outpatient Center, located at 1211 Wilmington Ave., New Castle, Pa., opens for service. The newly renovated facility on the ground floor of the hospital features The Heart and Vascular Institute at UPMC Jamesonand The UPMC Esophageal and Lung Surgery Institute at UPMC Jameson, and now is home to centralized patient registration, imaging, diagnostics and infusion services.

“We’re transforming our community hospital to advance local access to world-class care,” said Don Owrey, president, UPMC Jameson. “UPMC has invested to renovate the once-vacant former Emergency Department space at Jameson into a state-of-the-art facility. Now, as the northern hub for cardiovascular services, patients in our communities have convenient access to UPMC’s innovations and expertise.” [Read more…]

By Kim Bassett

The United States healthcare system is undergoing major changes in policy that will affect nearly every part of the population. While it can be difficult as a healthcare organization to weather these changes, it is possible to not only survive, but flourish using three fundamental strategies:

1. Create partners. Community partners. System partners. Physician partners. See each other as true partners in healthcare, not as enemies or in silos. As a cohesive unit, we can identify problems earlier and collectively create solutions. Creating partnerships lead to educational opportunities specific to healthcare policy changes.
2. Educate. Education is key to adapting to change. Proper education helps people and organizations adapt more quickly. Find non-partisan or unbiased people knowledgeable on the changes to help you understand the policy changes. You can then determine the best options for communicating these changes to the people in your organization. 
3. Review the demographics of the population you serve. Who is going to be affected by these changes? How?  Once identified, cater your communications to them. Reach out to them. Provide reassurance through clear communication and education. Arm them with information so that they can make informed decisions that will affect their healthcare options. Offer programs or opportunities to meet the needs of this affected population.

[Read more…]

By Pawan Grover M.D.

The Medicare Access and CHIP Re-authorization Act (MACRA) is a dramatic change from the traditional “fee for service” payment system to reimbursement based on outcome and quality measures. 

This law is complicated; rubex cube complicated. If you’re in the healthcare industry, at this point you’re probably reading through the final rules of implementation of the law which begins January 2017.

Perhaps you are attending a seminar on the excruciating details of how to comply with the law.

Make no mistake, this is no ordinary piece of legislation, it is the most dramatic change in Medicare since the laws’s inception and it will fundamentally transform healthcare. What effect will this have on doctors, hospitals and the healthcare providers? And more importantly, what effect will, it have on patients and their families?

Let’s take a step back from the weeds of implementation and explore the real world implications.

Let’s simplify it so that non-medical persons can understand it.  [Read more…]