It is my honor to announce the winners of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health’s 2019CEO Award. This annual award, which is LG Health’s highest institutional honor, recognizes teams for extraordinary, measurable value in support of our Mission and Vision.
The winning teams demonstrate specific, sustainable results that impact patients, team members and the entire health system in our five dimensions of performance: Quality, Experience, Access, Finance and People.
After a committee of LG Health leaders evaluated submissions from the nominated teams, I selected the winners. The committee and I are very proud of the outstanding quality of each and every submission we reviewed.
Two teams stood out for their truly extraordinary achievements: Urgent Care Kissel Hill and the Lancaster General Hospital Convenience Pharmacy. Both are wonderful examples of the transformational efforts of teams throughout LG Health as we work together to create a culture of continuous improvement.
The right care at the right time and place
The Emergency Department at LGH was built to see 80,000 patients per year. In FY19, our ED staff treated more than 110,000 patients. The Urgent Care team determined that 30 percent of those patients could have been seen at Urgent Care.
In August 2018, LG Health’s sixth Urgent Care opened at Kissel Hill, utilizing a new enhanced care model. Three treatment rooms for IV infusions, cardiac and head injury evaluation, respiratory treatments and extended monitoring capabilities enable the team to care for many patients who previously would have required treatment in the ED.
In its first 10 months, Urgent Care Kissel Hill saw 361 patients in its treatment rooms, including 280 who were treated and discharged home. In addition to reducing ED volume and increasing access to care, this approach improves patient experience, while achieving significant cost savings. LG Health’s newest Urgent Care, which opened at Norlanco in November, utilizes the same enhanced care model.
I was especially impressed by the Urgent Care team’s passion for their work, their compelling results and their creative use of technology – such as the “vein viewer” to aid in treatment of severely dehydrated patients – to provide the right care at the right time and place, while lowering overall health-care costs.
An extraordinary enhancement to patient safety and experience
Discharge is a hectic time for patients and families, and it can be challenging to obtain needed prescriptions. The LGH Convenience Pharmacy sought to increase utilization of its Meds on the Move service, which provides patients with prescribed medications upon discharge. We know that having medications in hand at discharge reduces readmission rates, which is one of our health system goals.
Meds on the Move pharmacy technicians joined the health-care team on floors 5, 6, 7 and 8, increasing utilization of the program by answering questions, double-checking medications and resolving any insurance or payment issues. At the end of 2018, Meds on the Move filled 500 to 700 prescriptions per month. Today that number has increased to 1,500 to 1,600 per month.
Meds on the Move, which also provides common over-the-counter medications and durable medical equipment, increases convenience for patients and their families.
The service improves care transitions and medication safety, while increasing revenue for the health system that is reinvested into other program enhancements.
In addition to improving safety, Meds on the Move is an extraordinary enhancement to the experience of our patients and their families, who no longer have the burden of stopping at a pharmacy on their way home from the hospital. The pharmacy team hopes to grow Meds on the Move to add two more technicians to the hospital floors.
The work of both winning teams reflects a strong commitment to the principles of continuous improvement in support of LG Health’s efforts to become even more consistent and reliable in our performance.
Becoming a high-reliability organization ultimately will enable us to achieve our aspiration of eliminating harm to every person in our care.
Please join me in congratulating the winners of our CEO Award!