Hi Team –

 

This Thursday, our “Field of Dreams” contest prize winner, Cindy McCoy, and her guest will join a small group of Cincinnati Reds fans who will fly via a Reds charter jet to Dyersville, Iowa to watch the Reds take on the Chicago Cubs in the annual MLB “Field of Dreams” game played among the Iowa cornfields made famous in the 1989 Kevin Costner movie. The game tickets and air travel were provided to TriHealth as a special thank you for our sponsorship, and who better to represent TriHealth – and cheer on the Reds – than a deserving team member!! Have a great time, Cindy… we’ll be with you in spirit as we root for a Reds win together!

 

During our July Team Member Town Hall, we reviewed the exciting Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) work already well underway to further accelerate us on our Journey to Get Healthcare Right. And as I’ve said often, the foundation for Getting Healthcare Right lies in our ability to deliver the right care in the right place at the right time to achieve the Triple Aim Plus One – better care, better health, better value, plus a better experience for our physicians, providers, and care teams. 

 

We’ve made great strides in recent years on this journey by building a great culture through the TriHealth Way and focusing on continuous improvement in our five Pillars – Safety, Service, People, Growth, and Finance. And then came the COVID pandemic, which over the past two-plus years, further exposed for TriHealth and ALL U.S. health systems, critical areas where we, as an industry, must do better for our patients, physicians, and team members. Some of these improvement areas were existing challenges that were amplified during the pandemic, such as bottlenecks in throughput, variation in core clinical and support processes, and delays in care. Others, like disruptions in labor markets and inflationary forces, were newly created by the pandemic and are now part of the post-COVID new normal we must deal with in healthcare.

 

Just as with every challenge we faced during COVID, we will proactively address these challenges together from a position of strength, so we can continue to lead the way as a regional and national model for Getting Healthcare Right. To do so, we have made the decision to partner with Deloitte Consulting, a respected professional services organization and “content expert” that has successfully assisted other organizations, including Johns Hopkins and Stanford, in dramatically improving their performance with throughput, workforce solutions, and other critical areas. So, over the next six months, many of our leaders, team members, advanced practice practitioners, and physicians will be working closely with a team of nurses and physicians from Deloitte to organize and work through a fact-based, multidisciplinary, and collaborative process with the following goals:

Through this important initiative, we will have the opportunity, in some ways, to reimagine how we work and deliver care, adopting best practices, processes, and technology to improve safety and the care experience for patients and the workplace experience for our physicians and team members. Doing so will ensure we continue to position TriHealth for success on our Journey to Get Healthcare Right, even as we face and overcome these existing and new COVID-amplified challenges!! 

 

As we make progress on this vital work, I'll continue to share more at our Team Member Town Halls and in my Weekly Updates.

 

Our work to Get Healthcare Right starts within our own communities and is rooted in our commitment to live our values and fulfill our sacred mission to improve the health status of the people and community we serve. I’m excited to share that as part of this work, we will, once again, serve as the exclusive healthcare provider and a sponsor of the 2022 Community Health Day on August 19, hosted at the Western Hills YMCA. TriHealth team members will be in the West Side community offering health screenings (BMI, Blood Pressure, Body Composition, Mammography, Precision Medicine/Genetic Testing), information on job opportunities at TriHealth, as well as financial literacy resources and support. Click here for more details about the event and volunteer opportunities.

 

In yet another example of our commitment to S.E.R.V.E. our community, TriHealth is also excited to, once again, sponsor the 34th Annual Midwest Black Family Reunion, one of Cincinnati's largest family-focused celebrations. 

 

This year's fun-filled event will be held on August 20-21, 2022 at Downtown Cincinnati's scenic Sawyer Point & Yeatman's Cove, and is expected to be attended by thousands of participants. If you or your family members are planning to attend, stop by the TriHealth booth for health and wellness screenings, information on job opportunities at TriHealth, and cool giveaways! Click here for more details.

 

Our participation in the Black Family Reunion, Community Health Day, and other events like these continue to position TriHealth as a trusted partner to help community members improve their health and quality of life. As importantly, these widely attended events serve as an effective forum to help us address health disparities in underserved communities head-on – part of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which is an essential component for getting healthcare right! 

 

In recent weeks, we've seen an increase in COVID infections in our region and across the country due to the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant. While, thankfully, severe illness and hospitalizations still remain relatively low compared to previous surges, out of an abundance of caution, the decision was made last week to join with the region’s other health systems in expanding universal masking from clinical settings to include non-clinical settings as well. This change took effect last Thursday, August 4, and now requires ALL TriHealth team members, physicians, volunteers, and visitors to wear three-ply, hospital-grade masks while in any TriHealth facility, including hospitals, ambulatory campuses, physician practices, and non-clinical offices. 

 

This decision was made in careful consideration of the COVID transmission rate in the region and in consultation with the Health Collaborative, TriHealth's Command Center, and our own Infection Prevention physicians and physician leaders. We believe this is the right decision at this time to protect the health and safety of the entire community and slow the spread of the COVID BA.5 subvariant. We are optimistic that by doing so, the universal masking requirement will be short-lived. And we are seeing encouraging signs that this may be the case. While the community transmission rate is still above the “high” risk threshold of 200 new cases/100,000 population, the number of hospital admissions and the percent of admitted patients who are COVID positive within the region remain low and stable. And this is the case here at TriHealth as well, where we have 38 COVID-positive patients and three on ventilators (see sidebar graphic above for the latest COVID statistics). 

 

We will continue to closely monitor COVID trends and are prepared to quickly reassess the masking policy, once community transmission drops below the high-risk threshold.

 

As you make your plans for the rest of the summer, don’t forget to order your tickets by August 15 for our Team Member Appreciation Picnic at Kings Island & Soak City on August 28! Click here for complete details. 

 

Thank you for all you do as ONE TEAM, TRIHEALTH STRONG to make the communities and the patients we serve the healthiest and best they can be! We are so grateful to have you on our team!!