Hi Team –

 

There is no greater gift than the gift of hope and healing! Since announcing our partnership with the Cincinnati chapter of the American Red Cross last week to support tornado relief efforts for Goshen, I’ve received many heartening messages of support and thanks from our team members and physicians. While not surprising, it’s always inspiring to see how quickly and enthusiastically our compassionate team members answer the call to S.E.R.V.E. And as a faith-based organization founded upon caring for those during their time of greatest need, TriHealth has a long history of assisting individuals and communities locally and across the globe impacted by tragedies. In recent years, this has been evidenced by our system’s strong support in aiding those impacted by Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, tornadoes in Kentucky, and the continuing war in Ukraine. Unlike those tragedies, however, the recent tornado destruction in Goshen hit especially close to home for TriHealth. And sadly, this disaster affected team members, families, and friends who are still putting their lives back together. So, I am pleased to announce that to support the ongoing relief efforts in Goshen, spearheaded by the Regional Chapter of the American Red Cross, last week, TriHealth donated $25,000 to relief efforts, in addition to the generous donations continuing to come in from our team members. If you’d like to contribute, click here.

 

Two weeks ago, I announced that TriHealth was the recipient of $18 million in grants from bi3 (the funding arm of Bethesda Inc., one of our two sponsors) to fund the start-up of our Precision Medicine, Behavioral Health, and Health Equities programs. Thanks, in part, to bi3’s $4.3 million start-up grant, we are now launching the TriHealth Precision Medicine Institute – the region’s first formalized institute dedicated to customized, preventive, and life-saving genetic care. Long-term funding for this service is now possible because of TriHealth’s adoption of value-based payment models that provide resources for these increasingly necessary, but often under-reimbursed programs and services.

 

As an organization committed to the Triple Aim of better health, better care, and better value, this is yet another example of how TriHealth is building the clinical capabilities to Get Healthcare Right – right care, right place, right time to produce the right clinical outcomes for our patients and the larger Cincinnati community. And increasingly, the right care to achieve the best clinical outcomes is preventive and highly targeted in ways made possible through a deep understanding of how genetics affect health.

 

While TriHealth is already considered a national leader in Precision Medicine, this initial funding through bi3 will enable us to dramatically expand these competencies to other clinical disciplines, like women’s health and cardiovascular services. At its core, Precision Medicine improves the quality of care and the quality of life for patients in very individualized ways. Take, for example, the story of Lisa – a TriHealth team member and Precision Medicine patient. Lisa is young and healthy, with no history of heart disease. Following the birth of her first daughter though, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with severe peripartum cardiomyopathy, and soon following that diagnosis, she tragically suffered a stroke. Thankfully, due to the rapid intervention and treatment she received from the TriHealth Heart Institute, Lisa fully recovered and today is healthy and active again. However, Lisa and her doctors wanted to better understand the cause of her heart disease at such an early age and what it meant for her and her family. So, she was referred to TriHealth’s Precision Medicine Institute for a complete assessment. Through targeted genetic testing, our genetic counselors and clinicians discovered a genetic mutation in Lisa’s DNA, which led to her heart condition. Her family members also went through targeted genetic testing at TriHealth, which found that both her daughter and her mother possess the same genetic mutation. Fortunately, the entire family is in good health. And thanks to the advances in genetic testing and the availability of Precision Medicine at TriHealth, Lisa and her family are now equipped with the potentially life-saving knowledge of these genetic risk factors. This allows them to work with their care team to regularly monitor for any signs of the condition through regular ongoing care. We are grateful for bi3’s support, which is helping TriHealth fully integrate Precision Medicine into our world-class care delivery model – all to ensure we continue to lead the way in getting healthcare right for every patient we serve!

 

I’m thrilled to announce that last week, TriHealth became the first healthcare system in Cincinnati to bring advanced 3D modeling to the diagnosis of coronary artery disease – the leading cause of death for men and women in the U.S.! TriHealth is now utilizing high-tech HeartFlow® Analysis, in conjunction with other traditional testing, to detect and diagnose heart disease earlier. HeartFlow® takes data from a patient’s standard non-invasive coronary CT scan and applies advanced algorithms to produce a personalized, color-coded 3D model of the coronary arteries. The model provides information about arterial blockages and their impact on blood flow to the heart. The rich, detailed images produced by this technology allow our cardiology teams to diagnose and treat patients earlier, and often less invasively, with fewer tests and fewer false positives. This is yet another example of bringing better care, better health and better value to those we serve!

 

The TriHealth Board of Trustees has elected Kathy Kelly as its new Chairperson of the Board for a three-year term beginning July 2022. Ms. Kelly has been a member of the TriHealth Board since 2019, serving as Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of the Safety, Quality and Service Committee since 2020. She has also served on the Board of Bethesda Inc. since 2012, where she was Board Chair from 2018 to 2020. She succeeds Ralph (Mike) Michael, who assumed the Board Chair role in 2019, and who will continue on as Vice Chair, a role he held previously in 2016. Ms. Kelly is a retired President of Kroger Personal Finance (KPF) for The Kroger Co., based in Cincinnati. 

 

As I shared last February, 15 TriHealth team members were selected through a competitive process to participate in the launch of the BOLD (Building Our Leadership Diversity) Program. The BOLD Program is yet another investment in our team members and reflects TriHealth’s commitment to recruit, retain, and develop diverse talent and provide career paths for professional growth. An important part of our system’s commitment to grow our people and support career advancement, this leadership development program is aimed at preparing underrepresented team members to excel in the next stage of their careers, while supporting our work to foster greater diversity and a leadership team more reflective of the diverse community we serve. Through on-the-job experiences and classroom instruction, BOLD offers participants real-life challenges and opportunities to sharpen leadership skills and gain new experience, all to support professional and career growth within TriHealth. And I’m proud to share our latest BOLD success story...

 

Dominique Ellison who joined TriHealth’s Internal Audit team in January 2018 as Senior Internal Auditor is one of the members of our BOLD inaugural class. Through the BOLD program curriculum, she learned best practices in leadership – the TriHealth Way – that are helping her to sharpen and master her leadership skills to better support and engage our people. In May 2022, Dominique was promoted to Internal Audit Manager, where she now leads TriHealth’s Internal Audit function!! Dominique had this to say about the BOLD program:

 

“I am grateful for TriHealth’s commitment to, and investment in, my success and development. The BOLD program curriculum is filled with best practices in leadership that truly help me understand our TriHealth Way of Leading. This has been a self-reflective journey for me as I realize how some of the qualities I intrinsically possess – authenticity, resilience, compassion, and conviction – are that of a natural leader. Leadership is courage and courageous leadership breeds creativity.” 

 

Congratulations to Dominique and all of our BOLD participants on their hard work and well-deserved success as model leaders of the TriHealth Way!!

 

Here at TriHealth and across Ohio and the U.S., we are experiencing a continued uptick in new COVID cases, with a few local counties now seeing COVID prevalence rise from a “low” to “medium” level (see sidebar graphic to right). The seven-day moving average of new cases in the U.S. is up to 249/100,000 population – which is still far below last winter’s surge, when new daily cases exceeded 1,700/100,000 nationally and TriHealth had as many as 250 COVID-positive patients in our hospitals. As we’ve been sharing, the current wave of infections is being fueled by the highly contagious Omicron BA.5 subvariant, which has an R-factor of 18.6, compared with the original COVID strain R-factor of just 3.3! Although highly contagious, we are fortunately not seeing this still relatively small surge result in severe illness or hospitalizations, largely because of the high rate of vaccination and availability and use of effective anti-viral medications. 

 

However, due to COVID’s prevalence in the community, our team members and physicians are continuing to contract COVID. So, as a reminder, please remember to practice the following COVID safety measures to minimize your exposure and to stay healthy:

Thank you for your continued efforts to keep our patients and each other safe, healthy, and free from COVID exposure!

 

I’m excited to announce that Cindy McCoy, Project Development Coordinator for TriHealth Corporate Health, was selected through a random drawing as the winner of our exclusive Field of Dreams Trip! Cindy and her guest will be flown on a jet chartered by the Reds to Dyersville, Iowa next month to watch our own Cincinnati Reds take on the Chicago Cubs in a special MLB game played among the Iowa cornfields made famous in the 1989 Kevin Costner movie, “Field of Dreams.” Congratulations Cindy… and bring home a Reds Win!

 

After two long and challenging years of COVID, we’re excited to, once again, host our Annual TriHealth Team Member Picnic on Sunday, August 28 – but this year, at Kings Island and Soak City! Between August 1-15, TriHealth team members, physicians, and volunteers can order their two free tickets (which include a parking pass, free meal, and an all-day drink wristband for free drinks throughout the park). Team members can also purchase up to four additional tickets for a discounted price of just $19 each ($49.99 value). Visit Bridge for more information. Don’t miss this long-overdue opportunity to gather in person, see old friends, make new ones, and enjoy some good, old-fashioned summer family fun!

 

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow at noon on Bridge for our July Team Member Town Hall! We’ll celebrate recent system wins, provide current COVID updates, and discuss our plans and initiatives underway for FY2023 and beyond! We’ll also devote plenty of time to answer your questions – with a chance to win some great TriHealth prizes for participating in the conversation.

 

As always, thank you for everything you do to help us Get Healthcare Right – for our patients, our community, and each other! And wow, what amazing progress we are making, even as we come out of a two-year global pandemic!! Without a doubt, we have the best healthcare team anywhere... ONE TEAM, TRIHEALTH STRONG!!!