January 10, 2023
Hi Team –
Coming off last year’s improbable Super Bowl appearance, it is thrilling to see the Cincinnati Bengals take their eight-game winning streak into the playoffs! While TriHealth is no longer the major healthcare sponsor of the Bengals, our relationship still provides us with access to playoff tickets. And I can’t think of any better way to celebrate a successful Bengals’ season – and the hope of another extended postseason run – than by sharing these tickets with another extraordinary team – our TriHealth Team! This week, we will provide a pair of suite tickets to 10 lucky, randomly drawn TriHealth team members and physicians to take in the Bengals vs. Ravens playoff game this Sunday, January 15 at 8:15pm. To add your name to this exclusive giveaway for a chance to win tickets, simply visit The TriHealth Way Facebook page (click here) and tell us “What would a Bengals playoff win mean to you?” If you are not active on social media, you can still participate by emailing your response to marketing_communications@trihealth.com. We will announce our 10 lucky winners in a special livestream broadcast on Bridge this Thursday, January 12 at 2pm. Be sure to tune in and go Bengals!
Celebrating Dr. King’s Legacy
As a faith-based, values-driven organization with more than 170 years of service to the community, TriHealth’s mission to serve all members of our community with compassion, respect and dignity echoes the legacy and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Beginning this week and leading into the Martin Luther King Jr. Day national holiday next Monday, January 16, TriHealth will celebrate the life, legacy and teachings of Dr. King with a number of important events for our team members and physicians, led by our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI+B) team.
Launching this Thursday, January 12 from 11:30am-12:30pm, our DEI+B team will present a special livestream experience called “Martin’s Dream” – an inspirational one-man performance that brings to life Dr. King’s legacy through story, speech and song. Click this link to participate via Bridge.
And as an organization deeply committed to building an even more inclusive, equitable and accessible culture, TriHealth will partner with the MLK Coalition at the 48th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. March on Monday, January 16, beginning at 10:30am at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Following the march, TriHealth will provide free biometric, blood pressure and BMI screenings to the community at Music Hall as part of the MLK Day Commemorative program. Visit Bridge to learn how to participate. As we celebrate Dr. King, his passion for social justice and his call to service, I encourage you to consider participating in these and other community events, as we all reflect on how his teachings intersect with and reinforce the TriHealth Way values we live every day for those we serve.
Getting Healthcare Right
Putting Your Feedback into Action
Last week, I discussed the encouraging results and high-level system themes from our November 2022 Engagement Pulse and Culture of Safety Survey. These results are further evidence of the progress we are making in building a patient-centered, collaborative and highly engaged TriHealth Team working together to Get Healthcare Right by consistently delivering better care, better health and better value to our patients and community.
But our work to create and sustain a culture and environment where our team members and physicians most want to work and practice is far from complete. November’s engagement and safety surveys also underscore the areas that represent continued opportunities for improvement, which include:
- Communication: You told us that receiving open and honest communication at the system and local or business unit levels is both important and needs improvement. As a result, we are conducting focus groups with team members and physicians to hear from you what “great communication” looks like. Your input will be used in developing action plans for improving two-way communication. Drop me an email or submit your name through this link if you would like to participate in one of the sessions which will be held throughout the system during the month of January.
Our goal is to consistently provide every team member and physician with the essential information needed to succeed and feel truly informed and engaged at TriHealth AND to ensure that team member feedback and questions are heard and responded to, Always!! Effective two-way communication is so important that we also plan to devote much of our February LDI to rolling out and training our leaders on our improved communications practices and leadership skills.
- Wellbeing Related to Staffing and Labor Shortages: Among the most serious lingering or secondary challenges of the COVID pandemic are labor and workforce shortages. And while we have not been as severely impacted as many health systems – which has resulted in the closure of units and regular patient diversion elsewhere – we have nonetheless been very proactive in exploring new and innovative ways to approach our work, improve staff retention, and continue to grow and develop our team members to get staffing right. And as we get staffing right, we reduce the avoidable stress on our team members and physicians while delivering the very best care possible. Some of these innovative approaches include improvements in the selection and onboarding of new team members to lower turnover, redesign of care models to allow staff to work at top of license and training, and adoption of new throughput processes aimed at removing inefficiencies and “bottlenecks” in our care that contribute to patient care delays and workplace stressors.
- Sharing Survey Findings and Taking Action: Team members also told us that leadership can do a better job of sharing survey findings, discussing improvement opportunities and providing ongoing updates on action plans. We plan to start in January by asking our leaders to devote time in department and unit meetings, as well as at huddles, to communicate survey findings and facilitate a discussion with team members on what we need to do differently at the local level. And, throughout the coming year, your leaders will provide you with updates and we will devote time at Team Member Town Halls, so that each and every team member knows precisely the action steps we are taking and the progress we are making in the areas YOU have told us are most important to you.
- Continued Focus on and Mastery of our Safety, Reliability and TriHealth Way Practices: Our TriHealth Way of Leading, Serving and Delivering Care is foundational to our ability to Get Healthcare Right. And we know when our team members and physicians adopt and use these proven practices and behaviors, it results in better clinical outcomes and an enhanced experience for our patients, team members and physicians. So, as we head into calendar year 2023, we intend to continue to invest in team member training and “mastery” of TriHealth Way tools and practices in order to consistently provide the safest, most reliable and highest quality service and care…every day, in every interaction, for every patient and team member we serve…Always!!
Be sure to tune in to our January Team Member Town Hall, next Wednesday the 18th at 12pm, for the latest updates in our work to go from Good to Great for those we serve and those who serve…all thanks to your feedback and input!
Nearly 150 TriHealth Physicians Honored as “Top Doctors for 2023”
Since embarking on our bold vision to Get Healthcare Right nearly eight years ago, TriHealth has increasingly become a leader and model for healthcare delivery locally and nationally. And central to these advancements is our dedicated and clinically expert team of world-class TriHealth physicians – the very best physician team anywhere!
So, as the latest example of the esteem and high regard our physician community is held in by the local healthcare community and, ultimately, the patients we serve, I am thrilled to share that 145 TriHealth physicians across 37 specialties were recognized in Cincinnati Magazine’s annual “Top Doctors” edition. What’s more, through our groundbreaking joint venture with Beacon Orthopedics that continues to transform orthopedic care delivery in Greater Cincinnati, we combine to have THE MOST physicians in all of Greater Cincinnati represented on this list. Now that is certainly cause for celebration!!
And speaking of leading the region, TriHealth physicians accounted for the most “Top Doctors” in 17 specialty areas this year, including Cardiac Surgery, Cardiology, Colon & Rectal Surgery, Dermatology, Family Medicine, General Surgery, Gynecologic Oncology, Hematology & Oncology, Infectious Disease, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Otolaryngology, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery and Vascular Surgery.
Thank you to all of our TriHealth physicians for always delivering exceptional care for each and every patient we serve AND again distinguishing TriHealth as the region’s leading health system. Click here to read the digital version of Cincinnati Magazine’s 2023 Top Doctors issue.
COVID Update 
While we have seen a slight uptick in COVID hospitalizations over the past week at TriHealth, we remain encouraged by the relatively stable and manageable COVID transmission rates (see COVID graphic on far right for details). In fact, the most recent COVID weekly case rate in Hamilton County has dropped to a level nearing the CDC threshold for mandatory clinical masking – the lowest level in nearly two months! But as we’ve learned, COVID is nothing if not unpredictable. So, we are continuing to closely monitor the latest variants, including the new Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, which some experts believe may be the most transmissible variant to date. While the severity of XBB.1.5 is still not fully understood, we do know that there is an effective arsenal of tools – from vaccines to anti-viral medications to rapid tests to masks – that can mitigate its impact.
Without a doubt, our work to Get Healthcare Right is making real and meaningful differences in the lives of the patients and community we serve. And all of this IS being accomplished because we come together and work together each and every day as an aligned, engaged, patient-centered system – One Team, TriHealth Strong. Thanks for all you do!