Hi Team –

 

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones and found time to recharge and celebrate the first of, hopefully, many fun holiday gatherings over the coming weeks. Once again, a BIG thank you to our team members and physicians who cared for our patients and families throughout the long holiday weekend! And remember, if you didn’t get the chance to use your Honey Baked Ham Co. gift certificate from TriHealth over Thanksgiving, it doesn’t expire! So be sure to enjoy your complimentary holiday meal on us any time this month or next! Visit Bridge if you need assistance accessing your voucher.

 

And in the spirit of showing our gratitude for all you do for those we serve, don’t forget, we are also raffling off a chance for eight lucky TriHealth team members and their guests to watch the Bengals take on the Colts on December 10 from the TriHealth suite at Paycor Stadium! We’ve already received nearly 3,000 entries to the contest, so don’t miss your chance to win! Simply complete this entry form by this Friday, December 1 at 9am for your chance at a pair of suite tickets. 

 

Over the course of the past year, we have been ramping up TriHealth’s formal efforts to lead the way in eliminating health disparities to achieve health equity – both here at TriHealth and throughout the Greater Cincinnati region. Health equity is the state in which all members of our community have a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. This is foundational for achieving our bold vision to provide every patient we serve with convenient and timely access to the right and best care delivered in the right place, in the right way at the right cost to achieve the right clinical outcomes – which is, ultimately, what it means to Get Healthcare Right!!

 

Raising awareness around health disparities and the alarming impact such disparities have on the health and wellbeing of our community is one among many critical roles of our new Center for Health Equity, led by Dr. Thomas Shockley. So earlier this month, I had the opportunity to join Dr. Shockley and Bethesda Inc. and bi3 President and CEO, Jill Miller, in a “crucial conversation” on health equity with Jamie Smith, Publisher of the Cincinnati Business Courier. In this special one-hour discussion, we spoke directly to the Greater Cincinnati business community about health disparities and their impact on employers, patients, and the overall health and wellbeing of our entire community including the economic health of the region. Specifically, we discussed the vital importance of achieving health equity locally and nationally, and why that is both a moral and economic imperative. And, we discussed how the TriHealth Center for Health Equity is advancing targeted initiatives and fostering partnerships and coalitions to eradicate health disparities, both at TriHealth and throughout our community – all to fulfill our mission of improving the health and quality of life of all those we serve. I encourage you to click on the video link above to learn more about our health equity leadership efforts in the region.

 

As shared earlier this month, we are now advancing clinical redesign work to the next phase – Clinical Redesign 2.0 – to continue to adopt best practices, processes, and technology to further strengthen and support nursing, perioperative services, and patient throughput.

 

The goals of Clinical Redesign 2.0 are to improve ancillary support of nursing (EVS, Food and Nutrition, Patient Transport, etc.), provide an enhanced unit-based clinical resource by freeing up our charge nurses to more consistently be available and to continue to invest in our nursing leaders. In doing so, we expect to further elevate the patient experience and improve the care environment for our nurses and frontline staff. Clinical Redesign 2.0 will also leverage technology and automation, whenever possible, to improve care and simplify and streamline work and work processes.

 

One such example is our recently announced investment of nearly $20M to replace 800 inpatient bed frames and mattresses with new, state-of-the-art Stryker beds in the coming months. This investment will elevate patient safety and enhance the experience of both patients and team members.

 

Another important investment in technology is the planned replacement of our Pyxis medication dispensing units with an advanced medication management system. Today, I’m pleased to share that TriHealth has finalized the purchase of Omnicell’s state-of-the-art medication management system that will be implemented across our entire system in the coming months. Omnicell is an industry leader in medication management, bringing to life a strategic vision of an “autonomous pharmacy” for TriHealth. In an Autonomous Pharmacy, medication management processes are fully automated and utilize data to provide actionable information and maximize safety and efficiency. This in turn improves patient outcomes, team member experience, efficiency, compliance and financial performance. TriHealth pharmacy will utilize Omnicell’s XR2 system for centralized robotic medication filling and Omnicell’s XT and XT Anesthesia automated dispensing cabinets with increased storage for unit-based dispensing. Analytic software will measure performance and drive optimization of our systems.

 

Through the Omnicell partnership, we will develop a fully integrated, highly automated system-wide pharmacy solution that will help address clinical, operational, and compliance challenges – all to safely and consistently deliver the right dose to the right patient at the right time, furthering our journey toward Zero Patient Harm. 

 

In addition, the program will enhance the care team’s experience by simplifying processes and reducing medication errors, which will allow our team members to spend more time providing patient care with fewer interruptions and trips to pharmacy cabinets. The phased rollout of this plan is now underway, beginning with our four main hospitals, followed by ambulatory campuses and surgery centers through early spring.  

 

Omnicell is the most recent example of TriHealth’s commitment to invest in the most advanced technology to automate and streamline work and work processes – all to best support our people, improve quality and safety, and create innovative solutions to unprecedented industry labor shortages.

 

November is recognized as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, and TriHealth has had the privilege to serve patients and families with compassionate and skilled end-of-life care for nearly 50 years through Hospice of Cincinnati/HOC Navigators (HOC).

 

HOC is Getting Healthcare Right for patients and families seeking end-of-life care and compassionate management of advanced illnesses by delivering the right care in the right place at the right time to deliver the right clinical outcomes. As the fourth oldest hospice in the country and the longest serving and most respected hospice in the Cincinnati region, HOC offers a fully integrated spectrum of care and grief programs designed to help guide and care for those facing advanced illness and terminal disease during their time of greatest need.

 

One such example, the Hospice Advanced Cardiac Care Program, brings care teams, clinical resources, and education tools to patients with advanced heart failure in the place they call home versus a physician’s office, ED or hospital. Due to the nature of their illness, these patients may otherwise be forced to rely on an ED for care or even require hospital readmission. However, thanks to this innovative HOC program, of the hundreds of patients served over the past four months, there has been only one ED visit and one hospital readmission! So, not only does this specialized care enhance the patient experience by allowing them to remain comfortably in their home setting for care, it also reduces avoidable ED visits and hospital admissions – while enhancing quality of life! And HOC’s new Advanced Lung Care Program is having a similar positive impact on its patients.

 

Additionally, HOC’s inpatient palliative medicine team and its home-based palliative care service, PalliaCare Cincinnati, are making real, meaningful improvements in quality of life by conducting care conversations with patients and families to determine individual end-of-life goals. And, as a result, patients’ self-reported quality of life scores have improved by nearly 50% – now that’s Getting Healthcare Right!

 

I am thrilled to share that Sr. Sally Duffy, SC, TriHealth Board Member, has been named a Great Living Cincinnatian by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Great Living Cincinnatians are recognized for their lifetime of business and civic contributions; leadership; awareness of the needs of others; and, distinctive accomplishments that have brought favorable attention to their community, institution or organization. Sr. Sally’s 40-plus years of advocacy and service as a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati earned her this esteemed and well-deserved honor – among just three others to be recognized this year! Sr. Sally and the other Great Living Cincinnatians will be honored at the chamber’s 2024 annual dinner on February 29, 2024. Click here to learn more about Sr. Sally’s calling to a lifetime of faith-based ministry in service to helping others especially the poor and most vulnerable that resulted in this prestigious honor!

 

One of TriHealth’s many special traditions is sharing a holiday meal each year with our team members, physicians, and volunteers to express our thanks for all you do every day to improve the health of those we serve. Once again this year, we will celebrate our amazing TriHealth team, with in-person holiday meals in our hospitals, ambulatory campuses, and all other TriHealth locations. Please visit Bridge for details on dates, times, and locations for when meals will be served at our hospitals. Team members at our ambulatory campuses, physician practices, and other offices can expect to hear soon from their local leadership team about their respective holiday meal plans.

 

Thank you for giving us so many reasons this holiday season to celebrate TriHealth’s remarkable progress on our journey from Good to Great – all made possible by YOU, the very best healthcare team anywhere!!