January 30, 2024
Hi Team –
The second half of fiscal year 2024 is off to a good start, with more encouraging examples of how TriHealth is leading the way – regionally and nationally – to Get Healthcare Right for the growing patient population we serve, always! Here’s the latest roundup of what’s new at TriHealth, all made possible by you, the greatest healthcare team anywhere...
Getting Healthcare RightFY25 Annual Planning Process Gets Underway
This month, we kicked off our Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) annual planning process, which will take place over the next three months. The process concludes with TriHealth Board and Sponsor (Common Spirit and Bethesda Inc.) approval in May, in advance of the start of our new fiscal year on July 1, 2024.
During our annual planning process, leaders, physicians, trustees, and team members come together to examine current challenges and accomplishments, along with new opportunities. This allows us to build agreement around the important work of the coming year to continue our multi-year journey to Get Healthcare Right. And this annual planning process is grounded in, and guided by, our Mission, Vision, Values, and Brand Promise (see “Our Vision...” graphic to right). When completed, the FY25 Annual Plan will consist of our Annual Strategic Priorities and Initiatives – drawn from our multi-year Strategic Plan or Framework (see “Strategic Framework...” graphic to right), our FY25 System Pillar Goals, and the associated FY25 Capital and Operating Budgets, which align the resources needed to implement the plan (see “How We Deliver...” graphic, bottom right).
The amazing progress we have made over the years on our journey to Get Healthcare Right for those we serve and those who serve comes from constancy of purpose and vision, a great team, and an annual plan that focuses all of us on the right work. Some examples of the impressive accomplishments from recent annual plans include:
- Marked improvement in team member engagement and culture.
- Sharp declines in patient harm events, like falls and hospital acquired infections.
- Development of new clinical programs, including bone marrow transplant, heart failure and mechanical circulatory support, like LVAD, comprehensive stroke network designation, including all of our hospitals and EDs, and others.
- Continued expansion of our Ambulatory Network with the opening of our 13th campus in Finneytown.
- Unprecedented investments in technology and facilities, including purchase of state-of-the-art patient beds, new Omnicell pharmacy management system, Heart Hospital on the Bethesda North Campus, and the Good Samaritan Campus transformation.
- Recruitment of nearly 100 new physicians in the last 12 months.
- Innovative partnerships with like-minded organizations, including Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Beacon Orthopedics, Mayfield Clinic, Highland District Hospital, and others that enable us to serve an ever-growing patient population.
- Greatly expanded access to existing and new patients in online scheduling via both MyChart and TriHealth.com for multiple specialties.
- Funding and launch of the TriHealth Center for Health Equity and work to address health disparities in our community with bi3, and much more!
Our nearly decade-long journey to transform healthcare for the better – all to bring better care, better health, and better value to every patient we serve – has proven we are on the right track to achieve our bold vision of Getting Healthcare Right, always! Today, our care is safer and more accessible to ALL, our patients are healthier and increasingly choosing TriHealth as their preferred provider, and we are bringing greater value to all those we serve! And we look forward to continuing this work in FY25, guided by our long-term vision and strategy, and a strong and sound annual plan. Look for updates on our FY25 annual planning process in February, March, and April at our Town Halls and in Weekly Updates.
TriHealth and Cincinnati Children’s Partner to Elevate Care for Pregnant Women with Complex Fetal Conditions 
Our relationship with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) is yet another example of TriHealth’s long and successful history of forging clinical and strategic partnerships with the “best of the best”— all to expand our ability to Get Healthcare Right for the ENTIRE community we serve. For nearly 25 years, TriHealth has collaborated with CCHMC in formal and informal ways to combine our clinical strengths, leverage our expertise, and bring the best care to families across the region and the nation.
And in 2017, we formalized our collaboration with CCHMC through a Joint Venture, which among other things, aimed to construct and operate a Special Delivery Unit (SDU) on the campus of CCHMC as part of the Fetal Care Center. And through this growing partnership, CCHMC and TriHealth now operate dedicated labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery rooms, along with operating rooms for in utero and post-partum fetal surgery on the CCHMC campus, which are adjacent to Children’s NICU. One of just a few such programs in the nation, this innovative care delivery model eliminates the need for emergency transport of fragile newborns between hospitals, while providing comprehensive obstetrical care to both mom and baby. Prior to the SDU, high-risk newborns requiring immediate intervention were delivered at Good Sam, then separated from their moms to be transported to Cincinnati Children’s, often delaying treatment and posing added risk and increased potential for poor outcomes.
Through this partnership, TriHealth’s Maternal Fetal Medicine physicians and maternity staff provide prenatal care, as well as labor and delivery services, and Children’s clinicians provide expert fetal therapy, NICU, and pediatric sub-specialty services. To date, nearly 450 babies have been delivered in the SDU – yet another example of Getting Healthcare Right by providing the right care in the right place at the right time to produce the right outcomes!
Last Friday, TriHealth and CCHMC took another important step forward in the clinical evolution and maturation of this life-changing program by opening the new seven-bed Antepartum Unit within the Fetal Care Center at Cincinnati Children’s. I was thrilled to join CCHMC CEO, Dr. Steve Davis, along with other physicians and leaders from TriHealth and Cincinnati Children’s in the ribbon cutting ceremony (top right pic). In the picture to the bottom right, I am joined by Dr. Davis and many of the amazing Good Sam and Mother/Baby physicians, leaders, and team members who have played such an instrumental role over the years in bringing this partnership to life.
The state-of-the-art unit will allow TriHealth and CCHMC to care for an even larger patient population by providing extended antepartum or pre-delivery inpatient care to those women navigating high-risk pregnancies with complex fetal conditions. The unit’s nurses and doctors will provide pregnant women the essential care needed to extend their pregnancy to as close to normal term as possible, which reduces risks and improves outcomes for their babies. The unit was designed to serve as a second home for moms, while also delivering the required expert nursing and subspecialty care and diagnostic and therapeutic procedures only available in an inpatient facility. The opening of the Antepartum Unit received widespread media coverage, including this story featured on Fox19.
Congratulations and a BIG thank you to our highly skilled TriHealth nursing team and physicians who are helping extend surprisingly human care to moms and babies – even at CCHMC – through this innovative partnership that’s Getting Healthcare Right!!
TriHealth Launches “Community Connect” to Assist Independent Affiliates, like Highland District Hospital
And speaking of expanding clinical partnerships to Get Healthcare Right, I’m excited to share that TriHealth is implementing an innovative technology-sharing program called “Community Connect” to further strengthen partnerships with aligned independent organizations.
“Community Connect” is a program that enables TriHealth to extend its Epic EMR system and other technologies to independent affiliated providers across South and Southwest Ohio that would not otherwise have access to, or even be able to support, these very advanced and expensive technologies. This gives TriHealth partners access to TriHealth’s EPIC, the most advanced electronic medical record technology, enabling our two organizations to collaborate more effectively to deliver even safer, better patient care more efficiently. Additionally, our partners will benefit from TriHealth’s deep expertise and decades of experience with the deployment, use, and optimization of Epic and other IT capabilities to deliver better care, better health, and better value.
Highland District Hospital (HDH) is our first “Community Connect” partner, with others expected to follow, and this investment builds on an already strong and longstanding partnership with HDH! For more than a decade, TriHealth Heart and Vascular Institute physicians have provided on-site cardiology services. And in 2022, we added OB/GYN services within the community, following Highland’s decision to discontinue inpatient maternity and OB services. Patients seen in Highland clinics now receive their inpatient maternity care at Bethesda North, where we deliver thousands of babies each year and provide the safest and highest quality maternity and newborn care anywhere.Highland District Hospital and their associated physician and provider networks went “live” yesterday on Epic, which will ultimately result in a much higher level of clinical integration with Highland. This will allow for increased provider collaboration, more seamless patient transfers when necessary, and improved continuity of care for patients – another great example of how we are Getting Healthcare Right through the smart use of technology!!
A special thanks to Donna Peters, Chief Information Officer, and our TriHealth IT team for all of their hard work in preparing for and successfully launching this important EMR integration and for their continued support of Highland providers and patients!
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Get Healthcare Right
Investing in breakthrough technologies has been an important part of our work to Get Healthcare Right for those we serve and those who serve. We have learned that the right technology implemented in the right way at the right time can help improve access to care, increase efficiency, better coordinate care, support and augment team members in their work, and ultimately improve patient outcomes – as the above story of Highland District Hospital demonstrates so well.
Another area where technology is rapidly transforming healthcare delivery is in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). And once again, TriHealth is thoughtfully deploying this powerful technology to Get Healthcare Right and achieve the Triple Aim of better care, better health, and better value for patients nationwide. The following are two recent examples...
- TriHealth Invited to Participate in AI Consortium with Nation’s Leading Health Systems
TriHealth is one of only two health systems in Ohio – and the only health system in the region – invited to participate in VALID AI, a national AI consortium. The consortium is bringing together leading, innovative health systems to shape how AI applications can advance healthcare delivery, research, and patient outcomes. The consortium will share best practices and lessons learned, as well as recommendations on governance, national policy, and responsible use, and safety for this powerful technology.
- TriHealth Physicians Featured in Latest “Getting Health Care Right” Podcast on AI
Dr. Doug Adams, TriHealth cardiothoracic surgeon (pictured right), and Dr. Christopher Hayner, TriHealth critical care specialist and pulmonologist (pictured far right), were featured in the latest “Getting Health Care Right” podcast. They discussed how AI technology is being incorporated into their practice as a tool for diagnosing and treating their patients, and how AI is being used to “power” our population health care model. Click here to tune in and learn more.
This Weekly Update highlights just a few recent examples and proof points demonstrating that when it comes to Getting Healthcare Right, there’s no team that does it better than TriHealth!! Thank you for ALL you do, every day – ONE Team, TriHealth STRONG – to help us achieve our bold vision...one patient at a time, every time!
good news about Highland District Hospital becoming a community partner.
Posted by: Mark Walters on January 31, 2024
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