Memorial’s GME Program Earns Initial Accreditation
The US faces a shortage of nearly 90,000 physicians by 2025, according to some forecasts in all specialties. The greatest shortage will be surgeons – especially for older patients. To help address this pressing need, Memorial’s new Graduate Medical Education program will educate and prepare the next generation of physicians.
Memorial recently earned approval from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to act as a sponsor for future residencies and fellowships. Since the initial approval, Memorial submitted applications for accreditation in three individual GME programs:
- Internal medicine
- Pediatrics
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Future programs (now in development) will be in:
- Emergency medicine
- General surgery
- OB/GYN
- Other programs to be determined
ACGME paid site visits to Memorial in the winter and spring. Memorial has received accreditation in pediatrics and physical medicine and rehabilitation, and is awaiting accreditation for the internal medicine program.
Memorial also welcomed its highly qualified GME leadership team:
- Saima Chaudhry, MD, MSHS, FACP, designated institutional official, Chief Academic Officer and Vice President of Academic Affairs
- Himangi Kaushal, MD, FACP, program director, Internal Medicine
- Ronald Ford, MD, program director, Pediatrics
- Meilani H. Mapa, MD, program director, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Barney Greenberg, DPM, program director, Podiatry
- Eric J. Quirion, MBA, administrative director for GME
Residents and interns will benefit from:
- A unique curriculum with a balance of clinical experiences, didactics and hands-on training
- Opportunities to perform research
- 24/7 access to medical library services
- Outstanding facilities, including resident and faculty work/study areas and auditoriums with video-conferencing capabilities
Our goal for the GME program is to provide a comprehensive training experience that spans the depth and breadth of medicine – not only within the clinical realm, but also encompassing the social, ethical and humanistic side of medicine.
Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital:
Growing to Meet the Needs of the Community
With the addition of new facilities and the expansion of others, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital continued to increase its capacity this year to provide comprehensive, full-service healthcare to patients and families.
The expansions include:
- A third diagnostic imaging room, added in the fall of 2015
- Twenty more beds for the Wasie Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, bringing the total bed count in Broward and Palm Beach counties’ largest NICU to 84
- More beds dedicated to critically ill patients in the Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU)
- A new surgical suite, for a total number of seven operating rooms and two procedure rooms
- Additional pediatric treatment rooms and a dedicated pediatric gym at the Outpatient Rehabilitation Center
- A new pediatric specialty office in Weston and a relocated pediatric specialty office in Boca Raton to make services like endocrinology, immunology, nephrology and orthopedics more convenient and accessible to more patients
Still to come: an expanded Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Emergency Department with completion scheduled for September 2016.
Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital continually strives to bring more healthcare services to the patients and families we serve. Whether our growth is taking place at the hospital itself or at one of our satellite locations around South Florida, our goal is always to make high-quality, patient- and family-centered pediatric care available to those who need them, when they need them.
Memorial Health Network Sees Strong Growth, High-Quality Outcomes
Memorial Health Network – Memorial’s physician-led organization that manages and operates a clinically integrated provider network – made great strides in its third year. Following its mission of improving outcomes and lowering costs, the network reached important milestones in growth and quality.
Memorial Health Network:
- Entered into a joint venture with Holy Cross Physician Partners in May 2015, creating the Atlantic Coast Health Network and teaming up to expand geographic outreach for patients and health plans
- Implemented its new shared savings arrangement with CIGNA, adding 24,000 patients to the network to reach a total of 70,000 covered lives
- Reduced total medical costs by more than $14 million from expected across its three health plans
- Reached or exceeded the 90th percentile on eight quality metrics, and reached the 75th percentile on three others
A shared savings arrangement with United Healthcare took effect July 1, 2016, adding 30,000 patients to the network for a new total of 100,000 covered lives. Discussions with another health plan are taking place now, with the goal of adding another 15,000 covered lives by early 2017.
Memorial Health Network’s efforts have helped ensure continued improvement in the system's quality metrics. The most recent national data from 2014 ranks Memorial in the 90th percentile in measurements that include:
- Adolescent patients age 12 to 21 who had one comprehensive well-care visit during the year (61 percent)
- Breast cancer screenings for women age 50 to 74 (82 percent)
- Cervical cancer screenings (83 percent)
- Coronary artery disease patients who received beta-blocker therapy (92 percent)
- HbA1c (blood sugar) control in diabetic patients (65 percent)
- Evidence of poor blood sugar control in diabetic patients (24 percent – lower is better)
Memorial Health Network has had a very good year. We’ve built a very high-performing network of physicians who are extremely focused on providing quality outcomes, reducing medical costs and improving service to our patients. We’ve demonstrated that we’re consistently achieving the objectives of the network, and we look forward to even more growth in the future.
Memorial Physician Group:
Advocates for Quality and Effectiveness
When physicians want to improve the way they deliver healthcare, they do it best when they work together. Memorial Physician Group offers the perfect vehicle for enhancing quality, safety and overall operations – through collaboration between physicians, and between physicians and Memorial’s administration. It is the organization through which all employed physicians at Memorial work to provide top-quality and service-oriented care.
As Memorial Physician Group doctors, we ask ourselves what our patients are looking for when they come to Memorial for care. As we work to answer that question, our MPG focuses on the whole patient experience. We strive to enhance the process of navigating our healthcare system – targeting friendliness, efficiency and ease of use.
When it began in 1999, Memorial Physician Group represented only seven medical practices and 31 physicians. Today, it has more than 200 physician members in more than 40 specialties, plus Critical Care Medicine.
This year, Memorial Physician Group:
- Grew to 205 physician members and 611 staff
- Added new divisions: Integrative Medicine, Adult General Endocrinology, Surgical Oncology and Pediatric/Adolescent Psychiatry
- Hired a director of quality and patient safety, to lead quality initiatives
- Worked on issues ranging from improving physician wellness to enhancing the functionality of Memorial’s electronic health records system
- Grew to cover the South Florida tri-county area, to deliver services where medical needs exist
Memorial Physician Group’s 15-member Advisory Board provides consultation and advice to Memorial Healthcare System’s administration on business operations and clinical practice support.
Its three committees:
- Clinical Effectiveness
- Operations
- Physical Wellness
Address matters such as:
- The overall patient experience
- Quality and cost-effectiveness of care
- Clinical data storage, retrieval and management
- Reimbursement
- Burnout prevention
- Stress management
The members of Memorial Physician Group want to ensure that we are performing at the highest levels, and meeting the expectations of our patients, families and the community. This year, our overall physician rating was in the 93rd percentile – which is indicative of the strides we’re making toward that goal.
South Broward Community Health Services
Filling Medical Gaps
Since 1993, South Broward Community Health Services has provided insured, uninsured and underinsured Broward residents with a patient-centered medical home.
At primary health centers and via mobile health vans, South Broward Community Health Services works to prevent illness, manage chronic conditions, and contribute positively to the well-being of patients and families.
This fiscal year, South Broward Community Health Services:
- Opened Convenient Care, a combined primary care and walk-in health clinic across from Memorial Regional Hospital to help patients access a medical home and minimize the use of the emergency room – 627 patients in 732 encounters at that location in the first quarter alone
- Helped decrease emergency room use from FY2015 by 11 percent, through preventive care and helping patients manage chronic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, COPD and congestive heart failure)
- Helped decrease hospital readmissions within 30 days by 6 percent, compared to FY2015
- Added 10,609 SBCHS patients through the Florida Health Insurance Exchange
- Developed a transitional care program at the Pines Clinic for young adult patients with chronic conditions who have aged out of pediatric treatment – to smooth their way into adult treatment facilities
- Received a $769,828 grant from the Broward County Department of Human Services to fund integrated primary care and behavioral health services at Memorial Center for Behavioral Health and SHARE clinic in Hollywood
- Received a $500,000 grant from the state of Florida to purchase a new mobile health van
Future Plans
- Opening their seventh primary care clinic in West Miramar and the eighth primary care clinic in the West Pines area, to serve western community patients who have had to drive east for care
- Expanding primary care hours at health clinics to Saturdays and Sundays
- Incorporating telehealth technologies to provide even more convenience of care
At Memorial, we believe that preventive, compassionate and sustaining healthcare should start in the primary care clinic – not in the emergency room. South Broward Community Health Services works every day to help ensure that patients receive the highest standards of care, regardless of their ability to pay. That is why the National Committee for Quality Assurance has recognized us as a Level 3 (highest-rated) Patient-Centered Medical Home.
Serving Patients and Families from Around the World
Memorial’s Global Health program welcomes international patients by offering personalized coordination of medical services. Memorial Global Health facilitates all logistics, providing patients with a seamless experience and a single point of contact during their medical journey.
Before a patient’s arrival, Memorial Global Health:
- Schedules medical appointments
- Facilitates letters for US visas
- Coordinates hotel accommodations, transportation and interpreter services
- Obtains insurance benefits and authorization for services
- Facilitates the financial process
During treatment, the Global Health team:
- Provides hospital and area orientation
- Assigns a coordinator, who keeps in constant communication during treatment
- Coordinates hospital admissions
- Conducts inpatient hospital visits
- Facilitates communication with physicians and clinical teams
After treatment, Global Health:
- Obtains copies of medical records, lab results and imaging
- Provides assistance with future medical needs
- Assists with financing and billing after discharge
- Provides support with discharge planning
This year, Memorial Global Health:
- Served approximately 1,900 patients
- Who represented 77 nationalities
- With 51% from Latin America and the Caribbean
Islands
and More
Memorial Global Health assigns each international patient and family a coordinator to streamline the process and address their health, logistical and cultural needs throughout their medical journey. We provide a patient experience that is efficient, personalized, consistent and – above all – compassionate, and our relationship with the patient doesn’t end at discharge. We’re there as long as the patient needs us.
© 2016 Memorial Healthcare System