In the News June on Louisiana Medical News

In the News June

Groundbreaking Held for North Oaks Medical Center Expansion

HAMMOND — A groundbreaking ceremony took place this afternoon for the planned expansion of North Oaks Medical Center in Hammond.

The 5-story, 200,000-square-foot hospital addition has been designed by Washer Hill Lipscomb Cabaniss Architecture, LLC of Baton Rouge, also known as WHLC. It will be constructed by Hoar Construction, LLC of Birmingham, Ala. with Frank A. Anzalone General Contractors Inc. of Independence serving as subcontractor.

“We have outgrown the demand for our services and must continue to strategically build to meet the ever-changing needs of the communities we serve,” asserted North Oaks Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer Michele K. Sutton in her welcome of Tangipahoa Parish leaders, project partners and health system officials in attendance.

Scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2012, the expansion will add 14 Operating Room Suites, 12 more outpatient surgery beds and 67 new, private inpatient rooms to the hospital. Sixteen of the new inpatient rooms will be used for critical care patients and 51 for medical/surgical and telemetry patients. Infrastructure enhancements, such as a new utility loop, central mechanical plant and helipad, and shelled space for future growth of the Emergency Department also are part of the project.

All told, the project will increase the hospital’s patient bed count to 326 and the private room ratio from 51 percent to 60 percent.

“These additional beds will expand the capabilities of our most needed services, including critical care, telemetry and surgery,” Sutton continued. “We are fortunate to have community members behind us who want to come here and don’t want to be transferred somewhere else. It is for them that we have planned this next chapter in our health system’s journey.”

North Oaks Board of Commissioners Chairman Guy Recotta Jr. concurred, “This is a tremendous milestone in the history of North Oaks. The Board is committed to seeing that the health care we provide continues to be strong in quality and that North Oaks continues to serve the communities’ needs.”

The brief program also included remarks from project partner WHLC President Russell Washer, who touted the North Oaks team’s vision in shaping the design of the expansion to make it functional and competitive for years to come. Hoar Construction’s Health Care Division Vice President Coker Barton Jr. also offered program remarks noting that the project will create and sustain 600 jobs while never losing sight of safety, budget, quality and schedule.

North Oaks President/Chief Executive Officer James E. Cathey Jr. concluded the program by stating, “This is a very exciting next chapter for North Oaks as we strive to keep pace with the growth that is taking place along the I-12 corridor. In partnership with our board, leadership, medical staff, employees, volunteers, architect and contractors, I truly believe we will succeed in creating something special for the people who live in this region.”

The total cost of the expansion project, including design, construction, furniture and fixture expenses, has been funded through a $99 million bond issuance.

Baton Rouge General Opens Behavioral Wellness Center

BATON ROUGE – Baton Rouge General recently held a grand opening and ribbon cutting for the Behavioral Wellness Center, an outpatient clinic offering individual and group therapy, as well as various classes. The Center is located at 3910 Convention Street. Patients do not have to be referred by a doctor, but walk-ins are not accepted.

Some of the class offerings include symptom management, problem solving, self-awareness, anger management, stress management, goal setting, life skills, accessing community resources, health education and wellness, etc.

Through the help of both psychiatrists and social workers, the Center will welcome patients of all mental health diagnoses.

Tulane Inpatient Rehabilitation Center Recognized as in the Top 10 Percent of Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities in the United States

Metairie — Tulane Inpatient Rehabilitation Center, located at Tulane-Lakeside Hospital, is pleased to announce that it ranked in the top 10 percent of 805 inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) that qualified to be ranked in the IRF database of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR) in 2009.

“This recognition represents what all of healthcare is striving for - effective, efficient and timely patient centered care,” said Bob Lynch, MD, CEO of Tulane Medical Center. “This recognition is the culmination of a team effort and a culture of patient service. The result is not only this recognition but also the best possible outcomes for our patients.”

The rankings were determined by using UDSMR’s program evaluation model (PEM), a case mix-adjusted and severity-adjusted tool that provides facilities with a composite performance score and percentile ranking drawn from nearly three-quarters of all IRFs in the country. UDSMR’s PEM Report Card uses the indicators of efficiency and effectiveness contained in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Patient Assessment Instrument (IRF-PAI), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ reporting tool for the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System (IRF PPS). The goal of the PEM Report Card is to recognize high-performing facilities for their delivery of quality patient care that is effective, efficient, timely, and patient-centered.

“We are pleased to present this award to Tulane Inpatient Rehabilitation Center in recognition of the excellent care it provides to its patients,” said Dr. Sam Markello, associate director of UDSMR. “As the creator and caretaker of the nation’s largest database of rehabilitation outcomes, and with 20 years of experience and data, we have long worked with the industry to establish best practices. We developed the PEM Report Card as a tool to identify and recognize facilities that perform at a high level, to work with them to learn how they achieve high performance, and to share what we learn with others to elevate the performance of all. We look forward to working with Tulane Inpatient Rehabilitation Center and the other top performing facilities across the country that rank in the top 10 percent to improve care in all inpatient rehabilitation facilities.”

This is the fourth year that UDSMR has issued these awards. The PEM Report Card was developed as part of a proactive solution to the Institute of Medicine’s 2006 recommendation to Congress that every Medicare provider be reimbursed on a pay-for-performance basis. The data used for this report was based on 12 months of 2009 data, drawn from both Medicare and non-Medicare patients. The results were weighted and combined into a single composite score, and each facility was assigned a percentile rank from 0 to 100 relative to the other qualifying IRF subscribers in UDSMR’s database. The resultant distribution of the facility PEM scores for UDSMR’s IRF subscribers exhibited a normal distribution.

“I am very excited that the Tulane Rehabilitation Center has been recognized for all of the good things that happen here,” said Gregory Stewart, MD, medical director of Tulane Inpatient Rehabilitation Center. “This is a tribute to the hard work done by the nurses, therapists and support staff.”

Ville Platte Medical Center & Acadian Medical Center Officially Become Mercy Regional Medical Center

VILLE PLATTE/EUNICE: Two long-standing health care facilities – Ville Platte Medical Center and Acadian Medical Center – have joined forces to become one comprehensive medical center named Mercy Regional Medical Center. Alan Daugherty, CEO of Mercy Regional Medical Center, will officially unveil the new name of the combined medical center during ceremonies to be held today at 10:00 a.m. at the Ville Platte campus of Mercy Regional Medical Center.

The consolidation of the two hospitals into one comprehensive health system became effective on April 1, 2010. The new name was chosen in honor of the late Scott Mercy, founding CEO of LifePoint Hospitals^®, the hospital company with which Mercy Regional Medical Center is affiliated.

Daugherty commented, “We are proud to introduce our new name and celebrate our exciting future together. Mercy Regional Medical Center’s two campuses in Ville Platte and Eunice will continue to provide the same high quality healthcare services that our communities expect and deserve from us. By joining forces, we will be in an even stronger position to expand the services we provide and meet the healthcare needs of our communities now and into the future.”

Mercy Regional Medical Center is a 109-bed acute care hospital with campuses in Eunice and Ville Platte, serving more than 97,000 patients annually with a medical staff of more than 200 physicians. Fully accredited by The Joint Commission, the two facilities provide a comprehensive array of inpatient, outpatient and emergency services including surgery, imaging, cardiology, obstetrics, physical therapy and rehab services.

Mercy Regional is one of the area’s largest employers with more than 540 employees and a payroll of more than $26 million. During 2009, the facilities invested more than $3.1 million in capital improvements and paid more than $1.9 million in local and state taxes.

The new name and logo for Mercy Regional Medical Center will be unveiled during ceremonies held in the main lobby of the Ville Platte campus with LifePoint representatives, community leaders, members of the medical center board, medical staff, employees, volunteers and the general public in attendance. Mercy Regional Medical Center’s Eunice campus, which will keep the name Acadian Medical Center, will also introduce its new identity as “A Campus of Mercy Regional Medical Center.”

“While our name has changed, our commitment to the delivery of high quality healthcare remains unchanged,” said Butch Frazier, Chief Operating Officer of Mercy Regional Medical Center. “Our vision for the future as a unified medical center with two campuses is to provide an even broader and higher level of care to individuals and families.”

All contact information for Mercy Regional Medical Center and Acadian Medical Center remains the same and callers will see no difference in access to either campus. The website for Mercy Regional is now www.mercyregionalmedicalcenter.com and for Acadian Medical Center, it remains www.acadianmedicalcenter.com.

LSHPRM Names 2010-2011 Board, Announces Pelican Award Winners

Members of the Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations and Marketing (LSHPRM) elected the 2010-2011 Board of Directors on April 23, 2010, during the LSHPRM Annual Business Meeting.

Rhonda Alfred, director of marketing and planning for Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma, was elected to serve as the LSHPRM president. She received the gavel from Nicole Hidalgo, director of marketing for Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, who will now serve as past-president. Christine Albert, associate vice president of marketing communications for Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, was chosen to serve as president-elect.

Other newly-elected LSHPRM Members-at-Large include:

Kelli C. Broocks, director of public relations and marketing, physician recruitment and admitting for Beauregard Memorial Hospital in DeRidder;
Kathy DeRouen, senior vice president of marketing for Lake Charles Memorial Hospital;
Charla Ducote, vice president of marketing, public relations & business development for Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria;
Jon Hirsch, marketing director for St. Elizabeth Hospital in Gonzales;
Terri McNorton, vice president of corporate communications and marketing for Baton Rouge General Medical Center; and
Melanie L. Zaffuto, communications coordinator for North Oaks Health System in Hammond.

On April 23, the LSHPRM also held the 29th Annual Gordon and Breaux Pelican Awards Luncheon, recognizing excellence in hospital public relations and marketing. Each year, LSHPRM sponsors these awards to recognize and encourage improvement in quality, effectiveness and impact of hospital communications, public relations and marketing.

Four awards were given for Best of Show.

Baton Rouge General Medical Center was awarded Best of Show in Graphic Design for Excellence in General, A Night in India, which was designed by Amy Wilson.
Lafayette General Medical Center received the Jacqueline Leonhard Award for Writing Excellence for the Pediatric Campaign, which was written by Patrice Doucet.
Children’s Hospital in New Orleans was awarded the Best of Show in Strategy for the Jazz Half Marathon Event, which was created by the Public Affairs Department and the Development Department.
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center was awarded the Frank V. LeBlanc Best of Show Award, which goes to the best of show overall, for the We Believe Print Advertising Campaign, which was created by Nicole Hidalgo and Elizabeth Badeaux.
The Golden Pelican Awards, which include the President’s Award, Lagniappe Award and Practitioner of the Year awards, recognize excellence in individuals who advance the sound principles of communications, marketing and public relations within the hospital industry.

This year’s Golden Pelican Award Winners include the following:

• President’s Award, Teri Fontenot, FACHE, president and CEO of Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge; This award is given annually to a hospital CEO who seeks to advance the role of communications, marketing and public relations within his or her organization;

Lagniappe Award, Phillip Taylor and Mary Murdock with the KALB Television Production Department in Alexandria; This award is given to a communications partner (reporter, account representative, vendor, etc.) who demonstrates creativity, ingenuity and strong principles in assisting LSHPRM members in furthering communications;
Graphic Designer of the Year, Kimberley Morse, graphic designer for Lafayette General Medical Center;
Public Relations Practitioner of the Year, Amanda Sanders, public relations coordinator for Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge; and
Marketer of the Year, Terri McNorton, vice president of corporate communications and marketing for Baton Rouge General Medical Center.

Chris Rich Press Release

Christopher J. Rich, MD, MBA was installed as President of the Louisiana Orthopaedic Association at the Association’s annual meeting on April 10th in New Orleans.

Dr. Rich serves as the managing partner of Mid-State Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Center in Alexandria. He also serves on the governing boards for the Central Louisiana Ambulatory Surgery Center and Red River Bank. He was recently nominated by Governor Bobby Jindal to serve on the governing board of the planned University Academic Medical Center slated for ground-breaking this fall in New Orleans.

Dr. Rich earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Dr. Rich recently earned a Physicians Executive MBA, with a concentration in healthcare, from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Our Lady of the Lake Welcomes New Vice-President for Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group

Elona Sharbaugh began her career with Our Lady of the Lake in March 1996. During her employment with OLOL, she has served as Manager of the Performance Management Department and Divisional Director of Financial Operations, showing a knack for business performance, process improvement, and strategic planning. Since 2004, she has worked as a healthcare consultant, which included multiple projects for Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of the Lake and FMOL Health System. Projects at OLOL included coordinating the openings of OLOL’s Head and Neck Center, Voice Center, Hearing and Balance Center, Center for Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery and the Oral Surgery Clinic. In September 2009, Elona began serving as Interim Director of Physician Group II which consists of the majority of OLOL’s specialty practices.

Prior to coming to Baton Rouge, Elona worked at Tulane Hospital, Ochsner Hospital and University Hospital in New Orleans, LA. Mrs. Sharbaugh has a Master of Health Administration from Tulane University.