JUSTICE DIGNITY INTEGRITY GOD HONORING INTEGRITYCOMPASSION AMITAHEALTHWAY INTEGRITY DIGNITYJUSTICE
COMPASSION GOD HONORING INSIDE THIS ISSUE
AMITA Health begins outpatient expansion Page 2 Hospital Spotlight: AMITA Health Elk Grove Village Page 4 Quality Update: Low-tech initiative fosters quality, safety Page 6 Housing and Health Alliance expands services Page 7 Orthopedics institute ramps up programs Page 8 AMITA Health selects new headquarters site Page 9
VOLUME III, NUMbEr 2 AMITA Health Way, 2017
Ascension seeks to expand AMITA Health by adding Presence Health medical facilities Ascension, parent company of AMITA Health’s legacy Alexian Brothers Health System, has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Presence Health, a leading Catholic health system in Illinois, under which Presence Health would join Ascension and become part of AMITA Health. The letter of intent calls for AMITA Health to expand its integrated health system by adding all of Presence Health’s medical facilities, including hospitals, outpatient facilities and other care sites. Presence Health’s senior care division, Presence Life Connections, would join Ascension Living, Ascension’s senior-care subsidiary. Through the transaction, Ascension aims to enhance patient care while reducing costs throughout the Illinois communities served by the combined organizations. The transaction also is expected to increase people’s access to care, exPresence Health President and Chief Executive Officer Michael pand AMITA Health’s physiEnglehart (left) and AMITA Health President and Chief Executive cian network and deepen its Officer Mark A. Frey shake hands after signing a letter of intent sub-specialization capabilities, under which Presence Health would join Ascension and become producing better value for pa- part of AMITA Health. tients. The letter of intent is expected to lead to a definitive agreement pending detailed legal and financial due diligence, along with regulatory and canonical approval. “The mission, values and history of Presence Health clearly align well with those of Ascension, as both systems are dedicated to caring for all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable,” said Anthony R. Tersigni, Ed.D., F.A.C.H.E., president and chief executive officer of Ascension, the nation’s leading Catholic and nonprofit health system. “We believe this will strengthen Catholic healthcare not only in the continued on page 11
AMITA HEALTH NEWS
Ambulatory-care expansion plan aims to provide easy access to outpatient services AMITA Health has launched a $150 million ambulatory-care expansion plan aimed at providing easy access to comprehensive outpatient services by offering them in convenient, retaillike locations. Under the plan, the health system expects to open 16 outpatient facilities in Chicago’s western and northwestern suburbs during the next three to five years, said Patricia Cassidy,
ate-care services and access to four primary-care physicians and eight specialty providers, including specialists in gastroenterology, ear, nose and throat, and OB-GYN. Patients also have access by appointment to behavioral health therapists. Other services available to AMITA Health Medical Group patients include X-rays, ultrasound testing and lab services.
AMITA Health plans to open additional outpatient sites in Lake Zurich, Bartlett, Woodridge and the La Grange area before the end of the health system’s current fiscal year June 30, Cassidy said. Another site, she added, is slated to open during fiscal 2019 in the northwest AMITA Health’s new 25,000-square-foot ambulatory-care facility in Carol Stream, which opened Oct. 23, offers comprehensive outpatient services in a convenient, retail-like setting. suburbs.
AMITA Health senior vice president and chief strategy officer. At a time when medical clinics are popping up increasingly at grocery stores and drugstores, “we want our services to be conveniently available in a pull-up, park and walk-in kind
The 8,000-square-foot Lake Zurich facility is expected to open in early 2018. “It’s a new market for us, so we’re starting smaller,” Cassidy said. The site will offer primary care, immediate care, behavioral health services and obstetrics specialty care, along with diagnostic imaging.
“We want our services to be conveniently available in a pull-up, park and walk-in kind of setting like people are used to in retail.”
The Bartlett and Woodridge facilities are expected to open late next spring. Cassidy expects each site to be 50,000 square feet and to offer comprehensive diagnostic imaging services, immediate care, primary care, behavioral health services, and specialty care in cardiology, obstetrics and gastroenterology. The two sites will include procedural of setting like people are used to in retail,” Cassidy said. “We suites for screening colonoscopies and other simple specialty procedures. A similar array of comprehensive outpawant to have services spread throughout the community so tient services is planned for the La Grange-area site. there can be more diagnostic imaging, more specialty care and other services available where people live and work.” Unlike the Carol Stream, Lake Zurich, Bartlett, Woodridge and The first of the new outpatient sites opened Oct. 23 in part of a La Grange-area sites, the additional facility slated to open former big-box store in Carol Stream. The 25,000-square-foot in the northwest suburbs in fiscal 2019 will be built from the ground up instead of occupying facility, which features 42 examination rooms, offers immedicontinued on page 10
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Volume III, Number 2
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
Dear AMITA Health Friends: An old African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It sums up perfectly one of AMITA Health’s fundamental operating principles, which calls for continually pursuing new partnerships as we work to deliver the highest quality, most cost-effective care to the communities we serve. Since Adventist Midwest Health (AMH) and Alexian Brothers Health System (ABHS) joined forces to form AMITA Health nearly three years ago, we have pursued partnerships at many levels – with the community, with our physicians and associates, and with other healthcare providers. These efforts have fueled the successful integration of AMH’s and ABHS’ operations and have strengthened AMITA Health’s position as the premier provider of faith-based, communityoriented and clinically integrated healthcare in the Chicago area. The integration process has given us a strong, scalable center’s evolution into an award-winning provider of highly organizational structure in today’s consolidating and highly specialized, leading-edge care for the most-complex cases. competitive healthcare market, allowing us to look for new (See article on page 4.) opportunities to add like-minded partners with similar values Nursing teams at three AMITA Health hospitals using a new so we can provide additional benefits to those we serve. communications tool that’s helping team members work toAs this edition of AMITA Health Way reports, we recently gether more cohesively in pursuit of quality and safety goals. found such a partner in Presence Health, one of the leading (See article on page 6.) Catholic health systems in Illinois. (See article on page 1.) By Generous philanthropic support and strong community relajoining forces with Presence Health, we expect to enhance tionships enabling AMITA Health’s Alexian Brothers Housing patient care and to reduce costs across the communities served by our combined organization. The transaction, and Health Alliance to help more homeless people escape which still must receive regulatory and canonical approval, the streets. (See article on page 7.) also is expected to increase access to care, expand our The AMITA Health Orthopedics Institute partnering with physician network, and deepen our sub-specialization physicians to advance its quality goals, set strategic priorities capabilities, producing better value for patients. and ensure that the institute is maximizing value for patients. While we look forward to partnering with Presence Health to (See article on page 8.) pursue our common mission of faith-based healthcare, includAs these articles demonstrate, AMH and ABHS already have ing an emphasis on serving the poor and vulnerable, we’re gone far by going together, and with the planned coupling also excited about other partnership initiatives that are furof AMITA Health and Presence Health and the impact of our thering our efforts to optimize community health. Examples many other partnerships, we expect to go much further in the include: months and years ahead. AMITA Health working closely with local communities and With warmest regards, our physician network to launch a $150 million ambulatorycare expansion plan aimed at providing convenient access to comprehensive outpatient services. (See article on page 2.) Mark A. Frey The administration and physicians at AMITA Health Alexian President and Chief Executive Officer Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village partnering to chart AMITA Health its strategic course. This partnership has fostered the medical
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HOSPITAL SPOTLIGHT
AMITA Health Elk Grove Village evolves into highly regarded tertiary-care institution Editor’s Note: This article is the sixth in a series of Hospital Spotlights profiling the individual hospitals of AMITA Health. When AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village opened its doors in 1966, it was a community hospital surrounded by farmland. Today, it is an award-winning medical center known for providing highly specialized, leading-edge care for the most-complex cases. “We do major, complicated procedures that nobody else does in the northwest suburbs,” said John Werrbach, the medical center’s president and chief executive officer. “People would have to go to the university medical centers downtown for these types of procedures, but because we offer them here, people can receive advanced care close to their homes.”
spread, it also has been caring for a growing number of patients who travel long distances to receive specialized care. “This is a destination facility,” he said. To enhance its tertiary-care capabilities, the medical center recently expanded its interventional pulmonology facilities to support its growing use of advanced procedures, such as bronchial thermoplasty, for treating asthma and other lung conditions. The medical center also is undertaking two major capital improvement projects: a $3.2 million upgrade of its interventional gastroenterology lab, and the creation of a $5.2 million hybrid lab that will combine features of an operating room and a cardiac catheterization lab.
The medical center’s focus on tertiary care in areas such as cardiovascular services, neurosciences, interventional pulmonology, interventional gastroenterology, oncology and bariatric surgery has driven inpatient volume increases at a time when many other acute-care hospitals are struggling to fill beds. “Our service lines are growing and operating at a high level,” Werrbach said. “We’re bucking the trend.”
The updated interventional gastroenterology lab will support stateof-the-art procedures for treating gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), conditions of the pancreas and bile ducts, and other gastrointestinal issues.
The 900-square-foot hybrid lab will support the medical center’s expanding array of minimally invasive procedures for treating structural heart issues and complex The medical center has benefited peripheral vascular disease. These from service rationalization, an overprocedures, including the TAVR arching AMITA Health strategy that (Transcatheter Aortic Valve ReJohn Werrbach, president and chief executive officer seeks to eliminate duplication of placement) procedure for treating of AMITA Health Alexian brothers Medical Center Elk services among the system’s hospi- Grove Village, says its focus on tertiary care has driven aortic valve disease, “are extendinpatient volume increases at a time when many other ing people’s lives and giving them tals by creating clinical centers of acute-care hospitals are struggling to fill beds. distinction, or institutes, at specific a quality of life they never could hospitals. The medical center hosts systemwide programs in have hoped for in the past,” Werrbach said. interventional pulmonology and interventional gastroenterolThe medical center’s open-heart surgery program is thriving, ogy, along with cardiovascular, neurosciences and bariatric inand it soon will offer the LVAD (left ventricular assist device) stitutes for Chicago’s northwestern and western suburbs. The procedure, in which a mechanical pump is inserted into the medical center and AMITA Health St. Alexius Medical Center chest to help a weakened heart pump blood. Hoffman Estates co-host a cancer institute that offers advanced, comprehensive cancer care. The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association re-certified the medical center “We receive many referrals from our sister hospitals,” Werrbach in January 2017 as a comprehensive stroke center, placing it said. As the medical center’s tertiary-care reputation has
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among an elite group of providers with the expertise and infrastructure to treat the most-challenging stroke cases. Using sophisticated medical technology, the medical center’s interventional neuroradiologists “can go into the brain and remove a clot after a stroke,” Werrbach said. The medical center employs three neurosurgeons who perform a wide range of adult and pediatric brain surgeries. It also offers Gamma Knife surgery, which precisely targets brain tumors with low-dose radiation beams, sparing surrounding tissue. In addition, the neurosciences institute operates centers focusing on epilepsy, memory and movement disorders, back and neck pain, pediatric concussions, and pediatric brain disorders. The institute’s clinical research department participates in major clinical trials that offer hope to patients while advancing neuroscience care. The bariatrics institute offers a range of advanced weight-loss treatments, such as the Orbera™ Intragastric Balloon System and vBloc® therapy. The medical center’s surgeons also are using its two da Vinci robotic surgical systems for a growing number of minimally invasive gynecologocial, urological and thoracic surgeries, helping shorten recovery times. “For all of these services, you need highly qualified specialists and sub-specialists, and the quality of our physicians is second to none,” Werrbach said. The medical center’s growing tertiary-care reputation has attracted physicians from some of the nation’s leading healthcare institutions, he said. During the last 10 years, Werrbach and his administrative team have made a concerted effort to partner with physicians in charting the medical center’s future course. He and his team hold biannual strategic planning sessions for each major service line at which physicians lead the development of short- and long-term strategies. “We’ve tried to make sure physicians lead it,” Werrbach said. “They have built these programs, and they are providing the vision.”
Volume III, Number 2
At A Glance
AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village Type of Facility Acute-care hospital Year founded 1966 Services Bariatric, cancer, cardiac rehabilitation, clinical research, congestive heart failure clinic, Coumadin clinic, electrophysiology lab, emergency, epilepsy center, heart and vascular, home health, hospice, Illinois Gamma Knife Center, imaging, intensive care unit, interventional cardiology, interventional gastroenterology, interventional neuroradiology, interventional pulmonology, interventional radiology, Level II neonatal intensive care, memory disorders, movement disorders, neurosurgery, obstetrics, open-heart program, orthopedic, pain center, pediatric care, senior behavioral health unit, senior center, sleep disorders, structural heart program, surgical services, vein center, wound-care center. Number of licensed beds 401 Affiliated facilities Home health office in Hanover Park, Illinois; hospice office in Elk Grove Village, Illinois; Niehoff Pavilion (housing sleep lab, wound-care center, child-care center and Coumadin clinic) in Elk Grove Village; three medical-office buildings (Brach, Eberle and Wimmer) and Roncoli Center (housing senior center and referencelab offices) on medical-center campus. President and Chief Executive Officer John Werrbach Awards and recognitions Ranked 10th in the Chicago area and 11th in Illinois in U.S. News & World Report’s 2017-18 Best Hospitals report; earned recognition in same report for high performance in six adult specialties and three adult procedures/conditions; earned an “A,” the highest possible score, in fall 2017 edition of The Leapfrog Group’s biannual Hospital Safety Grades Study; earned silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
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QUALITY UPDATE
New low-tech initiative supports quality, safety efforts While AMITA Health continues to adopt high-tech medical advances, a decidedly low-tech initiative is playing a key role in the health system’s efforts to provide the highest quality care and to ensure patient safety. The system last spring rolled out dry-erase “visual management boards” in all inpatient nursing units at AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village, AMITA
and chief nursing officer, later was reintroduced to the boards by an Ascension partner, St. Vincent’s Health System in Alabama, which had found them to be an effective tool for improving patient and staff engagement, quality and safety. Budzinsky was impressed by the application for nursing and reintroduced the model to nursing leaders. A team of nursing and performance-improvement leaders was tasked with customizing the concept for several AMITA Health hospitals. In the fall of 2016, pilot boards were designed and launched in the transitional care unit at AMITA Health Elk Grove Village and in the 2NS Bariatric/Oncology unit at AMITA Health St. Alexius. During the pilot, end-user feedback helped drive content revisions and helped the team structure a uniform huddle format and set huddle times. “Our goal was to create a methodology for shift hand-offs that was consistent across all units,” said Chris Quinlan, administrative director of nursing at AMITA Health St. Alexius. “We wanted a process that hard-wired quality and safety across the hospital so everyone would know our hospital and unit goals. We also wanted a quick way to identify progress toward goals or to determine whether a course correction was indicated.”
Chris Quinlan, administrative director of nursing at AMITA Health St. Alexius Medical Center Hoffman Estates, (second from right), joins (left to right) nurses Cherry Agravante, Mary Kerber, Mary Chapman and Maureen browne for a photo in front of the visual management board in the medical center’s bariatric/Oncology/Med/Surg unit.
Each board features six vertical columns that reflect the initiative’s core pillars: Quality, Service, Safety, People, Updates & Today’s Plan, and Cost. To guide the journey toward continuous improvement, three horizontal rows provide content and discussion space for Hospital/Department Goals, Current Performance and Opportunities for Improvement.
Health St. Alexius Medical Center Hoffman Estates and AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Women & Children’s Hospital Hoffman For example, the Quality column, which focuses on patient Estates. safety, might spotlight a quality goal such as fall reduction in Used as a communications tool for nursing staff during daily the first row. The second row would feature goal-related metshift huddles, the boards display hospital and departmental rics and progress, and the third row would identify staff-suggoals with targeted performance metrics to monitor trends gested opportunities for goal achievement. Other examples: and to identify improvement opportunities. Nursing leaders The Safety column, which concentrates on employee safety, discuss board content and provide updates to engage staff might focus on needle sticks, and the People column might with real-time snapshots of team performance related to key highlight achievements of individual staff members. quality and safety initiatives. These focused huddles help ensure that staff members work in unison toward the same ob- “The visual management board equips our staff with the inforjectives. The huddles also provide an open, transparent forum mation they need to be proactive in how they provide care,” Quinlan said. “It also supports the concept that each staff to identify daily issues that might require special attention. member has a voice in process review and development.” The concept dates back several years to a process improvePlans call for expanding the initiative to other departments, ment initiative in which similar boards were pilot-tested in with a long-range goal of full integration across AMITA Health, legacy Alexian Brothers emergency and diagnostic imaging Quinlan said. departments. Christine Budzinsky, vice president of nursing
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AMITA HEALTH NEWS
Housing and Health Alliance expands services to address needs of growing homeless population residence with 23 studio apartments on the South Side. They remain focused on serving homeless people with HIV/AIDS “beBolstered by the health system’s resources and generous cause in Chicago, philanthropic support, ABHHA’s housing program for the there is still a very homeless has more than tripled in size in recent years, said significant lack of Cheryl Potts, ABHHA executive director. It now includes more affordable housing than 250 units of transitional, permanent and scattered-site for this populahousing from Joliet, Illinois, to Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois. tion,” Potts said. That’s up from 74 in 2011. The Harbor, Bona“They are all different, depending on community needs,” Potts venture House said. “We work hard to make sure we are responding to comand Bettendorf munity needs and not trying to push round pegs into square Place offer supholes.” port services such as on-site case In Waukegan, for example, ABHHA operates The Harbor, an management, oceight-bed transitional recovery home that for years focused cupational theronly on homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS. But cutbacks in Alexian brothers Housing and Health Alliance apy, substance public funding for disease-specific services, coupled with has repositioned The Harbor, shown above, as abuse recovery changing community needs, caused ABHHA in 2017 to repoa transitional home for homeless individuals support, spiritual sition The Harbor as a transitional home for homeless individrecovering from substance abuse. For years, care, psychother- the Waukegan, Illinois, facility had served only uals recovering from substance abuse. Having HIV/AIDS no apy and access to homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS. longer is a requirement for residency, although homeless quality, affordable medical care. These sevices promote healpeople with HIV/AIDS who are in recovery remain eligible ing of the whole person, including body, mind and spirit, while to live at The Harbor. preparing clients to live successfully on their own. In addiWhen the funding cutbacks threatened The Harbor’s existion, ABHHA offers an After Care Program that supports tence, the Waukegan community rallied around the facility clients and helps them avoid relapses after they graduate and worked with ABHHA on an extensive study of homeless from ABHHA’s transitional-living programs. needs and how to sustain funding for homeless services. With homelessness on the rise in Illinois, ABHHA has been The study showed a greater need for transitional housing for expanding its network of scattered-site subsidized apartments homeless people recovering from addictions than for homefor clients in Chicago, Joliet and Lake County, Illinois, which less people with HIV/AIDS. Repositioning The Harbor to adincludes Waukegan. These apartments now total more than dress this need made sense “because our staff is trained, 180, accounting for the bulk of ABHHA’s housing units. ABHHA certified and licensed to provide recovery treatment servhas launched a new initiative to provide occupational therapy ices, and as a ministry, we are committed to serving those services for scattered-site clients, helping them develop with the highest need,” Potts said. The change in focus also healthy habits and behaviors so they can continue to live has helped The Harbor qualify for new funding opportunities, independently. including a $57,000 grant awarded to ABHHA last June by the State of Illinois. “We want to get at the underlying reasons for why someone becomes homeless and why someone is living in poverty,” ABHHA also operates two Chicago housing facilities – BonPotts said. “We want to resolve these issues so we can break aventure House, a 35-bed transitional recovery home on the the cycle of homelessness.” North Side, and Bettendorf Place, a permanent supportive With public funding cutbacks reducing the number of providers serving homeless people suffering from mental illnesses, addictions and chronic diseases, AMITA Health’s Alexian Brothers Housing and Health Alliance (ABHHA) has been expanding its services, helping more people escape the streets.
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ORTHOPEDICS SPOTLIGHT
Orthopedics institute ramps up programs to address growing demand With demand for orthopedic services rising across age groups, as joint replacement, foot and ankle surgery, and spine care. the AMITA Health Orthopedics Institute is expanding its efforts “We also have an exceptional team of podiatrists, sports medicine physicians, nurses, case managers and therapists with to provide advanced, high-quality, low-cost care for patients. sub-specialization in orthopedic care,” Grate said. “We are partnering with physicians at all levels to advance The team is dedicated to providing the optimal treatment for our quality goals, set the strategic priorities for the institute, each patient, using the least intervention possible and develand ensure that we are delivering the greatest value to the patients we serve,” said Kyle Grate, AMITA Health vice presi- oping a personalized treatment program that revolves around the patient’s needs, Grate said. The institute specializes in a variety of techniques that preserve and repair joints whenever possible, and its team has extensive experience working with professional athletes to help them return to top form.
Physicians and clinical leaders review plans for two new AMITA Health Orthopedics Institute joint replacement centers. The institute partners with physicians to set strategic priorities, achieve quality goals, and maximize value for patients.
dent, orthopedic service line. “Some of the strategic projects we are executing now include investments in two joint replacement centers and a systemwide sports medicine outreach program. Our goal is to be the preferred provider of musculoskeletal care in the communities we serve. Bringing physicians to the table for strategic and operational planning is essential for us to achieve this goal.” The institute, which operates across AMITA Health’s six acutecare hospitals, has established itself as a national leader in musculoskeletal care, specializing in comprehensive surgical and non-surgical treatments for joint pain, sports injuries, arthritis, back pain and spinal issues, bone and soft-tissue trauma, foot/leg/ankle pain, fractures, osteoporosis, and hand/upper extremity conditions. The institute’s team of healthcare professionals includes more than 200 surgeons, many of whom have completed advanced fellowship training in orthopedic sub-specialties such
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The institute’s surgeons perform about 10,000 surgeries each year and have pioneered numerous joint replacement procedures and minimally invasive techniques. Examples include muscle-sparing anterior hip replacement, computer-navigated total joint replacement, patient-specific cutting guides for total knee replacement, and robotic-arm assisted surgeries for partial knee replacement, total hip replacement and total knee replacement. The robotic-arm assisted joint replacement program has grown steadily in recent years. Paul Nourbash, M.D., medical director of the Joint Replacement Institute at AMITA Health St. Alexius Medical Center Hoffman Estates, expects at least 400 joint replacement surgeries to be performed using either computer-assisted or robotic technology in the next 12 months. The orthopedics institute’s recently launched sports medicine outreach program partners with schools, fitness clubs, park districts and other community organizations to help athletes of all ages achieve a higher level of performance and avoid injury. The program provides education aimed at preventing sports injuries, and when injuries do occur, its two sports medicine outreach liaisons, both of whom are certified athletic trainers, can help coaches, trainers, parents and athletes connect quickly with the right AMITA Health sports medicine physicians, orthopedists and rehabilitation therapists, as well as other specialists across the system. The program resulted from a 2016 feasibility study in which the institute interviewed leaders of 145 community organizations, many of whom “identified a deficit in existing clinical coverage” for their athletic programs, Grate said. “Our outreach liaisons will serve as a clinical resource for everyone from parents to coaches to athletes who might have questions or concerns or need advice about whom to connect with for treatment of an injury or ailment,” he said.
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AMITA HEALTH NEWS
AMITA Health selects site in Lisle as new headquarters AMITA Health has announced plans to consolidate its system offices at a site in Lisle, Illinois, in 2018. The health system has signed a 10-year lease to occupy a total of 225,000 square feet across three connected buildings on the north end of the Navistar campus along Lisle’s Interstate 88 Corporate Corridor. Expected to begin during the winter of 2018, the move will bring together in one location more than 1,000 AMITA Health support and system office associates now spread across multiple locations in the Chicago area, including the system’s headquarters in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
provide two-dimensional representations of data sets – to conduct the assessment. In looking at potential headquarters sites, the CBRE team also took into consideration proximity and access to expressways, as well as future space needs and building amenities. “After months of looking at potential properties across the entire region, the Navistar north campus proved to be the best fit for our organization,” said Don Russell, AMITA Health senior vice president and chief human resources officer. The move will be completed in phases based on the expiration of current building leases. The first phase will include relocating staff based at AMITA Health’s office facility in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Plans call for staff at the system’s two office facilities in Arlington Heights and another site in Elk Grove Village to begin moving to the Lisle site next summer.
“The move to a centralized system office has been a strategic goal for AMITA Health and will be essential in further developing a highly effective and efficient organization that can best deliver the coordinated, holistic care that patients expect and deserve,” said Mark A. Frey, AMITA Health president and chief The development of a master plan for populating the new headquarters site has included meetings with work groups executive officer. of AMITA Health leaders and associates to ensure the plan Adventist Midwest Health and Alexian Brothers Health optimizes work flows. System joined forces in 2015 to form AMITA Health, and as they worked together to integrate their operations and “We want to assure all our system office associates that their input will be integral to the relocation planning process,” Frey to grow the organization, it became apparent that AMITA said. “We want this to be as seamless a transition as possible Health’s dispersed-system-office model no longer met the for everyone involved.” needs of the expanding organization. The system in 2016 embarked on “a very thoughtful process” to find a new headquarters site, Frey said. The system engaged CBRE Group, Inc., a top provider of commercial real estate services, to assess where AMITA Health associates live and how they commute. A CBRE team used heat mapping – a visual analytics tool that uses colors to
Other tenants of the 1.2 million-square-foot Navistar campus include Navistar, a manufacturer of commercial trucks, buses, defense vehicles and engines, and National Express, a public transport company. The site originally served as the headquarters of Alcatel-Lucent, a telecommunications equipment company acquired by Nokia in 2016.
AMITA Health plans to consolidate its system offices in three connected buildings on the north end of the Navistar campus in Lisle, Illinois, in 2018. The campus, originally the headquarters of Alcatel-Lucent, is known for the satellite dish-shaped atrium in the building shown above. Now occupied by Navistar, the building is located on the south end of the campus and is visible from Interstate 88.
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AMITA HEALTH NEWS
Ambulatory-care expansion plan aims to provide easy access to outpatient services continued from page 2 retrofitted space, Cassidy said.
will have much more capacity.”
AMITA Health is choosing its new outpatient locations with an eye toward making comprehensive outpatient care easier to access in areas already served by the health system and providing such care in other places where access to it is limited, Cassidy said. “It’s a combination of better serving our
In addition to having convenient access to the new sites, patients will benefit from “one-stop shopping” because the sites will feature comprehensive services, Cassidy said. The facilities also will share electronic medical records with AMITA Health hospitals. “Patients will enjoy the benefit of not having to get all their services at the hospital, but still having the hospital completely linked to the services they receive,” Cassidy said. “Their record will be updated and intact at the hospital and the outpatient facility.” An added advantage for patients will be having their primary-care physicians working side by side with specialists in outpatient settings featuring the latest in diagnostic imaging technology, Cassidy said. “Patients also will have access by appointment to behavioral health therapists, along with access to immediate care, which will help them avoid emergency-room visits for minor injuries,” she said. Primary-care physicians and specialists will realize efficiencies from working in close proximity to each other, with easy access to diagnostic imaging and complete, up-to-date patient records, Cassidy said.
Laura Jakubowski, manager of clinical operations for the AMITA Health Medical Group, (right), shows a family one of the 42 examination rooms at AMITA Health's new ambulatory-care facility in Carol Stream.
current patient population and reaching out to new patient populations,” she said. The plan will include the consolidation of smaller AMITA Health medical offices and outpatient sites into the new and larger outpatient facilities. For example, several small AMITA Health medical offices have been consolidated into the new Carol Stream facility. By the time the system finishes opening its new outpatient facilities, it expects to have about 46 total outpatient sites, down from more than 80 previously. “Even though we will have fewer sites, we will have about 150 additional examination rooms available across our system,” Cassidy said. “We
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Under the plan, AMITA Health expects to hire about 120 additional primary-care physicians. The system also expects the plan to generate other new jobs, as well as opportunities for associates to work in new settings.
While expanding its ambulatory-care services, AMITA Health will continue its strong commitment to hospital-based care, including additional investments in its clinical centers of distinction, or institutes, which offer leading-edge care close to home for suburban residents. “We recognize that people always will need the hospital, and we will continue to develop strong hospital services,” Cassidy said. “The trend is toward moving more and more services to an outpatient basis, and we are addressing the growing demand for these types of services. Our hope is that this plan will make AMITA Health a more attractive choice for people, because our facilities will be more accessible.”
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Ascension seeks to expand AMITA Health by adding Presence Health medical facilities continued from page 1 region, but throughout the country as we are all dedicated to delivering personalized, compassionate care.” The transaction would continue the evolution of AMITA Health, a joint operating company formed in early 2015 by Alexian Brothers Health System and Adventist Midwest Health, which is part of Adventist Health System. Alexian Brothers Health System and Adventist Midwest Health since have integrated their operations while exploring opportunities to enhance patient care through new partnerships. “Since we brought together Alexian Brothers Health System and Adventist Midwest Health to form AMITA Health, we’ve always looked for opportunities to add like-minded partners with similar values to our system,” said Mark A. Frey, president and chief executive officer of (Left to right) Mark A. Frey, AMITA Health president and chief executive officer, Sister AMITA Health and senior vice president of As- Terry Maltby, of the Sisters of Mercy and a member of the Presence Health board of Directors, Sister Hanna Paradowska, of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, and cension Healthcare, a division of Ascension. Michael Englehart, Presence Health president and chief executive officer, gather for a “Bringing Presence Health into Ascension and photo after Englehart and Frey signed a letter of intent calling for Presence Health to join Ascension and become part of AMITA Health. AMITA Health is a perfect fit and an exciting region for nearly two centuries, carrying out the healing mincontinuation of our commitment to increase access to istry of Jesus,” said Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of quality healthcare in the many communities we serve.” Chicago. “I am pleased that this combination of health systems The transaction would further Presence Health’s and AMITA has pledged to honor the commitments of the founding comHealth’s aligned commitment to the mission of faith-based munities that built them, and our Catholic values, by continuing healthcare and would bring added benefits to those they to offer healing and care for all who come to them in need.”
“The mission, values and history of Presence Health clearly align well with those of Ascension, as both systems are dedicated to caring for all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable.” serve as they continue their long traditions of providing highquality care and meeting the needs of their communities, especially those who are poor and underserved. “Catholic health organizations have served the people of our
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In addition, the highly successful Accountable Care Organizations of both systems would allow AMITA Health, with the addition of Presence Health, to address even more efficiently and effectively the growing emphasis on managing the health of large populations. “Joining Ascension and AMITA Health is a natural evolution for Presence Health, especially given the mutual respect between our systems and our shared mission, vision and values to provide quality, faith-based care,” said Michael Englehart, president and chief executive officer of Presence Health. “We look forward to working together to engage in this joint effort to expand, and continue to deliver, quality care for our patients and residents, as well as provide additional clinical opportunities and patient-care resources to all our physicians and associates.”
AMITA Health Way, 2017
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AMITA Health Way is published by the AMITA Health Communications Department to provide information about the health system and to focus on issues facing healthcare providers and sponsors today.
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Mark A. Frey President and Chief Executive Officer, AMITA Health Matthew M. Wakely Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, AMITA Health Julie L. Busch Associate Vice President, Communications, AMITA Health ABOUT AMITA HEALTH AMITA Health (www.AMITAhealth.org) is a joint operating company formed by Adventist Midwest Health, part of the Adventist Health System in Altamonte Springs, Florida, and Alexian Brothers Health System, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ascension. Headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois, AMITA Health is the thirdlargest health system in the state, with more than 12,000 associates committed to delivering the most efficient, highest quality, faith-based care at nine acute and specialty care hospitals and at more than 80 ambulatory/clinic locations. AMITA Health’s mission is to extend the healing ministry of Jesus by respecting the faith traditions of the many individuals and families it serves across suburban Chicago. © 2017 AMITA Health
PEOPLE
Michael Murrill named CEO at AMITA Health La Grange Michael Murrill, senior vice president and campus administrator of AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center La Grange, has been named chief executive officer of the medical center. He had served in his previous role since 2016, carrying much of the operating responsibility for the La Grange campus. His responsibilities included seeking strategic growth opportunities, managing physician relationships Michael Murrill and fostering community relations. Murrill earlier was chief operating officer for AMITA Health La Grange, AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Hinsdale and AMITA
Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook. He also had been chief financial officer at the Bolingbrook medical center and at Adventist Midwest Health’s GlenOaks hospital in Glendale Heights, Illinois. That hospital now is known as AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center GlenOaks. Murrill joined Adventist Midwest Health as finance manager for the La Grange medical center in 2008 after working as finance manager at Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville, Colorado.