Catholic Health Connections Newsletter

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News, announcements, and vital information for associates, their families, and friends of Catholic Health.

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Living Our Mission Kenmore Mercy Surgery Expansion Project

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Miracles & Wonders Through Technology The Healing Power of Plants

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Foundations of Catholic Health Rehabilitation Services Clinical Ladders

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HR Benefit News Community Education

Winter 2015

Welcome Mount St. Mary’s Associates! As we continue with plans to have Mount St. Mary’s Hospital join Catholic Health, we would like to begin sharing news about both organizations with one another. Connections will now feature articles about Mount St. Mary’s to help us all get to know one another a little bit better.

Advanced Eye Surgery Now Available at St. Joseph Campus

Catholic Health Receives Area’s Highest Ratings from Healthgrades and Leapfrog in National Quality Reports As the healthcare quality leader in Western New York, Catholic Health was recently recognized by two of the nation’s leading independent quality rating organizations – Healthgrades and Leapfrog – for its quality outcomes and record of patient safety. Once again, Catholic Health hospitals received the most Five-Star and Service Excellence Awards of any local provider from Healthgrades and the area’s top Patient Safety Scores from Leapfrog. The Healthgrades awards highlight achievements in 33 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions. In addition to 21 Five-Star Awards, Catholic Health hospitals also received six Service Excellence Awards for outperforming hospitals across the county in Cardiac Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Joint Replacement Surgery, Neurosurgery and Prostate Surgery. In the latest Leapfrog Hospital Safety Score report, which grades hospitals from “A” to “F” for how well they protect patients from errors, injuries and infections, Kenmore Mercy Hospital received the area’s only “A” score, while Mercy Hospital of Buffalo and Sisters of Charity Hospital and its St. Joseph Campus all received “B” ratings.

The recently renovated surgical suites at Sisters of Charity Hospital, St. Joseph Campus are now home to some of the most sophisticated eye surgery in Western New York. The physicians of Retina Consultants of Western New York moved their surgical practice to St. Joseph Campus last fall. The group, which includes doctors Faruk Koreishi, Paul Lee, Christopher Jermak, Mehdi Khan and Ramakrishna Ratnakaram, is the area’s largest retina practice. Specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the retina and vitreous of the eye, the practice’s main areas of focus are macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Macular degeneration affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field. Diabetic retinopathy is caused by complications of diabetes, which can eventually lead to blindness. It can affect up to 80 percent of all patients who have had diabetes for 10 years or more. Last summer, Catholic Health unveiled its new Ambulatory Surgery Unit (ASU) at the St. Joseph Campus. The new ASU, which replaced a freestanding facility in Williamsville, is designed for outpatient surgical procedures and encompasses more than 10,000 square feet of new and renovated space. “We are pleased to welcome Retina Consultants to St. Joseph Campus,” said Martin Boryszak, COO for Sisters Hospital. “We are seeing strong growth in ambulatory surgery and increased interest from a number of surgical practices. Our state-of-the-art facility and central location makes St. Joseph Campus an attractive setting for both physicians and patients.” Pictured above: Dr. Mehdi Khan is one of five physicians at Retina Consultants of WNY who perform advanced eye surgery at St. Joseph Campus.

“Today, more patients are using healthcare quality information they find on the Internet to find a doctor, choose a hospital, or compare medical services,” said Joe McDonald, president & CEO of Catholic Health. “As leading national authorities on healthcare quality and safety, these recognitions from Healthgrades and Leapfrog speak volumes about the qual-

ity of care patients can expect to receive at Catholic Health, but we will not be satisfied until all our hospitals receive five stars and ‘A’ scores across the board.” Healthgrades evaluates millions of Medicare records to arrive at its star ratings, with five stars being “better than expected,” three stars “as expected,” and one star “worse than expected” in each category. “Patient safety remains a top priority for Catholic Health and it is clear our efforts are paying off in terms of fewer errors and better outcomes.” Brian D’Arcy, MD, senior vice president/ chief medical officer, Catholic Health

According to Healthgrades research, patients treated for a procedure at a five-star hospital have a lower risk of dying or developing complications than if they were treated at a one-star hospital for the same procedure. The Leapfrog Group, an independent industry watchdog, uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data on patient injuries, medical errors and infection rates to grade hospitals on their overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. “Patient safety remains a top priority for Catholic Health and it is clear our efforts are paying off in terms of fewer errors and better outcomes,” said Brian D’Arcy, MD, senior vice president/chief medical officer. Catholic Health’s quality ratings are available online at www.knowyourhealthcare.org.

News from Joe McDonald, President & CEO

Catholic Health Looks Forward to the Year Ahead – Continued Growth and Development for 2015 The new year is a good time to reflect on the past and look ahead to the future. In looking back over 2014, we have a lot to be proud of and much to be thankful for. It was a very good year for Catholic Health in terms of our quality performance, financial stewardship, and transformational leadership. But rather than rest on our past accomplishments, we must build on this progress. A key initiative for us this year is continuing on the path to have Mount St. Mary’s Hospital become part of Catholic Health. This is an exciting opportunity for both our ministries and one that will preserve and strengthen Catholic healthcare in the Buffalo-Niagara region for years to come. In December, our Certificate of Need to assume responsibility for Mount St. Mary’s from Ascension Health was approved by New York State, moving us one step closer to making this vision a reality. Our joint Executive Committee and Task Force teams are meeting

to develop and implement a comprehensive transition plan to ensure our success. We will also look to Mount St. Mary’s to add new members to our Board of Directors to represent the hospital and the residents of Niagara County. With the formal announcement from Judy Maness that she will step down as president & CEO of Mount St. Mary’s when the transition is complete this summer, we have begun a search for a new CEO. I would like to extend my gratitude to Judy for all she has done for the hospital and the Niagara community during the past 18 years and for her generous support throughout this transition. I would like also to extend a warm welcome to Mount St. Mary’s associates who are reading Connections for the first time. We hope you will find this publication useful and encourage you to share this information with your family, friends and neighbors. Continued on page 2


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