Writer: Jack Salter | Project Manager: Felix Revell
2 | North America Outlook issue 11
Against the backdrop of COVID-19, John Chapman, President and CEO of San Antonio Regional Hospital, highlights clinical care for communities of the Inland Empire and the growing role of robotics
OF MEDICAL SERVICES CONTINUUM
In the way we lead our day-to-day lives, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down.
“We stayed on top of the most recent literature, allowing for immediate shifts in treatment as needed. Quick responses from our care team resulted in at least a 30 percent lower mortality rate compared to the state average,” Chapman acclaims.
“SARH was also one of the first in San Bernardino County to open its doors for mass vaccinations, typically vaccinating over 600 community members per day, and partnered with several school districts to vaccinate teachers and staff, recognising the need to get students back into classrooms and create a positive impact within our community.”
“Dealing with COVID-19 has also interrupted or halted strategic plans, as leadership teams have spent the majority of their time handling the pandemic and its impact on our hospitals.”SARH,a 363 not-for-profit acute care hospital located in Upland, California, treated more COVID-19 patients than any other hospital in San Bernardino County at the height of the pandemic and through to today.
With over 2,300 employees, SARH continues to grow and is proud to serve the largest share of the population in San Bernardino County, which at 2.1 million makes it the fifthmost populous county in The Golden State.However, the region has a concern ing dearth of both primary care and behavioral health access. Indeed, latest assessments suggest that over 120 primary care physicians are needed in San Bernardino County.
Healthcare in particular has been impacted in many significant ways. For example, the pandemic response has necessitated new and creative methods of patient care, such as remote telehealth services.
The industry has equally begun to understand the utmost importance of health equity in the community, having experienced first-hand the
inequitable decimation of certain patient demographics from COVID-19. Many employees in the industry, none more so than nurses, have also had to contend with a huge surge of patients without the assistance of additional staff in the industry, on top of their own personal and medical concerns.“Mostindustry experts, and I, believe the recovery will take multiple years, and that we must actively market healthcare careers to students at every level of education,” opens John Chapman, President and CEO of San Antonio Regional Hospital (SARH).
Access was delivered by SARH to the latest medical treatments to best serve patients during the pandemic, and the hospital’s emergency department (ED) was even among the first in the area to provide monoclonal antibody infusions and treatments.
DEMAND FOR CARE
SERVICES North America Outlook issue 11 | 3 SAN ANTONIO REGIONAL HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE
“In 2011, I decided to work for Alameda Health Systems, running Highland Hospital in Oakland, California. Now I serve as the President and CEO at SARH in Upland, leading a beloved 363-bed acute care facility in IE.”
AMN Healthcare is proud to support San Antonio Regional Hospital with workforce solutions and vendor management services.
“The only problem was there were no programs in northern California, so I convinced him to start one for me. One year later, I was the first ever graduate of his program, accredited by the California Department of Public Health. His mentorship was the primary reason for my passion for healthcare.
4 | North America Outlook issue 11 SAN ANTONIO REGIONAL HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE
AMNHealthcare.com
In one instance, we partnered to implement adjustments to their overtime rules and rates that led to a savings of more than $125,000 in just over eight months.
“Within six months, I was his Clinical Supervisor of Microbiology, and within five years, we merged with the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) where I became the Director of Clinical Lab Services at UCSF Medical Center. I excelled at new program development and UCSF invested in me attaining my MBA and hiring me as their Executive Director of Clinical Services, responsible for leading their Service Lines.
JOHN CHAPMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO: “Similar to many new university graduates, I had to determine the path forward with my degree. I graduated with a BA in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of California at Berkeley.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our ShiftWise vendor management system helped them achieve 95%+ fill rates for their contract needs, while helping cut costs, improve quality, and maintain compliance.
It is a privilege to provide solutions to leading organizations, but the opportunity to be a trusted partner is an honor that we do not take for Withgranted.San Antonio Regional Hospital, we sit side by side, ever evaluating challenges and opportunities, providing the services and perspectives that help them make informed decisions for their staff and the community they serve.
In an effort to close this deficit, the San Antonio Regional Medical Group was created this year, with the goal of satelliting at least 10 new outpatient service centers, through the combination of primary care clinics and urgent care clinics in the community over the next three to five years.“We currently have three satellite
AMN Healthcare - Shiftwise
facilities in the region: Eastvale San Antonio Medical Plaza, Rancho San Antonio Medical Plaza in Rancho Cucamonga, and Sierra San Antonio Medical Plaza in Fontana,” Chapman notes.“We plan to staff our primary care clinics with behavioral care specialists. I look forward to continuing the mental health drive, partnering with
As we move forward with San Antonio Regional Hospital, we know that we are helping support an organization focused on its mission, committed to its vision, and rooted in its values. We are here for their continued success and for the health and wellbeing of their community.
NORTH AMERICA OUTLOOK: COULD YOU PROVIDE SOME INSIGHT INTO YOUR CAREER TO DATE?
“At that time, I was working as a Research Assistant for Dr. Lawrence Drew, an Infectious Disease Chief and world-renowned Clinical Virologist at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco. He convinced me I should consider becoming a licensed Clinical Microbiology Scientist.
“The new ED, which nearly tripled in size, has helped to ease the burden by adding much-needed capacity,” emphasises Chapman.
Inland Empire (IE), comprising San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, has continued to grow as the population in the area increases.
As the highest-scoring hospital in IE in terms of quality and patient satisfaction, according to Medicare,
San Antonio Regional Hospital Tower
“Developing and investing into that symbiotic relationship is a win-win for our community and our hospital.”
our regional leaders in hospitals, city and county leadership, and the County Public Health Department.
HEALTH ENABLED BY TECHNOLOGY
and central to all decisions.
“We seek to establish robust pipelines for all possible job types, and are investing in pipelines out of high school, community college, and universities to fill both clinical and non-clinical needs,” Chapman reveals.
It follows the recent completion of a $160 million expansion in 2017, one of the most important projects in the history of SARH. The expansion included the new 52-bed ED, which has since played a critical role during the pandemic, as well as the 92-bed VineyardDemandTower.foremergency care in the
San Antonio Regional Hospital map
The Lewis-San Antonio Healthy Communities Institute (HCI) was established in 2016 to provide oppor tunities for partnered solutions that positively impact the region’s health.
The vision of SARH is to be a leader in creating healthy futures for communities, and as such, patients are one of the hospital’s key priorities
HCI focuses on community outreach, offering health education classes to parents and students in surrounding school districts, community physician lectures in both English and Spanish, as well as health screenings to underprivileged communities.Theprogram also focuses on
“Maternal health is also a large part of our focus in the upcoming years, with plans to create a new birthing center with the latest technology and comfort in mind,” he continues.
6 | North America Outlook issue 11 SAN ANTONIO REGIONAL HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE
building relationships within the community, to allow pathways for future workforce development.
“Vineyard Tower provides the latest medical technology and advanced care delivery systems, along with the comfort of private rooms. We have also opened our third best-inclass interventional cardiology suite, focused on cutting-edge procedures such as TAVR, LVAD, and EP mapping and ablations.”
Vinci and Mako orthopedic robotics in our operating rooms to improve the accuracy and outcomes of surgical interventions.”SARHcontinues to invest in technology, such as robotics, that can help to diagnose and treat patients. For Chapman, robotic-assisted surgery is perhaps the most cuttingedge medical technology of modern times.“Robotics are helping to transform the healthcare industry through the benefits it offers to patients, such as fewer complications, quicker recovery, less blood loss, and shorter hospital stays,” he says.
North America Outlook issue 11 | 7 SAN ANTONIO REGIONAL HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE
“We have introduced the use of coated infections,forsulfadiazinechlorhexidine/silverantimicrobialcatheterscentrallinebloodstreamandinvestedinbothda
– JOHN CHAPMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, SARH
“THE NEW ED, WHICH NEARLY TRIPLED IN SIZE, HAS HELPED TO EASE THE BURDEN BY ADDING MUCH-NEEDED CAPACITY”
It’s clear that healthcare has become a highly specialized industry. As medicine evolves and best practices
“Formetrics.example, we are proud of our cutting-edge ultraviolet (UV) robotic technology, used for sanitizing our clostridium difficile (C. diff) patient rooms and other isolation rooms, significantly reducing the risk of hospital-acquired infections,” Chapman outlines.
Sierra San Antonio Medical Plaza
has also been constructed by SARH in the past year, to handle the growing demand for traditional and interven tional cath lab procedures and to support the hospital’s expansion into electrophysiology (EP).
“We will soon be launching a digital application which will allow patients and caregivers to review a personalized video of their own inpatient discharge instructions and care intervention techniques,” adds Chapman.“Webelieve this will be a gamechanger in reducing return admissions to our ED or hospital.”
SARH has dedicated performance improvement teams that prioritize the identification of opportunities to continuously improve quality and safety
The Scheu Family Building
A third cardiac catheterization lab
EXPERTISE AND EXCELLENCE
New state-of-the-art EP technology has been added to the cath lab to support this growing subspecialty within the field of cardiology.
Centers of excellence have therefore been developed by SARH in key service lines such as cardiac, stroke, emergency services, orthopedics, cancer, women’s services, and more.
the only hospital in IE to receive this honor. The hospital is also a destination cardiovascular center in thePartnershipsregion.
SARH encourages open communication and a collaborative spirit, in which everyone’s contributions are important.
with Cedars Sinai for advanced heart failure and City of Hope for cancer care, meanwhile, provide patients with access to innovative research, clinical trials, and leading-edge treatment close to home.While
emerge, SARH wants to bring that expertise and knowledge to patients in every service line.
SARH’s teams specialize in their specific areas of expertise, it is still a collaborative team approach that can involve experts in many disciplines within the hospital.
“We take pride at SARH in our extensive service, expertise, and centers of excellence that rival larger academic medical centers,” Chapman lauds.
“When expert care is hard to recruit, we partner with other worldrenowned institutions to bring their
“We have an awards and recognition program that acknowledges the contributions of care team members who go above and beyond to exemplify our values of excellence, integrity, respect, compassion, safety, and patientcentric care,” shares Chapman.
SARH’s Heart Institute, for instance, has earned numerous accolades in recent years, including one of Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery™,
care here to our front doors.”
Likewise, establishing honest, transparent partnerships with suppliers is key to ensuring supply chainWithsustainability.thecurrentsupply chain issues being encountered across
8 | North America Outlook issue 11
“ROBOTICS ARE HELPING TO TRANSFORM THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY THROUGH THE BENEFITS IT OFFERS TO PATIENTS, SUCH AS FEWER COMPLICATIONS, QUICKER RECOVERY, LESS BLOOD LOSS, AND SHORTER HOSPITAL STAYS”
Like most hospitals, SARH continues to remain profitable, despite the many additional costs inflicted on the industry related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Building
the US, it is more important than ever for SARH to have strong, supportive partners that can ensure it has the necessary supplies to take care of all patients.“Asan independent hospital, it allows us to work with both national and local suppliers. We are able to decide who we purchase from without any of the concerns that a hospital in a corporate environment would have,” Chapman tells us.
according to Chapman; externally, SARH is looking to grow primary care, find partners to tackle behavioral care throughout the County, and improve health equity.
Retention and recruitment are the hospital’s biggest internal focus,
Ph. +1 www.sarh.orginfo@sarh.org909-985-2811
“We look forward to the challenge!”
– JOHN CHAPMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, SARH 901
North America Outlook issue 11 | 9 SAN ANTONIO REGIONAL HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE
SAN ANTONIO REGIONAL HOSPITAL Ph. +1 PRODUCEDwww.sarh.orginfo@sarh.org909-985-2811BY NORTH AMERICA OUTLOOK MAGAZINE