NEWS
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2015
departments | Temple university health system
Health system agrees to 7-year contract with GE The deal is the first of its kind and will help Temple become more efficient. By MARYVIC PEREZ The Temple News
PATRICK CLARK TTN
During an average weekend, Temple University Hospital admits 500 patients.
Hospital prepares for papal visit Officials said they are not concerned about the expected increase in patients. By LILA GORDON The Temple News On an average weekend, Temple University Hospital is busy: the facility typically sees 500 patients pass through its doors. But in a couple of weeks, the hospital is preparing for what should be an even heavier workload. During the Pope’s visit, five downtown hospitals—Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital and Jefferson University Hospital—will have restricted access. TUH is outside of this restricted papal zone, and will likely treat many patients who might otherwise enter those five locations. TUH’s Chief Medical Officer Herb Cushing has experience dealing with sudden patient
Closed roads will be a “ challenge, but ambulances will have special passes in order to pass safely through.
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Chuck Herbert | Senior mission support coordinator
volume increases. After working at Indiana University Hospital during the Indy 500, he said these types of weekends sometimes result in “dehydration, and heart attacks and strokes for the elderly.” However, Cushing said he is not concerned about the potentially overwhelming number of patients at the hospital. He believes the number of Philadelphians fleeing the town will balance with the number of people who will be visiting to see the Pope. The labor and delivery room is a concern for many, as this is a division that will be facing overflow from the other hospitals. The Hospital is used to handling new patients: on a daily basis, about 30 percent of its women are first-time
patients, and often have never received prenatal care. Chuck Herbert, senior mission support coordinator at the Temple Transport Team, believes the organ transplant system—another primary concern—will remain effective. The process of organ transplant is complicated but will most likely be unaffected by traffic, he said. If an organ in the region becomes available, it will be flown by helicopter to the hospital and given to the next recipient on the list, Herbert said. Unfortunately, if this recipient is unable to reach the hospital, it will be donated to the next eligible recipient. The first intended recipient will remain at the top of the list in the future, Herbert added. A potential problem also lies with the emergency room, which sees about 230 patients in an average day. Luckily, Philadelphia medical care has spent months planning for the papal visit. They will be setting up booths downtown for minor injuries, and Cushing hopes this will steady the flow of emergency room patients. In addition to this precaution, the hospital has extra physicians in place for the weekend, Cushing said. He added that he is not worried about patient influx but is concerned about traffic in the region. It will be difficult for Philadelphians to get around that weekend, and for hospital staff, this could be a problem. In order to prevent any issues, Cushing said he is overbooking staff so people can take breaks on the chance that they are unable to leave the hospital. Temple University Hospital will not be depending on interns and residents and will have the same number of medical students working as usual. Herbert said ambulances will be able to navigate the area effectively during the papal visit. “Closed roads will be a challenge, but ambulances will have special passes in order to pass safely through,” Hebert said. He added the Temple Transport Team will have “increased staffing and more trucks in the event of a, God forbid, catastrophe.” Ultimately, Cushing said he doesn’t anticipate any unexpected problems once the weekend arrives. “My crystal ball says no surge,” Cushing said of the number of patients the hospital expects.
Temple University Health System signed a seven-year contract with General Electric that will save the health care department a guaranteed $39 million. “It’s the first time
ment used on Temple’s campuses—like MRI machines and CAT scanners—will be replaced by GE’s products. “Both organizations started collaborating on what the real problem was,” said John McCarthy, a general manager at GE Healthcare. “The real problem was, ‘How do we invest in new technology that will provide patients better care but at the same time lower our cost?’” With advanced equipment, Temple Health expects exam results with better resolution, and at a faster pace, Belden said.
“The idea would be to work with a company that would share some of the financial risks and help us develop more cost-effective and efficient processes. … It’s a shared-risk model,” said TUHS’ Chief Operating Officer Verdi DiSesa, who is also a vice dean in Temple’s School of Medicine. The process began last year as Temple reached out to different medical companies. “We recognized the need to upgrade our imaging equipment across the system,” Kaiser said. “We put
When the system becomes more efficient, it “ means you’ll be able to change the question from
‘When is the machine more available?’ to ‘When is it convenient for the patient to come?’ Clifford Belden | Radiology chair, School of Medicine
that a company like GE has partnered with an academic center in this sort of relationship,” said Larry Kaiser, dean of Temple’s School of Medicine and CEO of TUHS. “I think the uniqueness of that was what brought [Jeffrey] Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE, to Temple the other day when we signed this really historic agreement.” Clifford Belden, professor and chair of radiology at Temple’s School of Medicine and radiologist-inchief for Temple University Health System said it was a matter of figuring out how to “service needs” at Temple. Through the collaboration, most medical equip-
“When the system becomes more efficient, it means you’ll be able to change the question from, ‘When is the machine available?’ to ‘When is it convenient for the patient to come?’” he said. The older MRI machines required the patient to lay for what can be an hour inside a constrained “tube,” which can be an exasperating process for some. The new equipment cuts the required time to 30 minutes. GE is also sending trained technicians and engineers to service Temple’s equipment and help with the transition. Data will also be feasible to send and viewed at other hospitals.
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out a request for proposals to several vendors who are the major players in the industry … but ultimately settling on GE, and they seemed to be most interested in the type of collaborative relationship that we were looking for.” Through meetings and planning with Temple Health staff and GE’s team of technicians, both teams still meet and plan combinations for the economic success and betterment of their patients. “It’s really the first step in seven years of hard work and over the seven years of several [million] in saving,” Belden said. * maryvic.perez@temple.edu
PATRICK CLARK TTN
* lila.gordon@temple.edu
Temple University Health System’s contract with GE is expected to save the department $39 million during the course of the next seven years.
UNIVERSITY OPERATIONS
Officials: For now, university to hold classes Sept. 28 There’s a chance campuses will be closed following the papal visit. By STEVE BOHNEL News Editor In an email memo from President Theobald last month, students were informed that Temple’s U.S. campuses would be closed Friday, Sept. 25 because of the papal visit. Now, the university is considering closing Main Campus the following Monday due to transportation restrictions. The Benjamin Franklin Bridge closes to vehicles at 10 p.m. Sept. 25 and
is scheduled to reopen at noon Sept. 28. SEPTA will resume normal operations Sept. 28 after limiting its regional rail and subway services for the weekend. Temple’s regional rail station is scheduled to be closed for the weekend. Bill Bergman, special assistant to the president, said although Temple is looking into how it will operate that weekend, no plans have been set to shut down Monday. “We will take into consideration what the city looks like,” Bergman said. “We know some businesses are closing that morning, but we are still in the process of deciding.” Two university officials confirmed via email that the
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university plans to operate normally Monday. “Operations as normal on Monday at this time,” director of emergency management Sarah Powell said. “We are monitoring the situation.” In an interview last month, Jim Creedon, senior vice president for construction, facilities and operations, discussed how the university is preparing for the papal visit. Main Campus was closed mostly because of transportation issues that would result, he said. Ambler Campus will be closed because of transportation issues between there and Main Campus, and Harrisburg’s campus didn’t have any classes scheduled. Universities around the
city have been collaborating in preparation for the visit, Creedon said. “We’re seeing what they’re doing, and bouncing ideas off each other to see what will work best,” he said. Drexel has cancelled classes Friday, Sept. 25 and Monday, Sept. 28, and will only be “operating with Essential Papal Visit Personnel,” according to the university’s Provost website. The University of Pennsylvania has cancelled classes Friday, along with the Community College of Philadelphia. St. Joseph’s University has cancelled evening classes that Friday, and La Salle University will still have classes as scheduled Friday and Mon-
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day.
Creedon said “it’s way too early” to determine specific security measures that will be taken around Temple’s campus, and that those decisions will come closer to the event. He added it’s tough to determine what areas could be issues around campus, but said a likely crowded spot will be the Cecil B. Moore station—one of the few stops on the Broad Street Line that will accept southbound passengers during the weekend. In an interview last month, President Theobald told The Temple News he will come to Main Campus Thursday night and spend the weekend at an “undisclosed location” because transportation between
Center City and Temple will likely be difficult. Creedon said a barbecue with Theobald will be held on campus at 4 p.m. Saturday for students and faculty, and the university is still in the process of scheduling other events for students during the weekend. As of now, students will still have to return to classes Monday, Bergman said. “All options are being considered revolving around the city given that weekend,” he said. “So we are looking into it and will decide in the next couple of weeks.” * steve.bohnel@temple.edu T @Steve_Bohnel