In the Wright Loop | February 2014

A newsletter for the employees, residents, and friends of The Wright Center

February 2014

In This Edition: Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak introduces the new Strategic Plan which will be unfolding across The Wright Center organization in 2014.

Meet Joseph Featherall and the new Project Management Team at The Wright Center.

Catch up on recent events hosted by The Wright Center for Primary Care, such as November’s Diabetes and Wellness Fair. Also, learn about dental services at Mid Valley and the new providers and practice managers.

Recaps of the 2013 Health Fair and 5K Walk/Run, 2013 American College of Physicians (Eastern PA) Associates’ and Medical Students’ Annual Conference and the 2013 Blanket Drive to benefit the homeless of Scranton.

An update on the 2013-2014 recruiting season and an explanation of the National MATCH program and how it affects The Wright Center.

Vol. 3, Issue 1

Linda ThomasThomas-Hemak, M.D. President and CEO The Wright Center for GME The Wright Center Medical Group, PC

In November 2013, the Senior Leadership Team presented a new strategic plan for The Wright Center to the Board of Directors. As 2014 unfolds, the Strategic Plan and its goals will be shared with the entire organization. In the following letter, Dr. Linda ThomasHemak explains how this new document will guide our ongoing mission to the communities we serve.

The heart and core of excellence is found in the benevolent spirit, undeniable interdependence and collective action of precious human capital. True organizational power is in people and their ability to collaboratively work together as a high-performing team in a healthy, caring, proactive, strategic, and accountable work environment. This rhythmic synergy of teamwork is the driving force behind the goals and objectives, mission and vision that will unfold the bright future of our organization. With insight and input from members of the organization at every level, our vision has been transformed beyond a strategic plan and has become a benevolent call to civil action, stewardship, and social responsibility. The profession of medicine’s effective demonstration of social conscience and responsibility is paramount at this time of national healthcare reform and delivery system transformation. Our critical goals will have a profound, powerful, and positive impact on our organization, medical education, patient care and the communities we serve.

Past foundational accomplishments have afforded us the success and meaningful growth we experience today.

The greatest achievement of our daily collaborative work is the potential of excellence and sustainable growth.

The Board of Directors and Leadership Team, with the input of residents, faculty, staff and patients have invested their time and passion to develop the strategic plan to move The Wright Center into the future as a leading vehicle for progressive graduate medical education and high quality, safe and affordable healthcare delivery. Through innovative, responsible servant leadership and a fostered culture of accountability, The Wright Center will be a beacon of collaboration and authenticity with a mindfulness of mission and steadfast pursuit of excellence. The Leadership Team is now focused on the creation of a Balanced Score Card for the organization to track where we have been, measure our current activities and guide future decisions of The Wright Center.

The Wright Center has achieved many milestones and experienced substantial growth over the past year and a half as we continue to evolve as one of the leading forces of graduate medical education and healthcare delivery across Northeast Pennsylvania and throughout the country. As a community-based and governed asset, we continue to strive to be a leading catalyst for inextricably linked medical education and healthcare transformation to be more relevant and responsive to each other by: igniting an empowered inter-professional healthcare workforce; working to provide excellent quality, safe patient care in a mission driven work environment; and by better preparing the physician leaders with 21st century skill sets in an optimal learning environment. Our strong community partnerships, both local and national, continue to enhance our efforts to be a well-recognized, socially responsible steward of our public resources.

This joyful and inspiring moment of celebrating our past and looking to the future calls us to renew our focus to be goal-oriented, to renew our strength in the power of community engagement, and to renew our minds to imagine the unimaginable. I am very grateful to the Board of Directors and Leadership Team for their tireless dedication to the development of our strategic plan and future vision of our organization. Their service and guidance has added to the strong foundation upon which we build the promising future of The Wright Center; a future to hope, dream, and aspire to leave our organization, our co-workers, our patients and our community better served every day.

February is Heart Health Month!

You can make healthy changes to lower your risk of developing heart disease. Controlling and preventing risk factors is also important for people who already have heart disease. To lower your risk:  Watch your weight.  Quit smoking and stay away from second hand smoke.  Control your cholesterol and blood pressure.  If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.  Get active and eat healthy.

Friday, 2/7

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National Wear Red Day

Tuesday, 2/11

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Group Zumba @ Tobin Hall, 5:15 p.m.

Wednesday, 2/19 

Dr. Thomas to Speak @ Scranton Chamber of Commerce

Thursday, 2/20

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Mindfulness Workshop @ Tobin Hall, 5 p.m.

Tuesday, 2/25

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Mindfulness Workshop @ Mid Valley, 5:30 p.m.

General Staff Meeting | Wednesday, February 19, 2014 8 a.m. | Tobin Hall, Main Conference Room Light breakfast served at 7:45 a.m.

D

epartment Update Project Management Team

The new Project Management Team at The Wright Center began in October 2013 with the hiring of Project Manager Joseph Featherall. Since then, Special Projects Coordinator Anthony Pero has joined the newly forming team, and they plan to add another project manager in April 2014.

Joe explained the purpose of the team, “Our model is very simple, when an important opportunity or problem arises, we organize a team around it, help them set goals, and support the team in completing their goals. This could be anything from changing the way a clinic operates to starting broad scale practice transformation initiative. It is important that The Wright Center is growing people, creating leaders within the organization who can undertake initiatives, solve complex problems, and ultimately transform healthcare.”

Anthony said, “With our newly formed project management team, it’s going to bring a new level of innovation to The Wright Center especially in becoming highly efficient. It will give us another way to complete our mission.”

Joe was adamant about his gratitude to the employees who have become part of the project teams. “I am extraordinarily proud of all of The Wright Center employees who have taken on project leadership roles. Tiffany Elkins has done incredible work leading our NCQA Initiative, ensuring that the Clarks Summit and Mid Valley practices are at the highest standard of care. Jeanie Pavlovich, in close effort with John Awad, has been extraordinarily successful leading the empanelment of patients at the Mid Valley practice.”

Joseph Featherall, Project Manager, can be reached at: featherallj@thewrightcenter.org

On December 1, 2013, The Wright Center implemented new updates to the organization’s medical, dental, and vision benefits for all employees. Here’s a summary:   

Blue Cross of NEPA will continue to provide our health insurance.

All employees will be enrolled in the $500 deductible plan; the $1,000 deductible has been eliminated.

There is a new contribution strategy for the health insurance based on based annual salary. If you make less than $50K, The Wright Center will pay 85% of the premium; if your salary is equal to or greater than $50K, The Wright Center will pay 80% of the premium.

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MetLife Dental will now provide our dental coverage for all employees.

The annual benefit maximum has increased from $1,000 to $1,500.

There will be no cards issued for MetLife Dental; you can request a card at: www.metlife.com The Wright Center continues to pay 100% of the premium for individual dental coverage; if you wish to have coverage for dependents, you are responsible for the difference in premium.

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Vision coverage for all employees will continue to be provided by Davis Vision.

The Wright Center continues to pay 100% of the premium for individual vision coverage; if you wish to have coverage for dependents, you are responsible for the difference in premium.

You can request a vision card at: www.davisvision.com

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P

rimary Care

Community • Quality • Commitment

A Diabetes and Wellness Fair was held in November at the Mid Valley and Scranton locations. The free, public event featured experts from around the community who provided valuable information about:  Diabetic Education  Smoking Cessation  Nutrition  Exercise  Social Services and Billing The event also featured guest speaker and A1-C Champion Curtis Story.

Beginning in November, The Wright Center for Primary Care Mid Valley began to offer dental services for our patients. Services include:  Teeth Cleaning  Fluoride Treatment  Dental X-Rays  General Cosmetic Dentistry We plan to start accepting all major dental insurance plans as well as Medicare and medical assistance.

In the past few months, The Wright Center has welcomed new providers and practice managers at our Primary Care locations.   

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Lori Carlin — New Practice Manager Nalini Kakimallaiah, MD — New Provider Kimberly Klee-Rodriguez, CRNP — New Provider

Jeanie Pavlovich — New Practice Manager Timothy Burke, DO — New Provider Jumee Barooah, MD — New Provider

Archana Chaudhari, MD — New Provider Mladen Jecmenica, MD — New Provider Adharsh Sahadevan, MD — New Provider

C

ommunity Events • Outreach • Involvement

On Saturday, November 9, The Wright Center hosted the American College of Physicians (Eastern PA) Associates’ and Medical Students’ Annual Conference at TCMC, which served as a co-host for the event. This was the second consecutive year that the event was held in Scranton.

to everyone who donated to the 2013 Blanket Drive. The items were donated to the St. Francis of Assisi Soup Kitchen to benefit the homeless of Scranton.

Collected items included:  27 Blankets This event was a huge success with 250 abstracts received and 48  101 Pairs of Socks posters presented by residents from nine programs and medical  2 Pairs of Gloves students from TCMC. A special congratulations goes to Internal Medicine PGY-1 Resident Rani Gollamudi, MD, who won 2nd place in the Quality Improvement category for her poster, “Developing 21st Century Physician Skills Sets.” Also, TCMC student Igor Makhlin, MS, won 2nd place in the Medical Students category for his poster, “Assessing the Health Literacy Rate at a Level-3 Medical Home.” The co-chairs for this year’s event were Wright Center faculty members, Robert Paulino, MD and Sandhya Samavedam, MD. On Saturday, October 5, 2013, The Wright Center for Primary Care Mid Valley hosted its 4th Annual “Fall into Health” Community Health Fair. This year marked the start of a new tradition at the health fair — a 5K Walk/Run. Thanks to everyone who came out to support this event.!

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$2,007.96 raised for the local food pantry at Christ the King Parish 102 FREE flu vaccines administered 82 registered 5K participants — runners and walkers 62 Health Fair vendors

M

edical Education Inspire • Empower • Serve

Recruitment Season As the GME department begins to wrap up Recruitment season, we want to share a brief update with everyone for what’s in store for the next academic year. Though pending grant applications are certain to impact the numbers, we can currently expect 22 Internal Medicine, 22 Family Medicine National Network, and 18 Family Medicine Regional Network Interns to begin as Wright Center Residents on July 1, 2014.

We also feel it important to share that the Wright Center has voted to remain out of the National Resident Matching Program’s (NRMP) MATCH service this year. On that note, two questions come to mind: What is the MATCH? In simplest terms, the MATCH is one mechanism by which residents and fellows can be “matched” to a training program. It takes into consideration rank order lists from both programs and applicants and generates pairings based off mutual interest and available positions.

What does it mean to be “IN” or “OUT”?

It is recently the policy of the NRMP that programs must either be “All In” or “All Out” of the MATCH. In other words, if programs are to participate in the MATCH, all available positions must be entered, banning programs from offering what are considered “pre-MATCH” positions. Though remaining Out of the MATCH, The Wright Center remains committed to successfully recruiting both American and Foreign Medical Graduates alike.

Finally, The Wright Center’s Internal Medicine program surpassed precedence this year, accepting more than 3,000 applications to the Allopathic training track alone. Regional and National Family Medicine programs as well as Cardiology have also seen inspiring interest. As the Wright Center opens its doors to more opportunity, stronger partnerships and increasingly passionate physicians, our mission and vision grow in unison.

Thank you to everyone who contributed their valuable time to participate in panel interviews! You can be assured that it was appreciated beyond measure and that you played a significant role in engaging the residents of our future.

Kate Gardner, Residency Program Supervisor, can be reached at: gardnerk@thewrightcenter.org