News & Notes COASTAL CAROLINAS HEALTH ALLIANCE

UPDATE FROM THE CEO

I would like to begin by first thanking all of our CCHA member and a f f i l i a te hospitals. Thanks to their dedication, support, and ongoing partnership, 2017

was another successful year for our organization. I’d also like to thank our new non-acute members, who have already been f inding several opportunities for cost savings, sharing, and networking. We couldn’t ask for a better group of members, acute and

non-acute!

As I’ve said, 2017 was a successful year. We highlighted several key accomplishments at our annual Alliance Day event, held earlier this month. The team and I enjoyed the o p p o r t u n i t y t o m e e t w i t h representatives from our member hospitals and business partners at the event. The annual celebration is always a good way to round out the year and recognize the hard work of our team, members, and business

partners.

Throughout this issue of News & Notes, you’ll hear more about some exciting initiatives for the new year. We can already see how 2018 will be a busy year for us, and we can’t wait to work alongside our members to

achieve those goals.

On behalf of the CCHA Team, we’d like to wish everyone a safe and

happy holiday season!

CCHA’s annual Alliance Day event once again brought together representatives from our eleven member and affiliate hospitals, HIE connected communities, and community partners for a

celebration of regional collaboration and success. This year’s event, held on Friday, December 1st, at the Holiday Inn Resort on Wrightsville Beach, NC, featured a state-of-the-union-style update on CCHA initiatives, member networking, as well as presentations on generating enthusiasm

and leading through change.

Four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Jan Fox, wrapped up the morning sessions with an encouraging, interactive talk on generating employee enthusiasm through sharing our stories. By way of touching anecdotes from her own life, Jan showed the group how we connect with others through stories and reminded them how their work is directly impacting the lives of

their patients.

Our keynote speaker for the day, Mark A. Noon of The Studer Group, gave an equally engaging presentation on utilizing the tools of leadership to steer teams and organizations through changes and challenges. Mark challenged the audience to leverage their impact on a daily basis to achieve their organizational and

professional goals.

As with each year, the event also included time for our business partner sponsors to meet with our hospital guests. Alliance Day wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our business partners, so this part of the day is key for helping them meet with key hospital representatives and share information about cost savings

opportunities.

With over 150 people in attendance, we can say Alliance Day 2017 was another success. We enjoyed the chance to celebrate our successes with the members

that make them happen!

ALLIANCE DAY 2017 SHOWCASED ENTHUSIASM

& LEADERSHIP THROUGH ONGOING CHANGE

CCHA has submitted a grant application

to the Governor’s Crime Commission to

deploy a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner

(SANE) program with a focus on pediatric

SANE, or “SANE Peds.” While we have

completed the registration process for the

grant award and await determination of

the level of funding, work has begun to

recruit a Regional SANE Coordinator.

The Regional SANE Coordinator will be

responsible for ensuring the success and

overall mission of the regional training

program. During the next few months,

once the Coordinator is hired, the

program will begin recruiting and

supporting registered nurses from CCHA

member hospitals to become SANE-

certified.

As initial savings for CCHA’s

new non-acute membership tier

continue to grow, two new

members have begun exploring

opportunities for

cost savings. We

recently added two new non-

acute members: Liberty

Healthcare Management

and East Carolina University

(ECU) School of Dental Medicine’s

Community Service Learning Center in

Brunswick County.

Liberty Healthcare Management has

locations across North Carolina which

offer skilled nursing care, wound care,

hospice care, respite care, and an array of

t he rap ies , i nc lud ing phys i ca l ,

occupational, speech, and IV. Select

facilities also include out-patient therapy

and tracheostomy care.

The ECU School of Dental Medicine

Community Service Learning Center in

Bolivia, NC, offers comprehensive general

dental services for adults, children, and

special needs patients. We are thrilled to

welcome these new members to the

group!

The first non-acute

members to see savings

have been Wilmington

Health, Lower Cape Fear

Hospice, and MedNorth.

Their initial savings have been in the

specific areas of clinic/office furniture,

monitors, office, and laboratory supplies.

As we learn more about expense pain

points for our new members, opportunities

for new savings will present themselves to

us.

In addition to cost savings, non-acute

members can tap into CCHA’s regional

collaboration and initiatives. Several new

members have joined ongoing initiatives,

such as physician recruitment and clinical

staff recruitment and retention, both of

which are key areas of focus for CCHA in

the new year ahead.

CCHA’S NON-ACUTE MEMBERSHIP CONTINUES TO SEE GROW, NEW SAVINGS REPORTED

CCHA & ILLUCIENT PURCHASING ALLIANCE OPERATIONS UPDATES

ILLUCIENT PURCHASING ALLIANCE

UPDATE:

As we strive to reduce expenses and

improve quality for our members, the

Illucient Operations Team has been

reviewing the contract portfolio and

working to shine a stronger light on

opportunities that are available for our

members. By creating a weekly update on

available and valuable contracts, we hope

to have ongoing engagement and thought

provoking conversations around the

potential savings opportunities.

CCHA OPERATIONS UPDATE:

On November 6th, Brian Piccirilli joined

the CCHA team as the Coordinator of

Projects and Grants. Previously with our

sister organization, Coastal Connect

Health Information Exchange, Brian

brings a strong foundation and

understanding of the healthcare industry,

and he is excited to see what

opportunities are available for our

members and region. In his first month on

the job, Brian began working with several

hospital teams to become acclimated with

the current projects and explore grant

opportunities for our members. We are

excited to enter 2018 ahead of the curve!

Teams play a pivotal role in the ongoing

operations of CCHA. Several of our major

initiatives have grown out of team

discussions and collaboration. As we

begin 2018, we will be launching a new

team and reconvening an inactive one.

The new Community Health Management

Team, led by Dr. Philip Brown of New

Hanover Regional Medical Center, will

engage health care providers and

community partners in the sharing of best

practices and aligning efforts to manage a

select patient population.

We are also “re-activating” our Radiology/

Imaging team, which has not met since

2010. Several team members have

expressed an interest in exchanging

ideas, reviewing purchasing opportunities

as well as education on new regulations

and reimbursement. Jon Thorsten of

Southeastern Health will lead the first

meeting.

NEW CCHA TEAMS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

GRANT AWARD TO FUND REGIONAL SANE PROGRAM

Carolina Sports Medicine is

pushing “Visi t Notes” care

documents and ADT messages to

the HIE.

Liberty Commons Nursing and

Rehab of Wilmington is live

p u s h i n g A DT ( a d m i s s i o n ,

discharge and transfer) messages

and care summary documents

(CCDs) to the HIE.

R e a d m i s s i o n A v o i d a n c e

C o n f i r m e d : N H R M C ’ s

Readmission Team confirmed the

real-time notifications CCHIE is

del iver ing to a ler t cardiac

physicians on emergency room

encounters for CABG patients

(Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting)

has resulted in timely intervention,

preventing readmission for two

patients.

Wilmington VA Clinic staff was

trained on accessing patient data in

the HIE’s Patient Search tool. In

the two months, VA staff have

d e m o n s t r a t e d s u c c e s s f u l

integrated of the HIE into their

patient workflow, querying 383

patients for care transition.

Co as t a l Con ne c t Hea l th

Information Exchange (CCHIE) is

currently in the technical

onboarding phase for connection

with NC HealthConnex, the state-

designated Health Information

Exchange. Once completed, CCHIE will

be able to submit patient data on behalf of

its connected data contributors.

Based on current state law, all health care

providers who receive State funds for the

provision of medical services (e.g.

Medicaid, Health Choice, State Health

Plan) must have a solution to submit data

to NC HealthConnex by certain dates in

2018 and 2019 in order to continue

receiving payments for services provided.

For those that are current participants /

contributors to CCHIE, you would simply

work with CCHIE and your EHR vendor to

create this integration. If you are not

currently a data contributor to the CCHIE,

you would work directly with CCHIE to

create this integration. If you are not

currently a CCHIE participant, you would

need to execute a participation agreement

to begin the process.

It is important to note that at this time,

CCHIE has signed a Submission Only

agreement with the NC HIEA which

means that CCHIE’s connection to the

State achieves meeting the mandate for

its data contributors. This clinical data

submitted to the State will be available in

near, real time to full participants in the

NC HealthConnex Network for the

purpose of patient care.

If you are currently a data contributor to

CCHIE, confirmation is needed from the

practice administrator for CCHIE to submit

your Medicaid and State Health Plan

patient data to the state. For questions or

to send a confirmation email, please

contact me at plewis@coastalalliance.org.

As the CCHIE team wraps up

another phenomenal quarter,

we wish to share some

highlights and successes from

2017. These are just a

sampling of the ongoing work

this organization is pursuing in an effort

to improve the quality and delivery of

patient care through sharing patient

information.

In FY 2017, the Community Health

Record showed a strong increase

in utilization: a 33% increase in the

number of unique monthly users,

and a 42% increase in the number

of patients accessed.

In November 2017 alone, HIE

users accessed the Patient Search

tool every 4.5 minutes, transitioning

9,586 unique patients.

Onslow Memorial Hospital is live

pushing ADT, Laboratory Results,

Radiology Results, Transcription,

and Face Sheets.

EmergeOrtho is publishing CCDs

and ADT from all facilities across

the state to CCHIE’s Patient

Search tool. Results Delivery from

the HIE to the practice’s EMR is

also live.

CCHIE TO FULFILL STATE MANDATE FOR ITS DATA CONTRIBUTORS

HIGHLIGHTS FROM A SUCCESSFUL YEAR FOR COASTAL CONNECT HIE

The image above maps out CCHIE’s current footprint across the region and state through connections with stakeholders, data contributors, other HIEs, and eHealth participants.

NEW INITIATIVES FOR THE CAROLINAS AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICE

The Carolinas Amateur Radio Emergency Service (CARES) has been proactively working towards engaging the hospitals throughout the southeastern region of North Carolina and boosting training

participation. In November, the CARES executive committee nominated Stan White, of New Hanover Regional Medical Center, to be the committee’s new chair. The team also held an in-depth discussion about initiatives for

the new year.

CARES’s 2018 initiatives will include

successfully relocating the Trenton repeater, mounting the Lumberton repeater on the roof of Southeastern Regional Medical Center, and providing another educational event for those hoping to obtain their FCC

license and become a radio operator.

As with past years, our 2018 monthly CARES Net Operation calls will be held on the second Thursday of each month at 2:00 PM. If you have any questions about the CARES Network or might be interested in becoming a licensed radio operation, please contact me at

bpiccirilli@coastalalliance.org.

Thank You to our

Alliance Day 2017

Gold & Silver Sponsors:

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

The Mobi le Simulat ion

Program (MSP) is looking

forward to ringing in the New

Year with some exciting

training initiatives. This past

year provided the MSP with

opportunities to implement the updated

International Nursing Association for

Clinical Simulation and Learning

(INACSL) Standards of Best Practice

into each learning activity. Through the

implementation of these standards of

best practice the MSP was able to

receive a high level of satisfaction from

our learners in the simulation

environment.

The MSP also

worked hard to

develop a catalog

of over fifty (and

c o u n t i n g )

s i m u l a t i o n

scenarios that can

be offered to our

member facilities. This scenario catalog

has been very helpful in guiding the

type of training that the MSP can offer

to both acute and non-acute members.

For instance, sepsis has been a hot

topic on both the acute and non-acute

sides. Recently,

the MSP was

able to offer

training for

s e p s i s

prevention and

care training to

home health

agencies.

This past year the MSP was able to

reach deeper into our member facilities

to assist with training of our pre-

hospital-paramedics and EMT’s, in

addition to respiratory therapists. This

collaboration with other disciplines

provides the MSP the opportunity for

more multi-disciplinary simulation

learning in the future.

These are just the beginning of what

the MSP has planned for 2018. Our

team welcomes our new non-acute

members and looks forward to working

with them in the coming year!

MOBILE SIMULATION PROGRAM BOOSTS BEST PRACTICES, BROADENS SCOPE OF SCENARIOS