Download - HurricaneIrene casestudy comps
Contact NAPAEmail [email protected]
Call 516.945.3333
Mailing Address:
North American Partners in Anesthesia
68 South Service Road, Suite 350
Melville, NY 11747
*HFMA staff and volunteers determined that Anesthesia DepartmentManagement has met specific criteria developed under the HFMAPeer Review Process. HFMA does not endorse or guarantee the use of this service.
About North American Partners in AnesthesiaFounded in 1986, North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) is the leading single specialty anesthesia and perioperative managementcompany in the United States. NAPA is comprised of the mostrespected clinical staff, providing thousands of patients with superiorand attentive care. The company is known for partnering with hospitalsand other health care facilities across the nation to provide anesthesiaservices and perioperative leadership that maximize operating roomperformance, enhance revenue, and demonstrate consistent patientand surgeon satisfaction ratings.
NAPAanesthesia.com
Government officials issued dire warnings to millions ofresidents, businesses and health care facilities along theentire East Coast of the United States in late October2012 to prepare for an imminent hurricane dubbed,“Superstorm Sandy.” Hurricane Sandy was second onlyto Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, asthe costliest hurricane for property damage. Sandycaused an estimated $75 billion in destruction accordingto the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane and subsequent flooding and storm surgecaused 72 deaths in eight states, primarily in New York(48) and New Jersey (12). Lower Manhattan, StatenIsland and Long Island in New York and beach townsalong the entire New Jersey coast were particularly hardhit by the storm. Millions were without shelter and powerfor weeks and even months. The storm forced theclosure and evacuation of hospitals, nursing homes andhealth care facilities for a prolonged period of time.
Our Unmatched Anesthesia Experience. Your OR’s Advantage.
While many hospitals and health facilities, especially in
New Jersey and New York, evacuated in advance of
Hurricane Sandy — others were caught off guard.
NAPA’s ongoing commitment to emergency preparedness
demonstrates the importance of comprehensive crisis
management, as evidenced by the magnitude of the
2012 storm.
NAPA’s staff cared for evacuated patients and provided
for staffing shortages before, during and after the event.
In addition, many physicians and clinicians became
displaced from hospitals that were flooded or shut down
indefinitely. NAPA expedited and extended clinical
privileges to displaced medical staff at its facilities that
were unaffected by the storm or to hospitals that were
fully operational and accepting patient evacuees.
“During Sandy, it was relatively easy
to triage from the command center and
send messages to 1,500 people. I could
communicate with every NAPA employee
with one stroke. The hospitals’ chiefs
created customized contact lists to use
for their hospital-specific messaging.
Those lists were downloaded into the
emergency communication system before
Hurricane Sandy. We were confident that
we were effectively communicating with
our entire staff throughout the event.”
– JOHN DI CAPUA, MD
SITUATION
“There is no greater time that we, as
medical professionals, have to put on
our white coats as when there’s an
emergency or natural disaster.”
– JOHN DI CAPUA, MD
Deputy CEO and Chief Medical Officer for North American
Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA), Melville, New York
TWO | HURRICANE SANDY THREE |
NAPA offers solutions to meet every health care
organization’s ability to manage and provide a secure
and safe environment when tested with shortages and
displaced staff during natural disasters, terrorism or
other unexpected traumatic events. Advanced planning
puts emphasis on several core practices that any
hospital or health facility can emulate and implement,
as needed.
As the nation’s largest single specialty anesthesia and
perioperative management company, NAPA provides
personnel to its client hospitals — no matter what the
circumstances.
NAPA’S SOLUTIONS
For example, a year before Superstorm Sandy,
Dr. Di Capua directed NAPA’s emergency operations
during Hurricane Irene which hit the East Coast in late
August 2011. NAPA provided 100 percent medical
coverage to storm-affected facilities and at regional
hospitals temporarily accepting transferred patients,
particularly if any of the hospitals’ staff were unable to
get to work. NAPA’s approach during Irene was to
use administrative staff to make phone calls to essential
staff — a time consuming and less-than-optimal
process. After the storm, NAPA’s leaders identified areas
that needed significant improvement, especially with
communications, and worked throughout the year to
upgrade its systems before the next major event.
IMPLEMENTATION
Emergency Preparedness
• INVEST IN STATE-OF-THE-ART
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Advanced planning includes investing in technology
that rapidly and efficiently reaches everyone involved.
Months before Hurricane Sandy, NAPA re-evaluated
its approach to emergency communications by
investing in a geographically-based, high-speed
notification system. The new system features multi-
faceted global capabilities, similar to those used by
many school districts and municipalities across
the country. It streamlines and alleviates many labor
intensive manual processes while quickly
disseminating messages. NAPA’s anesthesia chiefs
trained on the new system months before
Superstorm Sandy hit.
• VOLUNTEER AT EMERGENCY
OPERATIONS CENTERS (EOC)
NAPA’s anesthesiologists and clinical staff actively
support every involved hospital’s EOC team. Staff
provided back up to the hospital’s chief medical
officer or executive director for any type of support,
such as answering telephones, helping solve
unforeseen problems, allowing for breaks and rest
and providing general assistance throughout the
entire event.
• PREPARE AT HOME AND IN THE WORKPLACE
At NAPA, clinical staff and administrators are
accountable for not only participating in emergency
training and safety protocols at work sites, but also
applying these tactics to their own personal home
and family lives. NAPA’s senior leadership and medical
and administrative staff are expected to prepare their
personal circumstances in advance — well before
disaster strikes — to safely get to work, take
responsibility, care for patients and perform their duties.
• PLAN FOR EARLY ARRIVAL
During Sandy, NAPA’s staff prepared to stay at
assigned hospitals for the duration of the event.
Many arrived earlier than needed or before their active
duty. The staff came well-prepared with personal
items to use between shifts and to get rest or sleep.
• DEPLOY STAFF FOR MANY ROLES
As trained emergency response professionals,
anesthesiologists and CRNAs can adapt to any
clinical situation — not only the operating room.
NAPA notified hospitals located in the storm’s path
or in flood zones to access its staff for more than
anesthesia-related purposes. NAPA directed its
staff to respond to shortages of medical staff
wherever they were needed — the intensive care unit,
as house physicians overseeing patient floors, for
pain management issues or in the emergency room.
With the applications of lessons learned from Hurricane Irene, NAPA worked on improvements
and better solutions in several key areas prior to Hurricane Sandy.
FOUR | HURRICANE SANDY FIVE |
RESULTSNAPA’s executive and clinical leadership attend mandatory meetings during the year to
brainstorm and strategize on quality improvement, including emergency management.
After Hurricane Sandy, NAPA’s senior management met to make adjustments to continue
to improve emergency protocol for future incidents. These include:
• NAPA deployed more than 1,000 anesthesiologists,
nurse anesthetists and clinicians and over 225
administrative staff to 38 hospitals and health care
facilities throughout states in the Middle Atlantic
and New England regions.
• Clinical and administrative staff were ready and in
place before the storm hit, minimizing shortages and
optimizing patient and staff safety measures.
FUTURE PlanningLessons Learned &
• The new global communications system that NAPA
purchased and implemented after Hurricane Irene in
2011 reached thousands of people with specific,
up-to-the-minute messaging sent to land lines,
cellular phones, computers, fax machines and pagers
in the form of voice messages, texts and emails.
• Backup NAPA staff worked with the EOC team at
each affected hospital, in addition to the staff working
at central command.
As the nation’s largest single specialty anesthesia
and perioperative management company,
NAPA provides personnel to its client hospitals —
no matter what the circumstances. • Instructing NAPA’s Human Resources Department
to reserve large blocks of hotel rooms near
hospitals, well in advance of a storm, to better
accommodate staff.
• Providing NAPA staff that are minimally affected or
unaffected during an emergency with credit cards
or other purchasing mechanisms to buy items in
short supply, such as generators, to help staff and
others in storm-affected areas.
• Devising a distribution system for NAPA-purchased
emergency supplies, if needed, that is more
streamlined and efficient prior to a major disaster
or event.
SIX | HURRICANE SANDY SEVEN |