AASA

the Associationof Academic SurgicalAdministrators

CUTTINGEDGESummer

2019

In This IssuePresident’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

TAVR Program Optimization: Harnessing EPIC Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2019 AASA Spring Retreat Recap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Upcoming Webinars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Membership Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Thank You To Our Sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

THE

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the Associationof Academic SurgicalAdministrators

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PresidentRebecca NapierPast PresidentMegan BerlingerVice-PresidentLonn McDowellSecretaryHeidi Gibbs

TreasurerDan OttChair of Membership CommitteeJoellen BuckioChair of Communications CommitteeGeorgia Smith

AASA Board of DirectorsEastern Region RepresentativeGreg KharabadzeSouthern Region RepresentativeWendy WebsterMidwest Region RepresentativeTim Roach

Western Region RepresentativeJason QuinnChair of Education CommitteeChristal Moore

Seeing the Future in San Francisco

Greetings, AASA Community.

As we prepare for the 32nd Annual Conference in San Francisco, I find myself thinking about this year’s theme: “Gateway to the Future.” The future is our unknown. It holds all the opportunities that lay before us, as well as all the changes.

In the AASA, we have built our own little crystal ball made up of the insight and experience of all of our members. We may not be able to predict the future, but the AASA community is a rich resource that we can all call on for help. For me, this is the most valuable aspect—having amazing colleagues on the journey with me.

The annual conference is our biggest professional development event of the year. It’s where we discover new ways to solve problems, learn by example, and reconnect with colleagues from across the nation. We don’t hold back this year. We are not short on big topics: emotional intelligence, sexual harassment, and burnout to name a few. But we in the AASA are problem solvers. We learn from each other about how to build a better work environment for our staff, students, residents, faculty, and for ourselves. I know these sessions will provide great content, both from the front of the room and from audience contributions.

I look forward to learning with all of you this October.

Rebecca Napier AASA President

President’s Message

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Expanding technologies and indications for treatment in the field of structural heart therapies have led to exponential growth in already burgeoning US programs. Many are facing increasing gaps in resources and prolonged patient throughput mandating development of strategies to optimize processes. One way to meet the immediate demand to increase levels of efficiencies can be achieved through the utilization of available digital technologies in system electronic medical records.

EPIC holds the distinction of being the largest electronic medical record (EMR) provider in the US with 64% of patients having a record within an EPIC system. The software has the ability to store and pull reports from system data and can become a tool for structural heart programs seeking to make improvements and increase efficiencies. Cooper University Hospital and Atlantic Health System’s (AHS) Morristown Medical Center have each taken steps to embrace EPIC’s technologies to facilitate patient throughput and drive changes based on real time data to support their Trans catheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) patients.

Cooper University Hospital, located in Southern New Jersey began their structural heart journey in 2012, and with their procedural volume climbing from 50 to > 200, quickly realized

documenting on paper with hand written notes was archaic and painfully slow. Structural heart program leadership explored ways to expedite both documentation and communication for their care teams. They created templates in the EPIC EMR system which could be utilized to capture required documentation to ensure they were following the CMS’ TAVR National Coverage Determination (NCD). In addition, templates and flowsheets were developed which allowed for collection of specific procedural data for the registries resulting in a streamlined process for consistent documentation practices.

In addition to the utilization of the EMR, the Cooper structural heart team leadership utilized technologies within their current intranet structure to streamline multidisciplinary team communication available on a shared drive. Available to all team members and accessible from all sites within the health system are both an intranet procedural calendar and an all-inclusive patient access database. These technologies drastically cut down on the number of phone calls the

coordinator received from the team allowing the focus to be on quality patient care coordination, facilitating throughput, and enabling top of license practice.

Located in northern New Jersey, Morristown Medical Center (MMC) is poised to do 500 TAVR cases this year. In the past, MMC had been impacted by increased lengths of stay (LOS) and low

financial contribution margins (CM). Examining data in real time led to opportunities to change practice resulting in a reduction in LOS from 8.6 days on average to 2.7 and an increase in the CM for the organization. However, gathering the data in real time was a monumental task which took hours to complete.

TAVR Program Optimization: Harnessing EPIC Technologies

Support AASA with Institutional SponsorshipAASA Institutional Sponsorships support AASA educational programming, enhancing the body of knowledge within the field of healthcare administration and furthering the mission of the AASA . Benefits include recognition on the AASA website, at the Annual Conference, and throughout the year . Visit www.aasa1.org for more information on how you and your institution can support AASA .

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EPIC was implemented in June of 2018 and has allowed for the collection of real time, verified data to organizational leadership. In conjunction with the EPIC build team, structural heart leadership developed a dashboard which is able to provide real time data within seconds of logging in. Procedural volumes, LOS, providers, mortality, stroke, and pacemaker rates are some of the components available on the dashboard. Data is able to be exported from the dashboard into Excel spreadsheets, or into graphs to allow for easy sharing of data. In addition, case-related financial information is pulled into the dashboard for close monitoring of fiscal impacts of the program for the organization.

In addition, EPIC provided a

solution for a second challenge the MMC team had identified. Lack of timely communication with the referring providers due to the large number of new TAVR referrals coming through the program presented frustration on all sides. Communications with referring providers at multiple times during the screening and treatment process presented a nearly impossible task for overburdened, time-challenged Valve Coordinators. Referring provider templates were created in EPIC which allowed for a “click of a button” to send the information immediately to the patient’s physician ensuring judicious sharing of information.

EPIC is the EMR of choice in 28% of US hospitals and has increasing potential to partner with

cardiovascular leadership to monitor internal data in real time and base changes and improve efficiencies in the dynamic world of structural heart. We are skimming the surface of possibilities with templates and dashboards. The EPIC EMR can provide real time data to allow for streamlining care processes, enhancing financial viability, and improving patient outcomes. The power to impact structural heart programs and initiate evidenced based changes will be in our ability to continue to harness EPIC technologies.

Co-Authors:

Wendy Schell, MSN, APN-C, AGACNP Structural Heart Program Director Cooper University Hospital

Carrie Redick, RN MSN CCRN Director Interventional Cardiology/Structural Heart Atlantic Health System

Registration is OpenEarly-bird deadline is August 16th

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the Associationof Academic SurgicalAdministrators

The reviews are in, and the 2019 AASA Spring Retreat held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City was a roaring success! Eight separate institutions were represented from seven different states including California, Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.

The event kicked off with a deliciously fun dinner at Porcupine Pub & Grille before the attendees retreated to their hotels to rest up for the jam-packed day that followed.

The retreat content started with an introduction and welcome from the University of Utah Department of Surgery Chair, Sam Finlayson, MD, MPH, MBA. Dr. Finlayson

made reference to the 2004 United States men’s basketball team who, despite having the most talented squad, was bested by Argentina due in large part to Argentina’s superior teamwork. His final remarks were to “learn together, from each other,” which set the tone for the rest of the day.

Laura Torbeck, PhD, followed with a riveting presentation and open discussion about Emotional Intelligence (EI). One attendee commented, “She’s such a great speaker! I loved how she connected with the audience.” Another said, “As a leader that dedicates a lot of time to improving me EI, she still had new/relevant info to share.” It was a very collaborative and open discussion that all attendees enjoyed.

Next up was Jonathan Radin, MBA, from University of Colorado who performed one part comedy routine and one part “Staying Balanced on a Swinging

Pendulum.” The presentation was very impactful, and the poster that was shown in the presentation has since been “plagiarized” and hung up all across the Division of Transplant here at the University of Utah.

Indiana University’s Heidi Gibbs, Renee Clark, and Vanessa Liali then gave a demonstration of their recently developed and integrated clinical dashboards and how it has optimized improvements within the Department of Surgery at Indiana. This presentation generated the most buzz from the attendees as everyone wanted to understand how the team is able to keep the dashboard up-to-date and relevant with faculty and leadership.

Our final presentation of the day was given by Trish Anen who is a Principal – APP Workforce Practice for SullivanCotter. Trish had a ton of great content, so much so that the majority of reviews felt like she should have been given a longer session. Like P.T. Barnum said, “Always leave them wanting more.”

Following the final presentation were three breakout sessions lead by Indiana’s Tim Roach, our

2019 AASA Spring Retreat RecapJune 6 – June 7, 2019 | University of Utah – Salt Lake City, Utah

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the Associationof Academic SurgicalAdministrators

beloved AASA President and UT Southwestern’s Rebecca Napier, and University of Utah’s Cori Ward who lead small group discussion around Compensation Models, Balancing the Tripartite Mission, and Productivity Benchmarking. Although the breakout sessions we’re short, the content and networking with colleagues was productive and the facilitation of the discussions were second to none.

In conclusion, the 2019 AASA Spring Retreat was a fantastic opportunity to network with peers,

and as Dr. Finlayson put it in his opening remarks, “learn together, from each other”!

My sincere thanks to Tim Roach and Indiana University for being our co-host; to the University of Utah Department of Surgery leadership for allowing us to host such an amazing event; to AASA for supporting us along the way; and a final special thanks to Giana Aluculesei (University of Utah); who basically put the entire retreat together, held it together, and took all the photographs that are

displayed throughout this recap. The retreat turned out better than I could have hoped for, thanks to all those who attended, participated, and learned together.

Jason Quinn, University of UtahAASA Western Regional Representative

Upcoming WebinarsUAB MedCast: Reaching a Physician Audience Through PodcastsWednesday, August 21, 2019 | 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT

Join us to learn about UAB MedCast, the nation’s first CME podcast for healthcare professionals. Marissa Keppley and Megan Yeatts of University of Alabama at Birmingham will be presenting and will discuss UAB’s success with podcasts for physician communication and outreach. Visit www.aasa1.org to register.

Annual Conference Preview WebinarMonday, September 23, 2019 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CDT

This webinar will be a survival guide to the 2019 Annual Conference. Attendees will get to hear about all the fantastic additions and changes to the AASA 32nd Annual Conference being held October 26-29, 2019.

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the Associationof Academic SurgicalAdministrators

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Eastern

• Harvard◦ Kolleen Taylor◦ Julie Hennigan◦ Kevin Hart

• Yale◦ Debra Kieslich◦ Christopher

Galatioto

Midwest

• Chicago◦ Armando Casas

• Michigan◦ Karen

Klingensmith

South

• UTSW◦ Robert Nix◦ Joshua Coble◦ Valerie

Southivong

• University ofSouth Florida◦ Anna Herrera

• MD Anderson◦ Kelly McDermott

• UVA◦ Paul Hazelwood

Western

• University of Utah◦ Matt Brady

• University ofCalifornia- Irvine◦ Kimberly Ang

• UC San Diego◦ Michelle Ziemba

• University ofColorado◦ Amy Bohrer

AASA Membership Report

Thank You To Our 2019-2020 Sponsors

Welcome, New Members!

New members March 8-July18, 2019

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors Bronze Sponsors

Bridgepoint Coaching & Strategy GroupDuke UniversityMerritt Hawkins

Stanford University - Orthopedics

University of Colorado

University of South Florida

University of UtahWake Forest Baptist Medical Cener

Yale University

University of Rochester Medical Center

University of Kentucky

Michigan Medicine‚ Division of Urologic Oncology

ECG Management ConsultantsSullivanCotter

The Medicus Firm

University of Alabama at BirminghamUniversity of Florida/College of Medicine

UTSouthwestern