Company: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Company Description: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN) is a not-for-profit academic community hospital network serving eastern PA. Designated national Magnet hospitals for nursing excellence, LVHHN’s three hospitals are rank among Pennsylvania’s largest teaching hospitals. Ranked as one of America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, LVHHN’s 800-bed system serves over 42,000 patients a year.
Nomination Category: Team Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Support Team

Nomination Title: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network Employee Team Boosts Bed Capacity, Cuts ER Waits

   1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved in 2004 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Two years ago, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network’s emergency
department (ED) waiting rooms were packed, delays were long and there weren’t
enough beds. Ambulances were being diverted, transfer patients turned away and
operating rooms put on hold.  Employee and patient satisfaction ratings were low.

LVHHN was not alone. Hospitals across the country were having trouble handling
patient volume because of a steady decline in the number of hospitals and beds
and skyrocketing admissions. Between 1996 and 2002 ER visits increased by
more than 14% nationally.

Committed to providing excellent care to an expanding patient population, LVHHN
needed a solution and quickly. Instead of looking to outside consultants, LVHHN
decided to look within.

In July 2002, Growing Organizational Capacity (GOC) was launched. The GOC
team was designed to engage employees throughout the organization in the
challenge of increasing capacity by improving internal processes.  GOC sponsors
included the chief operating officer, president of the medical staff and the
chair of medicine.  Mid-level managers from across the organization – care management, bed management, management engineering, organizational development, finance, information systems, education and public affairs – were recruited for their perspective and special skills.  At-large members were chosen from other departments.  Each group within the organization was involved and tasked with finding the solution.

Several projects provided immediate results:
• A find-a-bed-team converted offices, lounges, waiting rooms and
storage areas into 70 new patient beds.
• An express admission unit was opened with eight beds. Doctors could
admit patients directly to the unit, bypassing the ED completely.
• A short-stay unit opened to address the 12.6% growth in surgical
cases. It shifted select cases to another LVHHN campus with an ambulatory
surgery unit.
• The discharge process was torn down and "stitched" together as a new
patient logistic function, which gained control of all discharge and allied
functions including patient transport, intra-hospital transfer, bed cleaning, discharge
reporting, and centralized ambulance transport.

The new patient logistics function was central to the success of the program. By
bringing the various functions under one department, bed turnover improved
significantly. Once internal processes were ironed out, an automated patient
transport and bed management system was installed. This provided centralized
bed management and accurate, real-time bed capacity numbers – critical in
disaster scenarios.

Since launching GOC, LVHHN has maintained an optimal 85% capacity, despite
an increase of 4,500 admissions in the past 2 years. Bed turnaround has dropped
from almost 5 hours to 1 hour. Transfer center admissions have increased 150%.
Express admissions are up by 50% and ambulance diversions have been cut by
more than 36%. ER patients are being seen and treated faster and patient
satisfaction figures have jumped to the 97th percentile. Employee satisfaction has
risen too, as reflected in LVHHN being voted #2 of the 50 Best (large) Places to
Work in PA in 2005.

In addition to addressing ED and hospital capacity problems, the GOC experience
provides LVHHN with a viable internal team model for addressing future challenges
as they arise.

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]:

National Healthcare Statistics
SEE: Modern Healthcare Magazine “2004 By The Numbers” – Left Column, ,
Pg. 8 &9
http://www.modernhealthcare.com

LVHHN as Best Place to Work in PA
http://www.bestplacestoworkinpa.com

Automated Patient and Bed Management System
http://www.teletracking.com
See:  Tracking Success – “Lehigh Valley Hospital Tackles the ‘Capacity Crunch’”

“Bed Tracking Improves Productivity, Staff Morale”
http://health-care-it.advanceweb.com/Common/editorial/editorial.aspx?CC=42473

LVHHN Results Statistics – Patient Satisfaction, ED and Growing Organizational
Capacity Results.  See slides #9,  10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, and 33
http://www.lvhhn.org/aba

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of this nominated team:

Terry A. Capuano, RN, MSN, MBA is Senior Vice President for Clinical Services
at LVHHN. She is responsible for all inpatient nursing services; physical,
occupational, speech, and respiratory therapies; pharmacy; the Sleep Disorder
Center; and various support services including infection control, patient
representatives and pastoral care at three hospital campuses.  Ms. Capuano holds
the $1.5 million Peggy Fleming Endowed Chair for research and professional
development and serves as an Associate Professor at Cedar Crest College and
DeSales University.

She is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the
Pennsylvania Organization of Nursing Leaders, the American college of Health
Care Executives, and Sigma Theta Tau.  Active, professional commitments
include the Board of the American Red Cross local chapter, Advisory Board of the
Hospital Association of Pennsylvania, and the Fairgrounds Surgical Board.  Ms.
Capuano has published articles on clinical and managerial topics, with numerous
presentations given and poster sessions held at national conferences.

>>>>>>>>>>
Richard S. MacKenzie, MD, FACEP is the vice chairman of the LVHHN
Emergency Department (ED) and site director for Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar
Crest ED. He has direct and indirect oversight responsibility for 36 physicians, 12
physician assistants and 150+ other staff. Prior to joining LVHHN in October 1997,
Dr. MacKenzie was the ED medical director of the John Dempsey Hospital, the
medical director for the University of Connecticut Health Center Emergency
Medical Services, and Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Surgery, Division of
Emergency Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Throughout his career, Dr. MacKenzie has been actively involved with clinical
quality improvement initiatives.  In addition to various publications and
lectures, he has held leadership positions with the American College of Emergency
Physicians, Connecticut Chapter, the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation,
University of Connecticut Health Center, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, JHPC EMS
Division and serves as an oral board examiner for the American Board of
Emergency Medicine.