October 2024 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
Vizient announces 2024 top performers in clinical quality, supplier diversity and environmental sustainability excellence
Vizient, Inc. announced top performers in clinical quality, supplier diversity and environmental sustainability excellence. The awards recognize the achievements of participating hospitals and health systems in patient care quality and supply chain excellence and were announced at Vizient Connections Summit Sept. 17 in Las Vegas.
The Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award recognizes participating healthcare organizations in four cohorts through the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study, which measures performance on the quality of patient care in six domains: safety, mortality, effectiveness, efficiency, patient centeredness and equity. The study factors in measures from the Vizient Clinical Data Base and includes performance data from the HCAHPS survey and the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network.
Top performers in the comprehensive academic medical center cohort are:
- NYU Langone Health
- Rush University Medical Center
- UC Irvine Medical Center
- Houston Methodist Hospital
- Intermountain Medical Center
- Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center
- UCSF Medical Center
- Froedtert Health – Froedtert Hospital
- UC San Diego Health
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital
- Mayo Clinic Rochester
- The University of Kansas Hospital
- Keck Hospital of USC
- University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics
The community hospital winners for 2016 are:
- Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital
- Wake Forest Baptist Health Lexington Medical Center
- Mayo Clinic Health System in Red Wing
- Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital
- Parkland Health Center
- Vidant Duplin Hospital
- Indiana University Health Tipton Hospital
- UCHealth—Poudre Valley Hospital
- Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital
- Vidant Beaufort Hospital
- Beaumont Hospital, Grosse Pointe
- Houston Methodist West Hospital
- Newton-Wellesley Hospital
- Mayo Clinic Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona
“Vizient is proud to continue a tradition started by University HealthSystem Consortium of honoring top- performing academic medical centers with the Quality Leadership Award and to extend this recognition to qualifying community hospitals,” said Jody Hatcher, president, sourcing and collaboration services. “This year’s winners all demonstrate a successful leadership style, a shared sense of purpose, a focus on results, and a culture of collaboration, accountability and adaptability; attributes that are necessary to succeed during this time of unrelenting change in our industry. Congratulations to each winning organization.”
Intermountain Health expands partnership with Story Health
Intermountain Health, one of the nation’s premier not-for-profit health systems, announced an expanded relationship with Story Health, a digital health company transforming specialty care delivery, that will increase patient access to Intermountain’s nationally-recognized cardiology care across the health system.
The expansion follows a highly successful pilot program launched by Intermountain and Story Health in January 2023 for patients with a new heart failure diagnosis. Heart failure is an increasingly prevalent and costly that is expected to grow by more than 25% by 2030, with a price tag that is expected to eclipse the $30 billion mark.
While there are enormous challenges, clear evidence demonstrates that the management of medical therapies for this population can significantly reduce morbidity, reduce hospitalizations, and improve quality of life. Specifically, getting patients on optimized medication, known as guideline directed medical therapy (GDMT), has been shown to increase life expectancy of heart failure patients up to five years and can reduce hospitalizations by more than 70%.
“Intermountain has long been a leader in developing innovative models of care for treating complex patient populations. However, we need to continue to close remaining gaps in care to truly deliver best-in-class cardiology care,” said Kaley Graham, executive director of Intermountain Health’s award-winning heart and vascular clinical program. “After demonstrating successful results during our pilot program, we are confident Story Health complements and enhances the work we do in the clinic to support cardiac conditions in the outpatient setting.”
Using Story Health’s program, which utilizes a virtual and asynchronous care model, Intermountain Health patients enrolled in the pilot program experienced a significant clinical improvement, including an increase in achieving medication optimization (GDMT) – with 80% of those medication changes handled without a clinic visit.
AllSpire Health selects Premier, Inc. as its national GPO
Premier, Inc. announced that it has been selected by AllSpire Health GPO, LLC (AllSpire), a regional group purchasing organization (GPO), as its primary national GPO and to support AllSpire’s more than $3.5 billion in annual GPO purchasing volume. Premier will leverage its scale and actionable data to evaluate products and services – and support the continued development of a best-in-class contract portfolio to drive efficiencies, economic success and high-quality patient care for AllSpire Health GPO members, their patients and the communities they serve.
“AllSpire’s mission is to enable each member system to thrive in a dynamic environment and continuously enhance the quality, efficiency and scope of care we deliver to our patients and communities,” said Brian Gragnolati, Chair of the AllSpire Health Partners Executive Committee, and President and CEO of Atlantic Health System. “Premier’s combination of market-leading, competitive contracts, automation technologies and data-driven insights make them an ideal strategic partner for supporting supply chain excellence and delivering optimal value to our members and our communities.”
Under terms of the agreement, AllSpire Health GPO members that comprise 54 acute care hospitals with more than 12,200 licensed acute beds will be Premier GPO members and fully utilize Premier’s national contract portfolio. Premier will further support the development of AllSpire’s regional contract portfolio for categories where local market dynamics drive optimal value and service.
Community Health Systems’ Northwest Healthcare to acquire 10 Carbon Health Urgent Care Centers
Northwest Urgent Care, LLC, a Tucson, Arizona, subsidiary of Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH), has signed an agreement to acquire 10 Arizona urgent care centers from Carbon Health.
Northwest Urgent Care, LLC is part of Northwest Healthcare’s integrated healthcare network serving Tucson and its surrounding communities. This strategic acquisition will expand capacity and increase Northwest Healthcare’s network to more than 80 sites of care when the transaction is completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
“Our strategic investments are accelerating the growth of important access points in our health systems and expanding capacity for more patients,” said Tim L. Hingtgen, chief executive officer of Community Health Systems, Inc. “In markets like Tucson, we are successfully executing strategies that make healthcare accessible and convenient, further improve our competitive position, and generate value for all of our stakeholders.”
Over the past five years, Northwest Healthcare has invested approximately $200 million in strategic growth and capital projects throughout the Greater Tucson Metro area, including two new hospitals – Northwest Medical Center Sahuarita and Northwest Medical Center Houghton.
“We are grateful for the skills and compassion of our Northwest Healthcare physicians, nurses and other team members who deliver safe, quality care for patients,” added Hingtgen. “Last year, they provided medical care for more than 845,000 encounters, and the acquisition of these 10 urgent care centers will make the network’s impact even stronger.”
Mayo Clinic to expand Hospital Rehabilitation Care
rooks Rehabilitation, a leader in treating patients after life-altering brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, strokes and other complex conditions, will open an inpatient rehabilitation hospital on Mayo Clinic’s Phoenix campus. Brooks Rehabilitation has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 rehabilitation hospital in Florida and top 20 in the nation, and the new hospital will join Brooks’ network of three existing inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in Florida.
The rehabilitation hospital will reside on eight acres adjacent to Mayo Clinic’s Phoenix hospital, near the Arizona State University Health Futures Center. The estimated $70 million project will begin construction in December 2024 with a projected opening in summer 2026. Plans include a three-story, 80,000-square-foot hospital with 60 private patient rooms and the ability to expand as demand for services increases. The new hospital is expected to add more than 200 jobs to the market at full maturity.
UPMC and VA Healthcare–VISN 4 announce rollout of Community Nurse Liaison Program to assist veterans
VISN 4 announced a Pennsylvania statewide rollout of the VA–UPMC Community Nurse Liaison Program, extending services to veterans by offering care coordination, better hospital admission and discharge planning and improved inpatient experiences. Community nurse liaisons help improve care provision and ensure that post-emergency follow-up care is directed in a way that best meets veterans’ needs.
Joel Yuhas, executive vice president, UPMC, and president, UPMC Health Services Division, along with Timothy W. Liezert, network director, VA Healthcare–VISN 4, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) implementing the Community Nurse Liaison program at eight UPMC hospitals. The Program enhances and expands VISN 4’s collaboration with UPMC, providing a seamless transition of care for veterans after an inpatient stay by coordinating discharges, identifying veterans who are not in the VA system and enrolling new veterans into VA health care.
“This expanded program is built off the success of the VA-UPMC Community Nurse Liaison Program in Central Pennsylvania established in 2022,” said Timothy W. Liezert, network director, VA Healthcare–VISN 4. “The results of that smaller program showed great potential for growth and the collaboration could be easily scaled up to serve more veterans. This statewide rollout is an exciting expansion that will benefit countless veterans and help them more easily navigate the health care system to ensure they get the right care and utilize their VA benefits fully. This announcement is just the beginning, and I look forward to the additional partnerships that may develop as other health systems learn about our program and want to participate.”