Sept. 3: Improving Birth’s National Rally for Change • Centennial Park

On Labor Day, Nashville will be part of rallies being held in 100 cities to draw attention to the need to improve maternity care in the United States. Improving Birth was founded to encourage hospital administrators to review their birth-specific policies and procedures, and asking them to implement incentive programs for doctors and nurses to get up-to-date information and education about the most current care practices. Despite outspending every other country in the world on maternity costs, America has the highest rate of maternal mortality of all developed nations. For more information, visit www.ImprovingBirth.org.

Sept. 4, Oct. 2, Nov. 6 & Dec. 4: Heart Healthy Cooking Classes • Saint Thomas Hospital

Saint Thomas Heart has announced the fall schedule for its popular cooking school, which includes cardiac specialists, nutritional education, cooking demonstrations and tastings. Classes are free but limited to the first 75 registrants. To register, call 800-588-3270. Classes are held in the hospital cafeteria and begin at 3 pm.

Sept. 19-21: 5^th Annual Healthcare Deal Making Summit • Gaylord Springs Golf Links

The summit brings together buyers, sellers, financiers, middleman and other stakeholders to exchange perspectives, network and create a marketplace for transactions. For more info or to register, www.informationforecastnet.com/healthcare, Registration Code: HD1E12 or call  818-888-4444

Sept. 19-23: Regional Conference on Critical Incident Stress Management Sponsored by Centerstone • Radisson Hotel at Opryland

Centerstone’s Crisis Management Strategies program and the International Critical Incident Stress Management Foundation are jointly sponsoring a regional conferment to provide companies, business leaders, healthcare providers, risk management professionals, first responders, social workers and mental health professionals life-saving guidelines and tactics to deal with crisis situations. For information on CEUs, PDHs and available certificates, or to register for the conference, go to www.icisf.org.

Sept. 29: Centennial Pediatrics Foundation “Beat the Odds” Fundraiser • Hillwood Country Club

Raising funds to assist the foundation in fostering preventive healthcare and advancing evidence-based prevention and education to optimize health of Middle Tennessee children and their families. More than 13 percent of area children are uninsured without acces to a medical home. The gala begins at 6 pm and includes entertainment, silent auction, chef-hosted carving stations and an after party. For information, contact Nancy Whitman at (615) 620-5134 or nwhitman@centpeds.com.

Oct. 2-5: Project Management Masters Certification Program • Tennessee State University

An interactive workshop for those seeking project management certification or professional development units for current certifications. The program provides 36 hours of project management education, meeting education requirements for both PMI's Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® and Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications. Additionally, the Master Certification provides 36 PDUs for current holders of PMP^®/PgMP^®, PMI-SP^®, and PMI-RMP^® credentials. For information or to register, www.projectmanagementusa123.org.

Oct. 6: Nashville Heart Walk

Oct. 28: Rutherford Heart Walk

The non-competitive, 5K fundraising walk helps support research, public health programs and community education to fight heart disease and stroke, America’s No. 1 and No. 4 killers. C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, and Marilyn Dubree, MSN, RN, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center will be co-chairs of the 2012 Nashville Heart Walk, which hopes to raise $1.75 million.

For information on either walk, call (615) 340-4100. To register for the Nashville Heart Walk, visit www.nashvilleheartwalk.org.

Tennessee Effort Seeks to Remove Barriers to Breast-Feeding

Vanderbilt University has signed on for a statewide project to increase exclusive breast-feeding in hospitals and delivery centers. The Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care (TIPQC) kicked off the project recently at Vanderbilt University Medical Center with 16 hospital teams from around the state.

The goal is to improve the health of infants and mothers in Tennessee by removing barriers and providing support for mothers who choose to breast-feed. Participating institutions will track breast-feeding rates and compare to baseline data to measure success.

As of July, about 50 percent of all infants discharged from the newborn nursery at Vanderbilt were exclusively breast-fed; about 39 percent were fed formula and breast milk; and another 11 percent were strictly formula fed. Vanderbilt hopes to see at least a 10 percent increase in exclusive breast-feeding rates. In January, the hospital initiated a new policy on breast-feeding, and the nursery no longer provides formula-sponsored discharge bags or pacifiers, which shouldn’t be introduced until about three or four weeks after birth until breast-feeding is well established.

Maury Regional Medical Center Performs its First Cranial Radiosurgery

This summer, Mark Cobb, MD, a neurosurgeon, and Joel Kochanski, MD, a radiation oncologist performed the first cranial radiosurgery at Maury Regional Medical Center (MRMC).

“We have had the technology to conduct radiosurgery for several months and have used this same technology for treating inoperable tumors in the liver and lungs,” said Kochanski. “Since Dr. Cobb joined the medical staff in June, we’ve been able to expand the use of this technology for brain tumors as well.”

Cobb, assistant professor of neurological surgery at Vanderbilt, received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University. He completed his residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and a fellowship in epilepsy surgery at Yale University School of Medicine. Kochanski, a member of the medical staff since 2008, received his medical degree from Stanford University in California and completed his residency at University of Chicago Hospitals.

National Breast Cancer Coalition Report Finds Little Progress

In mid-August, the National Breast Cancer Coalition released its second annual progress report detailing the state of breast cancer and the status of Breast Cancer Deadline 2020®, the organization’s move to end breast cancer by Jan. 1, 2020. The report finds no major breakthroughs in diagnosis or treatment last year and little progress in improving prevention and mortality rates.

“The attention and resources devoted to breast cancer lead the public to believe we are making significant progress toward ending the disease,” said Fran Visco, NBCC president and a breast cancer survivor. “Our report shows this is not the case.”

The overall number of women diagnosed with breast cancer continues to increase as the population ages, although the rate has remained constant, and mortality has declined slightly. In 2012, it is estimated 290,000 women and 2,190 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 39,510 women and 410 men will die from the disease.

Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About!

Awards, Honors, Recognitions

Second-year Meharry Medical College student Christopher Watson has been recognized by Legacy, the largest national public health foundation dedicated to keeping teens from smoking and providing resources to smokers who want to quit, for his efforts as a student recruiter and facilitator for Meharry’s Division of Preventive Medicine Health Disparities post-cancer survivorship education and evaluation program to teach about the dangers of tobacco use and ways to share that message with family and friends.

Saint Thomas Hospital was named Tennessee’s safest hospital in a recent Consumer Reports review of the nation’s hospitals.

Capella Healthcare, Centerre Healthcare Corporation, Cumberland Consulting Group, Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, and IASIS Healthcare have made Modern Healthcare’s list of fastest-growing healthcare companies as part of the magazine’s inaugural “Healthcare’s Hottest” recognition program, recognizing the 40 fastest-growing healthcare companies headquartered in the U.S. that have at least $20 million in revenue for 2011 and have been in business for five years or more. With five companies, the Nashville-area represented more than 10 percent of the national list.

Modern Healthcare also honored Saad Ehtisham, CEO of Univesity Medical Center in Lebanon as one of the 2012 “Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare.”

David Glascoe, CEO of Mary, Queen of Angels, has been named to the Father Ryan Board of Trust. Mary, Queen of Angels is an assisted living community sponsored by the Diocese of Nahsville, overseeing the operation of Villa Maria Manor and the Cloister at St. Henry.

Recent Certifications, Accreditations & Commendations

TriStar Horizon has received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC. The certification means processes are in place that meet the strict criteria to reduce the time from symptom onset to diagnosis and treatment, among other target goals.

Gina Pruitt, managing director of KraftCPAs’ information systems assurance and consulting practice, has earned the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) credential. The CITP is an American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) credential that illustrates business and technology acumen as well as an ability to develop and drive the use of technology to achieve an organization’s goals.

The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center at TriStar Skyline Medical Center and the cancer program at Sumner Regional Medical Center have again received a three-year accreditation with commendations from the Commission on Cancer (CoC), which means the centers have demonstrated a multidisciplinary team approach to coordinated care, the ongoing monitoring and improvement of care, dissemination of information about clinical trials and new treatment protocols and comprehensive, state-of-the-art services and equipment.

Polkow Named CFO of Saint Thomas Health

Saint Thomas Health has named Craig Polkow chief financial officer of the five-hospital health system. Polkow, who previously held both CFO and COO positions at Saint Thomas Hospital, has more than 20 years of progressive management experience with broad expertise in both operations and finance. In his new role, he will oversee and direct all financial functions for Saint Thomas Health’s hospitals, joint ventures and affiliate relationships.

Previously, he was CFO for Dupont Hospital, part of the Lutheran Health System in Fort Wayne, Ind., and served as interim CEO for a time. He also held the CFO position at Indiana hospitals located in Auburn and South Bend before moving to Nashville. He completed his undergraduate degree and MBA at Indiana University at South Bend and received his public accounting certification in 1990. 

Nashville Health Care Council Announces 2012/13 Board

In mid-August, the Nashville Health Care Council announced the appointment of its 2012-2013 Board of Directors. Ben R. Leedle, Jr., president and CEO of Healthways, will continue in his second year as chairman of the board. William F. Carpenter III, chairman and CEO of LifePoint Hospitals, continues as vice-chair and was re-elected to a three-year term.

Christopher A. Holden, president & CEO, AmSurg was also re-elected to a three-year term and Bruce Broussard, president of Humana, Inc., joined the board for a three-year term.   

Eight new members representing healthcare companies and professional services organizations that support the industry joined the 2012-2013 board for one-year terms: Alfredo Arguello, senior vice president, GE Healthcare; Andrew S. Bissonnette, CPA, partner, Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain; Dennis C. Bottorff, managing general partner, Council Capital; Gregory L. Daniels, CPA, senior vice president, Aon Risk Solutions; Roger “Vern” L. Davenport, chairman & CEO, M*Modal; Thomas P. Hackett, managing director, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.; Michael R. Hill, shareholder, Harwell Howard Hyne Gabbert & Manner, P.C.; and Bond E. Oman, CEO, OGA.

In addition, Mark Wainner, vice president of Financial Operations and Revenue Management at AmSurg was elected to serve a one-year term on the Council Board as chairman of the Council’s Leadership Health Care initiative.

Fite Named PR Account Exec for Lam-Andrews

Lam-Andrews, a Nashville-based strategic marketing and public relations firm specializing in healthcare, recently named Carol Fite public relations account executive for the company’s broad spectrum of healthcare clients.   

Fite, who has worked with the company for several months, will continue to help lead account services and creative strategy development. The veteran healthcare public relations specialist previously oversaw marketing and communications for TriStar Centennial Medical Center and five other facilities, including The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center. Prior to that, she held communications post in state government, including a stint with the Bureau of TennCare.

Gooden Moves to ReviveHealth

Kristi Gooden, a 15-year public relations and corporate communications specialist with extensive healthcare experience, recently joined ReviveHealth in the company’s Nashville headquarters office.

Prior to accepting the new position as vice president, Gooden was the PR and media relations director for Saint Thomas Health where she developed comprehensive plans to promote the five-hospital system and its affiliated networks, centers, physician practices. She received her degree in communications from Virginia Tech and began her media relations career in Nashville with Vanderbilt University Athletic Department before moving to Katcher Vaughn & Bailey, where she worked with a number of healthcare clients.

Choma Joins Sumner Regional Medical Staff

Sumner Regional Medical Center (SRMC) has added David Choma, MD, nephrologist and hypertension specialist, to the hospital’s medical staff. Choma will be joining Nephrology Associates in Gallatin to serve patients in Sumner County and the surrounding communities.

He completed medical school at Albany Medical College in New York and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In 2008, he became a clinical fellow in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Vanderbilt, becoming the chief fellow in 2009. He also served as a post-doctoral research fellow in the division.

Headshot of Riley.

Riley Named Principal at Cumberland Consulting Group

Cumberland Consulting Group recently announced the promotion of Mark Riley to principal. Since joining the firm in 2005, he has managed healthcare information technology implementation projects for some of the nation’s largest corporate and academic health systems. Riley specializes in HIT systems configuration, testing, training, and implementation support and has served as a project manager, system designer, requirements analyst and software developer.

Prior to joining Cumberland, Riley served on the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young global IT services team and has more than a decade of experience in the development and deployment of custom and package software applications for the healthcare, energy, finance and retail industries. He received his degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and holds a number of professional certifications.

Vanderbilt Study Finds Obesity Linked to Kidney Injury after Heart Surgery

Obesity increases the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery, according to a Vanderbilt study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Considered common after cardiac surgery, AKI represents a fivef-old increase in mortality risk within 30 days after the procedure and is associated with longer hospital stays and a range of complications. The study, led by anesthesiologist Frederic T. (Josh) Billings IV, MD, MSc, followed a sample of 455 cardiac surgery patients at Vanderbilt University Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Some 25 percent of the patients developed AKI after their procedure. The study found that patients with a higher body mass index (BMI) had a much greater risk. After adjusting for several other risk factors, the odds of AKI increased a staggering 26.5 percent for every five-point increase in a patient’s BMI.

Billings and colleagues used mediation analysis to discover that oxidative stress could be the mechanism by which obesity influences acute kidney injury. Oxidative stress is the toxic overabundance of reactive oxygen species, brought on by excess generation or insufficient elimination. “By identification of this mechanism, we now may be able to target intraoperative oxidative stress with the hope of reducing kidney injury following cardiac surgery. That may be particularly appropriate for obese individuals,” Billings said.

Herron Announces Retirement

After 44 years of service in the healthcare industry, TriStar Centennial CEO Thomas Herron, FACHE, recently announced he will retire at the end of the year.

Since assuming the role of CEO at TriStar Centennial in 2006, Herron has overseen and led his team through a major expansion of the medical center’s services while upgrading its facilities. Under his leadership, the facility saw the addition of 71 new licensed beds, renovation of the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center, expansion of the women’s and children’s service lines, and opening of the Heart & Vascular Center. TriStar Ashland City, located just north of Nashville, achieved accreditation by The Joint Commission and construction is underway on the long-awaited TriStar ER in Spring Hill.

Steve Corbeil, president of TriStar Health, praised Herron’s leadership. He noted that a national search to continue the work started by Herron was underway.

Bolin Named CFO for Williamson Medical Center

Williamson Medical Center recently named Paul Bolin, chief financial officer. He joined WMC in 1994 and has served as assistant CFO for more than five years. He succeeds Don Webb, FHFMA, who was recently named CEO of the medical center. 

Bolin is a fellow with the Healthcare Financial Management Association and is currently serving as president elect of HFMA’s Tennessee chapter.

Apple Named Director of Council & Enhanced Tennessee Fund

Rick Apple has been named director of Council & Enhanced Tennessee Fund, which was established by Council Capital and Enhanced Capital Partners in 2009 and received $14 million in TNInvestco funding to invest in qualifying companies.

Apple will be responsible on a day-to-day basis for all aspects of the investment process, from deal sourcing and screening to portfolio monitoring and reporting. He joined the Tennessee Fund and Council Capital in 2010 while pursuing advanced management and legal degrees at Vanderbilt. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and received an MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management, as well as his law degree, from Vanderbilt.

iPractice Group Announces Second Expansion of Direct Sales Force

Nashville-based iPractice Group, Inc. has announced another expansion of their direct sales representatives who offer PrimeSUITE® EHR & PM software and will now cover nine additional U.S. states.

Joining the company are five seasoned account executives with proven track records in healthcare technology products: Byron Smith based in Louisville, who will cover Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana; Antonio Marrone based in Orlando, who covers Florida; Teresa Allen based in St. Louis, who covers Missouri, Iowa, and Southern Illinois; and Manolito Jones based in Kansas City, Mo., covering Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.

These latest additions are the second wave in iPractice Group’s growth plan for larger direct sales team covering 28 states by Oct. 1, 2012.

MagMutual Names New VP of Risk Management & Patient Safety

Last month, MagMutual Insurance Company, based in Atlanta and serving more than 17,500 physicians in the Southeast, announced Ann Lambrecht, RN, JD, ARM, FASHRM, has joined the company as vice president of Risk Management and Patient Safety.

“Patient safety is a key to high-quality medicine. MagMutual is dedicated to helping physicians and patients experience medicine in the safest environment possible. Ann has embraced this philosophy and is committed to being a trusted and sought-after resource to help providers implement processes and practices to improve safety, clinical outcomes and patient and provider satisfaction,” said Joseph S. Wilson, Jr., MD, chairman and CEO, MagMutual. 

Most recently Lambrecht served as vice president of Risk Services for McNeary, Inc., an insurance

brokerage firm and risk management consultancy in Charlotte, N.C. She also brings a wealth of experience from the hospital and clinical setting to MagMutual.

Lambrecht holds a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Detroit and a law degree from the University of Detroit School of Law. She is a Fellow at the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management.

American Heart Association, Minute Clinic Launch National Program to Fight Hypertension

Beginning last month, the American Heart Association and MinuteClinic, the retail healthcare division of CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), have joined in a nationwide effort to improve the identification, treatment and management of high blood pressure.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. MinuteClinic nurse practitioners and physician assistants will be trained in the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines on the treatment and management of high blood pressure and will refer patients who are identified to have high blood pressure to their primary care physician and to educational resources to help them understand how they can manage their condition.

Any MinuteClinic patient with elevated blood pressure will receive a wallet-sized card with a record of their blood pressure reading for that date and will be advised to return to MinuteClinic or their Primary Care Physician for a second reading within two weeks. They will also receive information about high blood pressure and important lifestyle modifications that help maintain a healthy blood pressure.

There are 14 Minute Clinics in Middle Tennessee.

Cardiovascular Care Group Acquires Bakersfield Heart Hospital

Nashville-based Cardiovascular Care Group (CCG) recently finalized the acquisition of a majority interest in the Bakersfield Heart Hospital in California from MedCath Corporation (NASDAQ: MDTH). It marks the second major acquisition by CCG this year as it continues to build a national network of regionally integrated delivery systems focused upon providing optimal care to patients with cardiovascular disease.

Tags:

Bookmark:

Digg

Facebook

Technorati

Newsvine

Google

Related: