Client News: Botsford Hospital Ranked Among National Leaders in Quality and Responsible Care

Source: Bostford Hospital News Release

Botsford Hospital has been ranked as one of the top 100 hospitals in the nation in terms of quality and value provided to the community according to a study of U.S. hospitals just released by a leading health care consulting firm.

Botsford was recognized as a top-ranked Community Value Provider in the State of the Hospital Industry –2011 Edition published by Cleverley +Associates based in Worthington, Ohio. The annual report assesses both financial strength and quality performance of hospitals and ranks the information through a Community Value Index using publicly available data including Medicare Cost Reports, Medicare Inpatient Claims, Medicare Outpatient Claims and 2009-2010 Hospital Compare data.

“We were honored that Botsford received both the Community Value 100 and Community Value Five-Star awards,” said Paul LaCasse, D.O., president and CEO of Botsford Health Care. “Our CVI scores tell us that our hard work in providing top quality and responsible care has paid off when our results are benchmarked against that of all other hospitals of similar size and teaching status.” The Community Value 100 award recognizes the top 100 hospitals while the Five Star Award is given to those scoring in the top 20 percent of their group; Botsford is ranked with other medium size teaching hospitals. 

The Community Value Index assesses hospital performance in four key areas: financial viability and reinvestment in the facility, reasonable cost and charge structures and hospital quality indicators. The 2011 awards are based on 2009 hospital data.

Botsford Hospital is a multi-specialty community hospital with 330 licensed beds located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The hospital was founded in 1965 with a vision of providing excellence and quality in the delivery of health care. Botsford Hospital each year cares for more than 17,000 inpatients and almost 60,000 emergency patients with a team of 2,400 employees, 400 volunteers and more than 600 physicians. A not-for-profit hospital, Botsford provided almost $27 million in community benefit during its 2008 fiscal year.

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Client News: Botsford Health Care Announces New Chief Information Officer

Source: Botsford Health Care Press Release

Botsford Health Care and ACS, Inc., A Xerox Company, are pleased to announce that Brian L. McPherson has been appointed chief information officer, effective May 18. ACS provides Botsford's information technology (IT) services.

McPherson began his tenure at Botsford last year as program director for Botsford Health Care's electronic medical record (EMR) system implementation.

In his new role, McPherson is responsible for planning, coordinating and facilitating information services, and ensuring adherence to proper change management, testing, redundancy and constant communication of the potential impacts on the patient. He is also responsible for staying abreast of information technology’s clinical impacts by being closely aligned with key clinical leadership.

"Brian is an experienced health care IT executive," said Paul E. LaCasse, D.O., MPH, president and CEO, Botsford Health Care. "With his leadership skills and high standards of service, he will provide leadership to our CIT Department as the network continues its transformation of care. He has the right skill set to work with clinicians and information technology experts to help us with the integration of our EMR system implementation."

McPherson’s career experience includes employment as principal, director and senior health care account executive at various health care and IT organizations in the metropolitan Detroit area. He has also led several large-scale consulting initiatives for clients nationwide, including implementing EMRs, providing privacy and security audits and assessments, and leading the formation of health information exchanges (HIE). He received his bachelor of science degree in management information systems from Central Michigan University where he was named Academic All-Conference for football.

McPherson has served as an at-large board member of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and participates on several committees and groups that work toward health care interoperability at the state and national levels.

Botsford Hospital is a multi-specialty community hospital with 330 licensed beds located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The hospital was founded in 1965 with a vision of providing excellence and quality in the delivery of health care. Botsford Hospital each year cares for more than 17,000 inpatients and almost 60,000 emergency patients with a team of 2,400 employees, 400 volunteers and more than 600 physicians. A not-for-profit hospital, Botsford provided almost $27 million in community benefit during its 2008 fiscal year.

Client News: Botsford Cancer Center Takes Green Seriously

Source: Farmington Hills Patch
Written by: Joni Hubred-Golden

The George Riley Healing Garden, as an innovative aspect of the site design, earned the Botsford Cancer Center a point toward its Silver LEED certification.Credit Joni Hubred-Golden

The Botsford Cancer Center in Farmington Hills scored a silver rating in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, thanks to extraordinary environmental efforts in building and maintaining the 30,000-square-foot facility on Grand River.

During the past three years, those efforts have paid off, in energy and water usage far less than what would be expected with traditional construction.

The numbers are impressive: Stormwater runoff decreased by 25 percent; potable water use was reduced by 28.7 percent; energy use was reduced by 21.5 percent; and 797.36 tons of construction waste was diverted from landfills when the facility was built in 2008.

But the center is also scoring points on the human side, with satisfied patients and happy employees.

The first thing you notice when you walk through the door is how fresh the air seems. An air filtration system captures about 80 percent of dust particles as small as 1 micron (one-millionth of a meter).

Nicholle Mehr, who manages the center, said the building was constructed with products that have low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including indoor adhesives and sealants, indoor paints and coatings and carpets. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, VOCs can cause "short- and long-term adverse health effects."

"I like working in this environment," Mehr said. "And our patients love the fact that it's a green facility. They like the fact they're not surrounded by chemicals."

David Ferguson, director of design and construction, said getting a medical building LEED certified was no easy task.

"Hospitals are under many, many regulations," he said, "and a lot of them are very strict. ... They're trying to work that out and have recently come out with LEED for health care buildings."

He said there are some LEED goals hospitals can't meet, such as requirements for air recirculation, "but in trade for that, you can do other things."

One innovative aspect of the hospital's design, which earned BCC a point toward LEED certification, is a healing garden located between the center and the historic Botsford Inn, once owned by Henry Ford. In 1999, Botsford Hospital purchased the inn property; a large barn on the site was moved to a home on 13 Mile Road in Farmington Hills to make way for the cancer center.

The inn had a rose garden, and stones from it were used in the walls for the new garden, hospital spokesperson Beth Montalvo said. The George F. Riley Healing Garden was built with a donation from the Riley Foundation.

Mehr said patients and family members often wander out to the healing garden, especially when a visit to the center has been particularly stressful.

"It's a very restful place," she said, adding that patients receiving chemotherapy can look down over the garden.

One aspect of LEED certification that directly affects patients is transportation. The BCC earned a point for having access to public transportation. Although SMART regional bus service wanted to establish a stop on the cancer center's campus, Ferguson said Botsford didn't want bus traffic coming through the parking lot.

Instead, the stop was placed in an acceleration lane on Grand River, from which patients have an easy walk to the center.

"These are all things you have to do," Ferguson said of the LEED process. "They force you to do the right thing."

While it has nothing to do with LEED certification, the center's holistic approach – from alternative therapies and yoga to nutrition counseling – is all part of a package that has Botsford Cancer Center patients more than satisfied with their experience.

A 2010 patient survey measured satisfaction with everything from the front desk personnel's helpfulness to wait time for treatments. All patients surveyed agreed they were satisfied with their care; more than 94 percent strongly agreed.

"We have never had a dissatisfied patient in 2½ years," Mehr said. "We are all patient advocates here. ... From a humanistic standpoint, that's our role, to make sure the patient is taken care of."

For more information about the Botsford Cancer Center, visit botsford.org/cancer_center/.

Client News: Botsford Hospital Recognized as Destination for Knee and Hip Replacement

Source: Botsford HealthSource Magazine

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network have designated Botsford Hospital as a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement.® The Blue Distinction designation is awarded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality health care in selected medical disciplines. The program is part of The Blues’ efforts to collaborate with physicians and medical facilities to improve the overall quality and safety of specialty care.

To earn a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement, the following types of criteria were evaluated:

Established acute care inpatient facility, including intensive care, emergency care and a full range of patient  support services with full accreditation by a CMS-deemed national accreditation organization

Experience and training of program surgeons, including case volume

Quality management programs, including surgical checklists, as well as tracking and evaluation of clinical outcomes and process of care

Multidisciplinary clinical pathways and teams to coordinate and streamline care, including transitions of care

Shared decision-making and preoperative patient education

** Designation as a Blue Distinction Center® means this facility’s overall experience and aggregate data met objective criteria established in collaboration with expert clinicians’ and leading professional organizations’ recommendations. Individual outcomes may vary. To find out which services are covered under your policy at any facilities, please call the Customer Service number on the back of your Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield identification card or call your local Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield plan.

Client News: Botsford Nursing Director Wins Award for Focusing on Quality Standards

Source: Botsford News Release

Farmington Hills, Mich. (August 25, 2010)- Alexa Simkow, R.N., surgical services nursing director at Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, has been selected as a recipient of a Botsford Hospital 2010 Safety Excellence Award. The award recognizes employees’ contributions to the hospital’s safety initiatives.

Using her knowledge of inspection standards, Simkow has helped many hospital units assure that their policies and procedures meet rigorous standards expected of hospitals. These standards focus on providing safe, well-documented patient care. Simkow has been instrumental in implementing a surgical checklist to prevent errors during surgery.

Simkow, says, “I chose to come to Botsford because quality is its number one priority. It’s apparent to me that we gain big results on quality measures because we value our patients and not because accrediting agencies tell us we must. I am lucky to be part of an organization that knows the importance of providing excellent care.”

Botsford Hospital is a multi-specialty community hospital with 330 licensed beds located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The hospital was founded in 1965 with a vision of providing excellence and quality in the delivery of health care. Botsford Hospital each year cares for more than 17,000 inpatients and almost 60,000 emergency patients with a team of 2,400 employees, 400 volunteers and more than 600 physicians. A not-for-profit hospital, Botsford provided almost $27 million in community benefit during its 2008 fiscal year. www.botsford.org, twitter.com/botsfordnews

Client News: Nurse Wins Award for Testing Botsford Hospital's Readiness for Mass Inoculations

Tina Marinucci, R.N., employee health nurse at Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, has been selected as a recipient of a Botsford Hospital 2010 Safety Excellence Award. The award recognizes employees’ contributions to the hospital’s safety initiatives.

Marinucci received the award for organizing and coordinating the hospital’s first employee mass vaccination drill for the seasonal flu vaccine. The three-part drill vaccinated 2,000 hospital employees in one day and tested the hospital’s ability to cope with a communicable disease outbreak. The first part of the drill consisted of a mass inoculation of all employees. The other two components included lockdown of the hospital at shift change and a screening process for employees coming on to campus to check for symptoms of illness. All employees had to be vaccinated or sign a declination.

Botsford Hospital is a multi-specialty community hospital with 330 licensed beds located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Botsford Hospital each year cares for more than 17,000 inpatients and almost 60,000 emergency patients with a team of 2,400 employees, 400 volunteers and more than 600 physicians.

View full press release here.

Client News: Botsford Hospital Receives Trauma Center Designation

Botsford Hospital (Farmington Hills, Michigan) has been verified as a Level II Trauma Center by the Committee on Trauma (COT) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). The hospital’s trauma program offers a full range of surgical procedures around the clock with entire teams of medical professionals on site or available within 15 minutes of notification for most critically injured patients. Botsford Hospital is a multi-specialty community hospital with 330 licensed beds and cares for more than 17,000 inpatients and almost 60,000 emergency patients each year with a team of 2,400 employees, 400 volunteers and more than 600 physicians. A not-for-profit hospital, Botsford provided almost $27 million in community benefit during its 2008 fiscal year. www.botsford.org