With cancerous tumors in his lungs, Richard Dey would have been lucky to live for 10 months. After receiving just a few treatments as part of a clinical trial, all three of Dey's tumors started melting away.
2016 Report to the Community
What comes to mind when you hear the word “value?” Perhaps you think about a quality product or service you recently purchased at a reasonable price. Or maybe you consider the people and things in life that are most dear to you. Both responses are logical because the things you value and the value you receive are extremely important to you.
Dec. 7, 2016
For these reasons, value is something we are always working to create for you at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN). With a focus on the Triple Aim – creating Better Health and Better Care at a Better Cost – LVHN is committed to providing you and your loved ones the health care value you expect and deserve within our health network and throughout our community.
This report outlines accomplishments made at LVHN in 2016 that create health care value for you and helped us further our mission to “heal, comfort and care for the people of our community by providing advanced and compassionate health care of superior quality and value supported by education and clinical research.” Discover how LVHN’s more than 15,000 health care professionals are dedicated to helping you and your loved ones achieve the thing in life you value most: Good health.
Quality
Quality is an essential component needed to create health care value. These designations and achievements tell you that you will receive high quality care at LVHN.
For the 21st consecutive year, Lehigh Valley Hospital ranks as one of the nation’s top hospitals on U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals list. LVH ranks No. 4 among hospitals in Pennsylvania. The 2016-2017 list names LVH among the nation’s top 3 percent of leading hospitals in five categories: cardiology and heart surgery, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, orthopedics, and pulmonology. LVH is the only hospital in the area to make the U.S. News national rankings in at least one specialty area every year since 1996.
For the fourth time, Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Cedar Crest, LVH–17th Street, LVH–Muhlenberg, LVHN–Tilghman, Home Health and Hospice Services achieved Magnet® designation. Among all hospitals, just 7 percent achieve Magnet recognition and only 29 hospital have earned the designation four times. What does Magnet recognition mean for you? Nurses are always learning and are encouraged to earn specialty certification to enhance the quality of care and service they provide. Magnet hospitals attract and retain great nurses, and those nurses work together as a team.
To take our fight against cancer to a new level, the Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute joined the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Alliance. The Alliance was created to quickly bring groundbreaking, lifesaving cancer care closer to where people live. It benefits you and your family in several ways. Clinical teams from LVHN quickly learn and adopt MSK standards of care into everyday practice for patients. LVHN patients benefit from the diagnosis and treatment expertise of MSK doctors. LVHN patients have access to some MSK clinical trials.
Better Cost
Better cost is another component needed to create health care value. At LVHN, we firmly believe quality care costs less. Here are ways we’re achieving better cost for you.
Made up of a care manager, pharmacist, behavioral health specialist and social worker, our Community Care Teams (CCTs) help patients with complex health issues manage their chronic diseases. They also link patients with the resources and support they need. In 2016, our CCTs cared for more than 17,000 unique patients, interacting with them more than 57,000 times. They also helped patients gain food, shelter, transportation, insurance, and free or discounted medications. Their proactive care resulted in a 36-percent reduction in ER visits and a 34-percent reduction in hospital admissions among these patients in only six months.
An accountable care organization is a network of health care providers that seek to improve outcomes and lower health care costs for patients age 65 or older with Medicare. In its first year, the Lehigh Valley Health Network Accountable Care Organization (LVHNACO) was responsible for the care of nearly 37,000 Medicare beneficiaries locally. Medicare defines benchmarks LVHN must achieve related to the quality of care provided to these patients, as well as how much it costs to provide that care. In year one, LVHN achieved those quality benchmarks while saving more than $11 million in costs. These savings place LVHN in the top 10 percent among ACOs nationwide.
Lehigh Valley Flex Blue is a new health insurance product being launched by Highmark Blue Shield (Highmark) and LVHN. It enables our health network and other aligned providers to better manage the care members and patients receive, improving outcomes and lowering future health care costs. Lehigh Valley Flex Blue is designed for employers that are concerned with the cost of providing health insurance coverage to their employees, and ensuring that employees have access to local hospitals and doctors that are consistently recognized for quality care. All Highmark members in the Lehigh Valley Flex Blue product will benefit from a greater coordination of care between the health insurer and LVHN. Our health network will share information to ensure patients are getting the preventive services, tests, follow-up care and education they need, without duplication of care and unnecessary steps. This will improve the care experience for patients and lower health care cost trends.
Access
Ensuring you have access to the care you need is another component of creating health care value. Here are things we’ve done at LVHN to give you enhanced access to our services.
We helped more than 130,000 people sign up for MyLVHN.org, a free, secure and easy-to-use website that connects you with your personal health information, or the health information of someone you care for, such as your child or a relative. With MyLVHN.org you can schedule appointments, review medical information, request prescription renewals, pay or review bills for medical services, send and receive non-urgent messages from your Lehigh Valley Physician Group (LVPG) health care provider and more. Create an account now.
Ensuring people have access to the services they need close to home is the main reason LVHN merged with Schuylkill Health System (SHS). Several thousand people travel from Schuylkill County to LVHN for tertiary services each year. The merger fulfills a need in the community for a more integrated, cohesive health network. The organizations now share one name (Lehigh Valley Health Network) and one mission. Following the merger, LVHN plans to grow services, improve technology and recruit physicians and other medical professionals to the Pottsville and Schuylkill County community. The LVHN brand is reflected in the new names of the two Pottsville hospitals, which are now called Lehigh Valley Hospital–Schuylkill E. Norwegian Street and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Schuylkill S. Jackson Street.
With 19 ExpressCARE locations, the care you need for common illnesses and minor injuries is always nearby. ExpressCARE provides care for sprains/strains, cuts/lacerations, poison ivy/rashes, seasonal allergies, flu symptoms, bronchitis, ear infections, sore throat, fever and more. ExpressCARE is open 365 days a year.
We opened the Health Center at Mountain Top, LVHN’s second health center in Luzerne County. Located in the Weis Shopping Center, 237 S. Mountain Blvd., the health center offers a variety of health care service, including family medicine, women’s health, cardiology, rehabilitation and laboratory services, as well as X-ray and ultrasound.
When complete in summer 2017, the new Health Center at Easton will provide multiple services including primary care for the whole family, testing and treatment services, ExpressCARE and access to Health Network Laboratories. The facility is located at the site of the former Schiable’s/Bimbo Bakeries at 2401 Northampton Street, Easton.
Located off Route 248, just east of the Northampton Crossings shopping center, the Health Center at Palmer Township will provide a variety of services, and will especially concentrate on the needs of growing families with a strong presence from Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital. The Health Centers at Palmer Township and Easton will be LVHN’s fourth and fifth health centers in Northampton County. While they are separated by less than three miles, the centers serve two very unique populations who have asked LVHN to bring care closer to where they live and work.
The opening of both health centers in Northampton County will coincide with the planned opening of the new four-story Family Health Pavilion at LVH–Muhlenberg. The facility will bring inpatient rehabilitation, obstetrics and newborn services to the Bethlehem hospital for the first time in its 54-year history. Women who formerly traveled from Northampton County to LVH–Cedar Crest for ob/gyn care will appreciate the convenience this new facility will provide.
Parents throughout our area appreciate the specialized care provided at the J.B. and Kathleen Reilly Children’s Surgery Center. The facility opened this year on the third floor of the 1210 building on the LVH–Cedar Crest campus. The center features pediatric surgeons who use minimally invasive, state-of-the-art technology for general pediatric surgeries. These include surgical urology, ear, nose and throat, plastic surgery, dental and other outpatient procedures.
Community
LVHN is always working for you within our community to create health care value. It’s the work we do as part of our not-for-profit, charitable mission. Here are examples.
Understanding our region's health care needs is an important step in furthering our mission. These needs were defined in the 2015-2016 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) reports for the Lehigh Valley (Lehigh and Northampton counties) and Hazleton (Luzerne County) regions. The CHNA reports examine factors that impact the health and wellness of all the people living in these areas. To meet the needs of our community, LVHN developed an implementation plan containing tactics to create a healthier community. These tactics fall under four key focus areas: community engagement, at-risk populations, access to care and health equity, and prevention and wellness. LVHN will work with other community organizations over the next two years and beyond to bring the implementation plan to life and create healthier communities.
LVHN continues to take a leadership role in addressing one of the most pressing needs identified in the CHNA, the need for behavioral health services. This is exemplified in our continued efforts to provide a comprehensive behavioral health program. For more than 50 years, LVHN has been caring for people who need behavioral health treatment, whether it’s for counseling during a stressful time in your life or for a lifelong condition that requires medication, and anything in between.
Behavioral health is just as important to your overall well-being as your physical health. That is why LVHN remains committed to providing these services. However, fulfilling the need for behavioral health care is a monumental challenge both locally and nationally that LVHN cannot solve alone. However, as part of the CHNA implementation plan, LVHN is partnering with other organizations to address this community need. The implementation plan includes tactics to:
- Increase the number of patients screened for depression
- Educate our community and reduce the stigma associated with behavioral health conditions
- Partner with substance abuse treatment providers, EMS providers and other community stakeholders to develop innovative ways to care for patients with a behavioral health condition that addresses their whole health needs.
This is important work because when people with a behavioral health condition receive the appropriate care, remarkable things can happen.
LVHN’s Department of Community Health focuses on the social causes that impact health, such as housing, employment, social support and access to care. The department works hand in hand with LVHN clinical departments, as well as with community members and community-based organizational partners. Learn more about the Department of Community Health, the numerous programs it provides and how it is collaborating with other organizations to make our community healthier.
We’re also creating health care value and a healthier community through:
- Camp Red Jacket, a free, three-day camp that teaches children with Type 1 diabetes to manage the condition
- The LVHN Baby Store, which incentivizes pregnant women in our community to keep their prenatal appointments
- Annual flu shot clinics, which provided free vaccinations to more than 10,000 people in 2016
- A community garden that provides free, healthy food choices for people with HIV/AIDS
By the Numbers
Operating income: $20 million
Operating margin: 1%
Total Community Benefit: $441,090,050
Acute admissions: 57,272
Outpatient registrations: 653,332
ER visits: 212,897
ExpressCARE visits: 104,697
LVPG visits: 2,320,138