SNI Releases Training Video on Conducting Effective Care Team Huddles

SNI is excited to announce the release of Active Care Teams (ACT): Embracing Daily Team Huddles, our training video on conducting effective daily team huddles. Because regular huddles among members of the care team is a key component of the Patient-Centered Medical Home, the ACT video serves as a valuable training resource for public or private clinics planning to implement daily team huddles. For those clinics already conducting huddles, the video can be a complementary addition to new employee orientations and trainings. ACT is available for viewing on the SNI website now. *Please note that the latest version of Flash player must be installed in order to properly view this video (contact Tramaine Lott regarding technical issues).

Contact: Nermeen Iskander

SNI to Host Exclusive Screening of Ground-breaking Documentary Featuring Alameda County Medical Center

SNI has been given exclusive permission to show the ground-breaking documentary film, The Waiting Room, which is currently competing in the prestigious San Francisco International Film Festival. The film portrays an intimate day-in-the-life look at a typical day in the emergency department at Alameda County Medical Center’s Highland Hospital, and demonstrates the critical role that public hospital systems serve in their communities. Centering on several key patients, the film paints an unflinching portrait of what it is like to be sick or injured and without health insurance during an economic downturn. The documentary will be shown at SNI’s Patient Experience Transformation (PExT) Initiative event on June 5th in Oakland.

Contact: Rosemary Phu

SNI’s Seamless Care Program Achieves Notable Improvements in Patients’ Access to High Quality Primary Care

SNI’s Seamless Care Center Initiative, which concluded in January, 2012, aimed to improve patients’ access to care and chronic disease management through a two-year intensive program intended to support the evolution of California’s public hospital clinics into Patient-Centered Medical Homes. By the end of the initiative , which was funded by the California HealthCare Foundation, SNI had delivered more than 50 in-person learning sessions, trainings, and workshops and engaged 309 public hospital clinic staff from across the state. Among the 12,000 low-income patients with diabetes followed in this program, the percentage with an A1c test in the past 12 months increased from 56% to 81%. This translates to 3,000 more low-income diabetes patients whose care team is actively assessing their diabetes control and guiding their treatment. Improved clinical outcomes, such as blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure control, were seen at individual clinics and public hospital systems. In terms of access, three out of four participating hospital systems achieved an average no-show rate of 10% or less and third-next-available-appointment (TNAA) of less than 10 days. Notably, sixteen months after the end of their access work, San Mateo Medical Center has maintained its no-show rate at 11% and further decreased its TNAA to 6 days. SNI has built upon lessons learned from this two-year program and incorporated several components of the Seamless Care Center Initiative to create a robust Medical Home Collaborative that will effectively equip additional California public hospital systems with the internal capacity to build Patient-Centered Medical Homes.

Contact: Denise Gonzalez, MD

SNI Welcomes Two New Board Members

SNI is pleased to announce that Christina R. Ghaly, MD, Deputy Director of Strategic Planning at Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LADHS), and Christy Rosenberg, MPH, Executive Director of the Community Clinics Health Network have recently joined the SNI Board of Directors. Dr. Christina Ghaly is a trained internist and leads her organization’s efforts to prepare for Health Reform, as well as special projects aimed at improving operational and organizational efficiency. Prior to joining LADHS, Dr. Ghaly worked with the team at McKinsey & Company that investigated and modeled the expected impact of the Affordable Care Act on US hospitals, and helped develop a strategic plan for dissemination of economic stimulus funds for the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records among California Medicaid providers. Christy Rosenberg currently oversees projects and services to support clinic organizations and collaboration with safety net partners in Southern California to integrate quality improvement and information technology solutions to impact patient and population health outcomes. Ms. Rosenberg has experience in managing multi-partner initiatives aimed at improving access to care, operational efficiencies, data collection and reporting capacity, as well as patient and population health outcomes and indicators.

California Public Hospital Leaders Highlighted in Statewide and National Publications; Recognized as Health Care Heroes

National Public Radio and KQED Public Radio’s The California Report recently featured Los Angeles Department of Health Services (LADHS) Director, Mitch Katz, MD, in an article highlighting their efforts to enroll patients into medical homes and improve primary care within their system. Also, the Santa Clara Valley Business Journal recently honored several public hospital Health Care Heroes in its latest issue. California public hospital Winners include Santa Clara County Health Officer Marty Fenstersheib, MD, and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Pediatric Dietician Norma Molina, RD, as well as Finalist Susan Ehrlich, MD, CEO at San Mateo Medical Center, for their work to improve care in their counties. Finally, Wright Lassiter, CEO of Alameda County Medical Center was also recently recognized as one of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare. The awards program aims to ensure that “those who guide the institutions of American healthcare understand and also represent the diversity of this country.”

Podcast Available on Breakthrough Approach to Improving Communication with Patients; a Complement to SNI’s Patient Experience Program

The eighth Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) podcast focused on quality improvement features Wendy Leebov, president and CEO of Leebov Golde & Associates, who discusses specific communication strategies that health professionals can use to significantly enhance patients’ experience with care and, over time, improve scores on patient experience surveys. The podcast is approximately 20 minutes long and is available on the CAHPS website, along with a transcript of the presentation. This podcast is a complement to SNI’s PExT Initiative programming, which aims to improve patient and staff experience in California’s safety net.

Contact: Boris Kalanj

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