Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/840637
education, review their progress and connect patients with primar y care hea lth coaches who further encourage them to ma ke lifest yle a nd behaviora l hea lth cha nges a s they work toward persona lized hea lth goa ls. If there are signs of recurrence or worsening of symptoms, nurses and hea lth coaches facilitate early intervention to minimize the need for acute care. If the situation warrants additiona l specia lized ca re, patients continue to access network providers who meet their changing needs through the St. Joseph's Hea lth continuum of care — a perfect marriage of population hea lth with well-established hospita l programs. INVESTING IN THE FULL CONTINUUM St. Joseph's Hea lth ha s invested heavily in developing a comprehensive acute care program that marries leading-edge technologies to highly skilled clinicia ns who address the needs of patients undergoing unexpected acute events or changes in their chronic conditions. " We have made targeted investments in the comprehensive ca re of our popu lations of patients, whether they a re at home, receiving outpatient care or in the hospita l setting," Walker-Czyz says. " We've expanded our offerings and use the safest, most cutting-edge technolog y available to providing the highest qua lity of care and safety we possibly can, while still being able to facilitate complex interventions." The continuum of care at St. Joseph's Health makes preven- tive health convenient and affordable. Patients have access to cost-effective health resources and are well connected to their primary care providers so they are better able to self-manage their conditions. These deep and meaning ful relationships result in targeted, meaning ful outcomes and a llow patients to ma ke fisca lly responsible hea lthcare decisions with the appropriate input and support. As St. Joseph's Health continues to partner with patients, providers also receive key benefits. More patients have the knowledge and resources necessary to self-manage their health, freeing primary and acute care providers to prioritize care of patients with the greatest medical needs. Smoother patient transitions from point-to-point along St. Joseph's Health's continuum of care reduce patient volume in higher cost settings, granting providers more time with patients. The population health model enables providers to fine-tune their involvement in the continuum of care, establishing the most valuable points along the care path for them to interact with patients. " We will likely see some hea lth providers and staff move from practicing only in the acute care setting to offering acute care and hea lth coaching or shifting more into population hea lth-focused roles," says Leslie Paul Luke, President and CEO, St. Joseph's Hea lth. "This gives them more persona l sustainability in their careers. In the past, roles tended to be extremely specialized, and that's good to an extent. But in the future, the more skill sets a provider has, the more va luable that person becomes to patients and hea lth centers." While the continuum of care reinforces the need for spe- cia lized clinicians, it a lso encourages them to broaden their Raising the Bar A natural result of the focus on population health at St. Joseph's Health, the system has earned many recent merits, including: + Greater patient satisfaction: Awarded a smart rating of 88 by Health Grove, while other area hospitals earned an average of 71. + Fastest growing hospital: Performing more adult surgeries than any other area hospital, St. Joseph's Health has been the fastest grow - ing hospital in Central New York for the past five years. + Magnet designation: Recognized for excellence in nursing in more than 35 areas of focus by The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), St. Joseph's Health is currently the only Magnet-designated hospital in Central New York. + First in the region for robotic surgeries: Performed more robotic procedures than all five other area hospitals combined at the close of 2016. + Orthopedic excellence: Performed more elective orthopedic operations than any other hospital in the region — over 10,000 since 2010. + Vascular excellence: Named the No. 1 hospital for vascular surgery in New York State and among the top five percent in the nation by Healthgrades. Mark Charlamb, MD, and Anne-Marie Czyz, Senior VP of Operations and COO/CNO of St. Joseph's Health 0 8 0 8❱❱❱❱❱ C O V E R F E A T U R E