Inside Healthcare - RedCoat Publishing

Greater Hazleton Health Alliance (GHHA) is a Pennsylvania-based healthcare system that consists of a community hospital, a health and wellness center, and a professional services leg, which is used to recruit physicians.

The hospital, Hazleton General, was founded in 1891 toprovide medical care to coal miners in the region, but the organization has undergone significant changes since that time, as technology has advanced and delivery methods have evolved throughout the region and across the country. Hazleton General was a state-run facility until 1986. Ten years later, it affiliated with Saint Joseph Medical Center, another Hazleton hospital, to form the Greater Hazleton Health Alliance.

The health and wellness center, which opened in May 2007, was introduced to align with a growing trend that leans toward outpatient health services, and as it stands, it allows its community to receive an assortment of services in a single location. According to James Edwards, president and CEO of GHHA, the center made an immediate impact on the area and has continued to thrive despite the economic downturn.

“We’ve seen our volumes continue to grow nicely, and the center itself has been very well received by the community,” he said, noting three of the main factors contributing to its success: great employees, state-of-the-art technology, and an aesthetically pleasing facility. “The people who rent or lease space there consider the center their own, and that’s made obvious by the experiences patients have when they go there.”

Although the health and wellness center houses several independently owned primary care and specialty practices, it’s also home to a significant amount of the hospital’s outpatient diagnostic and rehab services. In addition, GHHA’s women’s and children’s center was recently moved to a building just next door. Edwards said this infrastructure has made it easier for patients in the community to receive the care they need because they don’t have to travel too far for any particular service.

“Before the transition, that building housed our MRI and occupational health services. Moving our pediatrics and OB/Gyn services there made sense because of its adjacent location,” he explained. “After the move, we decided to expand the lines because we saw an increase in demand among the community, and now, we have two OBs, two pediatricians, and a nurse practitioner who work at that facility.”

Maintenance is key
Despite an economic downturn, GHHA has been able to maintain steady operations, and Edwards predicts that once the economy recovers, the healthcare system, with its added services and capital investments, will thrive. “Our community realizes this isn’t the same hospital it was five years ago,” he said. “We have been able to control our costs very well, and we’re running efficiently.”

Maintaining a balanced budget while making key capital and service investments isn’t an easy task, especially during tough economic times, but Edwards and his team have done just that. The process began a few years ago with a perception survey that assessed GHHA’s image in the community, as well as looking at community needs and population growth.

“Our employees are very involved with different community organizations. We got feedback from there, from focus groups, and from our staff,” Edwards said. “We used as many sources as possible to put a strategic plan together, and the investments we’ve made and the recruitment we’ve done are both results of that.”

Leveraging assets
Two of the major programs GHHA recently introduced involve a partnership with Lehigh Valley Health Network, a tertiary care facility located roughly an hour from Hazleton. Teams from the two organizations have worked together to develop an MI alert program. The coordinated effort helps GHHA’s ED team quickly transport patients experiencing a myocardial infarction to the cath lab at Lehigh.

Prior to the introduction of the MI alert program, it took an average of 109 minutes to transfer patients from GHHA to Lehigh’s cath lab. Now, the teams are averaging between 60 and 65 minutes, sometimes hitting as low as 51 minutes. “Considering we’re about an hour drive or 15 minute helicopter ride, this is a remarkable feat,” Edwards said. “It has significantly improved our patients’ outcomes and is saving lives.”

The two hospitals’ teams developed a similar program for stroke patients. “We’re working together to leverage their technology and neurology capabilities to make sure patients with stroke symptoms get appropriate care in a timely manner,” Edwards explained, noting GHHA was recently accredited as a primary stroke center. The standard door-to-CT time is 25 minutes; GHHA is averaging 14.

GHHA and Lehigh have had a relationship for many years, and these programs are just a peek into how it has developed recently. The physicians that staff GHHA’s emergency department are Lehigh employees,
for example.

“We’re not a big hospital; we only have 150 beds, but we’re able to do things and provide care you wouldn’t normally anticipate at a community hospital,” Edwards said. “This is a result of our ability to leverage our technology and relationships with larger facilities, as well as the proactive attitudes of our team.”

< Prev		Next >

CURRENT ISSUE

CATEGORIES

HEALTH SOLUTIONS