Health system takes vital step in responding to national health care reform
MISHAWAKA, Ind. – Franciscan Alliance has formed an accountable care organization (ACO), a model designed to improve patient care, reduce medical costs and enhance the delivery of health care.
For months, the state’s largest Catholic-based health-care system diligently has been working to establish an ACO, a vital component of health care reform as it progresses nationally.
“It has been our vision to provide better and more affordable care to our patients and elevate efficiency among our hospitals, physicians and insurers,” said Kevin Leahy, Franciscan Alliance president and chief executive officer. “”The ACO we are creating benefits patients by giving them more of a role in directing their own care, offering them more incentives for disease prevention and pursuing healthier lifestyles, and significantly reducing duplicative medical tests.”
Franciscan Alliance – with 13 hospitals in Indiana and Illinois – provides care for more than 2.9 million outpatient visits and more than 100,000 inpatient discharges every year with the most effective medical treatments, state-of-the-art medical equipment and an abundance of compassionate care.
The system employs 18,200 co-workers including 556 physicians – both primary care and specialists – and expects to grow its physician team to more than 630 physicians next year, serving the system’s service-area population of 3.7 million people.
From an industry perspective, the ACO model encourages organizations such as hospitals, physician practices and insurance providers to collaborate closely, thus bringing down the overall costs of medical care.
Franciscan Alliance (formerly the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services Inc.) took the first step in creating an ACO in late 2010. Franciscan St. Francis Health Network in Indianapolis forged an agreement with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, providing patients enrolled in Hoosier Healthwise and the Healthy Indiana Plan with access to a more integrated health system.
The program, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2011, expands access to an estimated 28,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in south-central Indiana.
To learn more about the Franciscan Alliance, go to: http://www.franciscanalliance.org/.
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Contact:
Sister M. Aline Shultz, OSF
Vice President-Development, Marketing and Public Relations
Franciscan Alliance
219.864.2202 (office)
sister.aline@franciscanalliance.org
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
When Heart Attack Strikes, Call 911
When blocked blood vessels lead to a heart attack, your heart is deprived of oxygen, causing damage to your heart muscle. We use the expression “time is tissue,” meaning that the longer your heart is without oxygen, the more damage is done to your heart muscle.
Because it’s essential to preserve as much muscle as possible, it’s imperative to call 911 if you suspect that someone is having a heart attack.
Quickly responding to a 911 call, paramedics can start immediate treatment on a person who exhibits the signs of a heart attack, administering emergency therapy like aspirin, oxygen, intravenous fluids and nitroglycerin. These emergency medical service providers can perform an EKG in the ambulance en route to the hospital.
If the results show that a person is having a major heart attack, they’ll alert the hospital so the board-certified emergency physician as well as a cardiologist will be prepared for an immediate intervention. When the patient arrives, life-saving measures can be taken.
By familiarizing yourself with the signs and symptoms of heart attack, you may be able to save a life, perhaps even your own. In men, one of the first signs of a heart attack is pain, pressure, heaviness or tightness in the chest. Men may experience a clenching of the chest with pain that typically radiates toward the left arm, but can also radiate to the right arm or jaw.
They may have shortness of breath, sweating and fatigue. While most of the time these symptoms occur suddenly, they can also happen slowly. Often, symptoms will occur following exertion such as shoveling snow, working out, or sometimes just the effort of jumping out of bed in the morning.
Women can have any of the same symptoms as men, but most frequently will experience a feeling of chest heaviness, a flutter in the chest, weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath, jaw pain, arm pain, or upper abdominal pain.
If you think someone is having a heart attack, the first thing you should do is call 911. Next, have them chew an aspirin, providing they are not allergic.
In addition to understanding the signs and symptoms of heart attack, it’s important that you be aware of your own personal risk factors. The various risk factors for heart attack are high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, family history of heart disease, personal history of coronary artery disease, diabetes, and smoking.
While obesity itself is not a risk factor, lifestyle factors that contribute to obesity, such as lack of regular exercise, may increase the potential for cardiac disease.
Awareness of your risk factors enables you to take a proactive approach to avoiding heart attack. Treating high blood pressure or high cholesterol and stopping smoking are all behaviors over which we have control. It’s advisable to take an aspirin a day after first checking with your personal physician to have the best cardiac protection.
One of the biggest things we can do to prevent heart attack is exercising to increase our healthy heart muscle. First, see your family doctor to make sure an exercise regimen is safe for you. As a general rule, it’s recommended to do at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity such as jogging, walking on a treadmill, bicycling or swimming per week. Yoga and pilates can be instrumental in reducing stress, which is another risk factor for heart disease.
Anyone with a family history of heart disease should have regular, yearly check-ups with their doctor to monitor their heart status. Your yearly exam may include an EKG, which can be compared to the previous EKG’s for changes. Once past the age of 50, your annual check-up may also include a stress test.
Many heart attacks are preventable. By knowing your risk factors and taking the appropriate steps, you can significantly reduce the possibility of having a heart attack.
Vernell Johnson III, M.D. is Director of the Emergency Department at Franciscan St. James Health, which is a member of the Southland Health Alliance.
Because it’s essential to preserve as much muscle as possible, it’s imperative to call 911 if you suspect that someone is having a heart attack.
Quickly responding to a 911 call, paramedics can start immediate treatment on a person who exhibits the signs of a heart attack, administering emergency therapy like aspirin, oxygen, intravenous fluids and nitroglycerin. These emergency medical service providers can perform an EKG in the ambulance en route to the hospital.
If the results show that a person is having a major heart attack, they’ll alert the hospital so the board-certified emergency physician as well as a cardiologist will be prepared for an immediate intervention. When the patient arrives, life-saving measures can be taken.
By familiarizing yourself with the signs and symptoms of heart attack, you may be able to save a life, perhaps even your own. In men, one of the first signs of a heart attack is pain, pressure, heaviness or tightness in the chest. Men may experience a clenching of the chest with pain that typically radiates toward the left arm, but can also radiate to the right arm or jaw.
They may have shortness of breath, sweating and fatigue. While most of the time these symptoms occur suddenly, they can also happen slowly. Often, symptoms will occur following exertion such as shoveling snow, working out, or sometimes just the effort of jumping out of bed in the morning.
Women can have any of the same symptoms as men, but most frequently will experience a feeling of chest heaviness, a flutter in the chest, weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath, jaw pain, arm pain, or upper abdominal pain.
If you think someone is having a heart attack, the first thing you should do is call 911. Next, have them chew an aspirin, providing they are not allergic.
In addition to understanding the signs and symptoms of heart attack, it’s important that you be aware of your own personal risk factors. The various risk factors for heart attack are high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, family history of heart disease, personal history of coronary artery disease, diabetes, and smoking.
While obesity itself is not a risk factor, lifestyle factors that contribute to obesity, such as lack of regular exercise, may increase the potential for cardiac disease.
Awareness of your risk factors enables you to take a proactive approach to avoiding heart attack. Treating high blood pressure or high cholesterol and stopping smoking are all behaviors over which we have control. It’s advisable to take an aspirin a day after first checking with your personal physician to have the best cardiac protection.
One of the biggest things we can do to prevent heart attack is exercising to increase our healthy heart muscle. First, see your family doctor to make sure an exercise regimen is safe for you. As a general rule, it’s recommended to do at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity such as jogging, walking on a treadmill, bicycling or swimming per week. Yoga and pilates can be instrumental in reducing stress, which is another risk factor for heart disease.
Anyone with a family history of heart disease should have regular, yearly check-ups with their doctor to monitor their heart status. Your yearly exam may include an EKG, which can be compared to the previous EKG’s for changes. Once past the age of 50, your annual check-up may also include a stress test.
Many heart attacks are preventable. By knowing your risk factors and taking the appropriate steps, you can significantly reduce the possibility of having a heart attack.
Vernell Johnson III, M.D. is Director of the Emergency Department at Franciscan St. James Health, which is a member of the Southland Health Alliance.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Franciscan St. James Health offers free online heart risk evaluation
Heart disease kills more men and women each year than any other illness. It develops from the build-up of plaque, such as cholesterol, in your heart’s blood vessels and can lead to a heart attack, stroke, and other serious health problems.
Unfortunately, most people don’t know they have heart disease until it has progressed too far. Everyone should know their risk factors and the lifestyle changes they can make to reduce their chances of developing heart or vascular problems.
That’s why Franciscan St. James Health offers a free heart risk evaluation on its website: www.StJamesHospital.org.
Upon completion of the confidential, five-minute assessment, participants receive an explanation of their important risks, recommended steps for reducing their risks and links to additional reading materials.
Free Heart Screening with every completed online evaluation
To celebrate American Hearth Month, St. James Health is offering a free heart screening with every online evaluation completed by participants age 40 and over.
“Our heart screening identifies an individual’s personal risk for heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease and diabetes,” said Barbara Zeng Kwasny, a nurse practitioner at the St. James Heart and Vascular Institute in Olympia Fields. “Within 30-60 minutes we perform five tests and conduct a one-on-one review of the results.”
A $135.00 value, this screening includes the following tests:
Ankle Brachial Index: This quick, noninvasive way to determine your risk of peripheral artery disease compares blood pressure measured at the ankle with blood pressure measured at the arm. A low ankle-brachial index number can indicate narrowing or blockage of the arteries in the legs, leading to circulatory problems, heart disease or stroke. A high number can indicate calcium buildup in the arteries.
Body Mass Index: This numerical value of your weight in relation to your height is a good indicator of healthy or unhealthy weights for adult men and women, regardless of body frame size.
Waist Girth: Waist girth and excess of abdominal fat (visceral fat) is often more closely linked to increased risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes than BMI.
Fasting Blood Sugar: This test measures blood sugar levels and diagnoses problems with glucose metabolism and diabetes.
Blood Pressure: Accurately measuring your blood pressure is the only way to determine if you have high blood pressure. Understanding and controlling high blood pressure is a key step toward preventing heart disease and stroke.
“In our one-on-one consultations, we often recommend gradual lifestyle changes in small steps to help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke,” Zeng Kwasny said. “It’s always great to see people have success in reducing their risk because of embracing the changes that we recommend.”
Franciscan St. James Health’s free online heart risk evaluation takes just a few minutes to complete. Visit http://www.stjameshospital.org/ and click the heart risk evaluation on the homepage…it might just save your life.
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