N E W S F R O M T H E R E G I O N ’ S P R E M I E R A C A D E M I C M E D I C A L C E N T E R

ADVANCES OCTOBER 8, 2015

Call Center Program Spotlight

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A new advertising campaign rolling out this month showcases some of The University of Kansas Hospital’s most remarkable medi-cal advances.

The campaign, again starring Academy Award-nominated actress Joan Allen, includes nine television commercials. Several of those focus on broad themes, such as the hospital’s high rankings by U.S. News & World Report, its expanding sports medicine program and The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s National Cancer Institute designation.

Other new TV commercials zero in on the unique role of the hospital as an academic medical center: Physicians’ use of radioac-tive “seeds” and 3D printers to treat brain tumors, deep-brain stimulation devices for Parkinson’s disease patients and new surgical techniques for lung cancer.

“For this year’s campaign, we really wanted to call attention to a few of the groundbreaking procedures and treatments our

physicians are pioneering,” said Marketing Director Amy Metcalf. “They perfectly illustrate what sets us apart: As the region’s leading academic medical center, we spe-cialize in the most complex care.”

One of those new commercials is about immunotherapy, which uses the body’s immune system to fight cancer, including leukemia

and lymphoma. Specific cells are removed from the body and geneti-cally modified, or reprogrammed. When they are reintroduced into the patient, those cells have the ability to hunt and destroy the dangerous cancer cells.

As the commercial points out, our cancer center is the first in the world to offer the multicenter

immunotherapy clinical trial targeting large B-cell lymphoma in adults.

People inquired from around the world, including Australia. The first participant’s cells have been modified at a Novartis laboratory and are being infused back into his body this week.

It is one of several planned im-munotherapy trials at our cancer center. The first targets lymphoma, the next multiple myeloma.

New TV commercials highlight complex care

By the Numbers: Call CenterThe University of Kansas Hospital’s Physician Referral and Consultation Center (Call Center) has expanded significantly in recent years to handle the increasing number of transactions (phone calls, faxes and other requests) from consumers and physicians around the country. See story on page 2.

Transactions by segment (FY 2015)

Consumer transactions (FY 2015)

Physician transactions

Consumer transactions

To suggest a By the Numbers, email Advances@kumc.edu.

One of the new TV commercials, filmed at our hospital, stars a group of physicians, nurses and other caregivers. The commercials again feature Joan Allen. A Parkinson’s disease patient benefits from a deep-brain stimulation device.

191,285Total transactions, Fiscal Year 2015

FY 2012FY 2013FY 2014FY 2015

FY 2012FY 2013FY 2014FY 2015

Consumer

132,395

Physician

58,890

45,63845,95253,19258,890

120,823105,555118,821132,395

Physician referrals 100,295

Classes 8,202

—Services 8,472

—MyChart 10,378

Unlinked 3,538

Other 1,510

Events Diabetes prevention –

Diabetes is prevalent in our com-munity, especially among those who have endured cancer and other chronic diseases. Learn how to make small changes in your lifestyle and reap great rewards toward healthy living. The presentation, which also will cover community-based programs, is 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, at Medical Plaza North in North Kansas City. Call 913-574-0900 to register.

Free your space – Clutter can handcuff you to the past. It comes in many forms: physi-cal stuff, people, objects, bad memories, fears, doubts, regrets and toxins in the body. Learn how to clean house, literally and figuratively, and be free. The ses-sion is 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Turning Point: The Center for Hope and Healing in Leawood. Call 913-574-0900 to register.

BRA Day – Get your pink on with The University of Kansas Cancer Center and Legends Outlets. The event is part of Breast Reconstruction Awareness (BRA) Day Wednesday, Oct. 21. Festivities, which are 5-7 p.m. in the Legends Civic Courtyard Fountain, feature a range of fun family and educational activities such as face-painting, breast-screening information, KC Wolf appearance, Kansas Speedway pace car and more.

Boots and breast cancer – Nigro’s Western Store will host “Giddy Up for Boots and Breast Cancer” 5-9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Merriam Lane store. Billed as “a girls’ night out full of shopping and fun,” the evening includes drinks and appetizers (with a $10 donation). Proceeds support The University of Kansas Cancer Center. Breast cancer physicians will be on hand to meet guests. Call 913-262-7500 for information.

More events are at kumed.com/event-detail.

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT

Center helps direct patients, physiciansImagine being a patient in rural

Kansas and wanting the best care in the world. You or your hometown physician decides The University of Kansas Hospital is what you need.

But the hospital is huge, with more than 105 different clinics. How do you or your physician know which one to call, which physician to see – how to even get started?

The answer: Call the hos-pital’s Physician Referral and Consultation Center, also known as the Call Center. Established in 1998, the center is the one-stop-shop to get information about the hospital, outpatient clinics and other services.

“Because our staff provide great customer service, patients know they’ll have a pleasant experience getting the assistance they need,” said Lisa Patrick, Call Center manager. “It’s one of the biggest compliments we receive.”

Like other areas of the hospital, the call center has grown tremen-dously. It now encompasses 25 employees, triple the size since 2001. Last year they fielded more than 190,000 phone calls and faxes from consumers and physicians. (See By the Numbers on page 1.)

The center is divided into two areas: • The Health Resource Center

is patient-focused. Staff help patients find the appropriate primary care physician or special-ist, and they assist with clinic and procedure referrals. They also facilitate appointments for the hospital’s corporate partners, pro-vide concierge service for surgery patients and provide registration services for internal and external events and wellness classes.

• The Physician Consultation Center is physician-focused. This area focuses on calls and fax referrals from internal and community clinicians who are referring patients into the outpatient clinics and services.

They facilitate appointments and coordinate physician-to-physician consultations.

With each call, the call center collects and documents patient demographics, services provided to the patient, the physician or clinic the patient was referred to, and where the call was transferred to. All patient and physician calls and faxes are tracked in the call center software database.

“Continuing to provide a high level of customer service to our patient and community referring physicians supports our marketing and growth goals for our department and the hospital,” said Melinda Keltner, assistant director in Marketing Teleservices.

EXPOSURE

Rehab inspiration Andy Marso, who spent months at The University of Kansas Hospital in 2004 recovering from severe bacterial meningitis, on Sept. 22 was named this year’s Rehab Hall of Fame recipient. Although he lost part of his hands and feet to the disease, Marso went on to become a successful journalist and write a book about the chal-lenges. The award also celebrates caregivers who helped patients on their journey. Watch the video at medicalnewsnetwork.org.

Sue Patel and other call center staff provide a wide range of services for consumers and community physicians.

Roasting up fresh coffee at the hospitalThe Roasterie, Kansas City’s specialty coffee-roasting com-

pany, on Sept. 28 opened three locations at The University of Kansas Hospital: The Roasterie Café in the heart center lobby, Elements 4 Life in the cafeteria and the Parkway Café at the Westwood Campus.

There are strong ties between the two organizations. The Roasterie’s first order, in 1993, was at our hospital. The Roasterie founder and owner Danny O’Neill also was a patient at the hospital twice.

His company will donate 3 percent of sales to the hospital for continuing staff education. “At The Roasterie, the only thing as strong as our taste for great coffee is our passion for giving back to the communities we love,” said O’Neill.

“This transition is one more way we can support one of our lo-cal organizations and experience the specialty air-roasted coffee The Roasterie is known for in the nation,” said Shawn Long, the hospital’s vice president of Corporate and Community Outreach.

Five hospital employees will be chosen to visit The Roasterie and create “The University of Kansas Hospital blend.”

Cancer modeling ranked near the top A team of faculty and students at the University of Kansas

Medical Center’s Biostatistics department was among the top finishers in a worldwide competition. The challenge: Develop models that predict survival, disease progression and toxicity of chemotherapy treatments in prostate cancer patients.

The eight-person team finished in the top five out of 60 competitors. The top team was from Finland.

The five-month competition, called the Prostate Cancer Dream Challenge, was based on raw data from four clinical trials with more than 2,000 patients who had received the cancer drug called docetaxel.

“We were excited about the opportunity to help establish an effective new treatment protocol for this particular group of patients and help researchers better understand how the disease progresses,” said Devin Koestler, PhD, assistant profes-sor of biostatistics. Read more at kumc.edu.

MyChart: There’s an app for thatPatients at The University of Kansas Hospital now can use

their smartphones to access MyChart, the hospital’s online medical records. MyChart allows patients to see their medi-cal records, communicate with care teams and check future appointment times – now from their phones.

First, sign up for MyChart at mychart.kumed.com. Then down-load the MyChart app from your phone’s app store and follow the prompts to our hospital’s MyChart.

New

s Br

iefsIn the News

A recap of recent articles, TV segments and other media coverage of the region’s leading academic medical center

Cancer treatments prolong life – Lawrence Journal-World, Sept. 29. Metastatic breast cancer was once a devastating diagnosis, but evolving treatments are prolonging patients’ lives. Many live three to five years longer due to better drugs. “Typically, the treatment is balanced against what effect it is having on quality of life,” said Sharma Priyanka, MD, oncologist at The University of Kansas Cancer Center. “The goal is to treat a person, which means the person’s symptoms and the disease with it.”

Crushing cost of medicine – Kansas City Star, Sept. 28. High drug prices weigh heavily on patient health and finances. Overall costs rose nearly 14 percent from 2014 to 2015, double the rate of the previous five years. “For a doctor, if the copay is 10 percent, that might be afford-able. But for an average family of four, something’s got to give,” said Medical Oncology’s Joseph McGuirk, DO, at The University of Kansas Hospital. “It’s groceries or Revlimid.” Nationwide, specialty medications represent 1 percent of prescriptions pharmacists fill but account for 32 percent of all drug spending. By 2018 they’ll represent 50 percent.

Cryotherapy salon ready to chill – KSHB-41, Sept. 23. The first cryotherapy salon is open for business. The frigid temperatures of the therapy are said to reduce inflammation. The therapy isn’t new – similar cryoablative therapy is used to kill tumors. However, whole body cryotherapy has not been FDA approved, warns Radiology’s Steven Lemons, MD, at The University of Kansas Hospital. “Like any pharma-ceutical agent or medical device in the United States, there’s a rigorous process of investigating whether or not it’s safe, whether or not it’s effec-tive before we unleash it on the public.”

West Nile virus on the rise – KCTV-5 News, Sept. 21. West Nile virus has struck 24 people in Kansas and Missouri. “It can be a very bad disease,” said Lee Norman, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Hospital. “It can be anything from a minor subclinical case all the way through death.” A rainy summer increased the number of mosquitoes and spiders in our area, leading to more bites. Physicians urge parents to ensure their kids are wearing mosquito repellant outside. Physicians also suggest people exercise caution around wood piles and in dark rooms to avoid spider bites.

Furry friend Layla and Meeko, two pooches from Loving Paws Animal Therapy Program (lovingpawstherapy.org), on Sept. 28 provided stress relief for University

of Kansas Medical Center students. The dogs and their handlers visit the medical center once or twice a semes-ter. Research demonstrates such animal-assisted activity provides physi-ological and psychological benefits.

At The Roasterie Café opening, owner and founder Danny O’Neill (from left) enjoyed a cup with our hospital’s Tammy Peterman, RN, executive vice president; and Bob Page, president and CEO.

ADVANCES

is a biweekly publication produced by:

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2330 Shawnee Mission Pkwy., Suite 303 Westwood, KS 66205

Send story ideas to Advances@kumc.edu.

Bob Page, President and CEO The University of Kansas Hospital

Doug Girod, MD, Executive Vice Chancellor University of Kansas Medical Center

Kirk Benson, MD, President The University of Kansas Physicians

Staff: Mike Glynn, Editor Kirk Buster, Graphic Designer

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@kuhospital@kucancercenter@kumedcenter

Our People School of Nursing’s new dean – Sally Maliski, PhD, RN, has been

named dean of the University of Kansas School of Nursing, effective Jan. 1.She previously was associate dean for academic and

student affairs at the UCLA School of Nursing and an as-sistant researcher for the ULCA Department of Urology.

“We are extremely pleased to hire an academic leader of Dr. Maliski’s caliber,” said Douglas Girod, MD, executive vice chancellor for the University of Kansas Medical Center. “She brings exceptional leadership and the skill to collaborate with others of various disci-plines, departments and backgrounds.”

The medical center’s emphasis on educating nurses, physicians and other healthcare professionals as a

collaborative team helped attract her.“Interdisciplinary education is a passion of mine, so I was thrilled to see how

committed the School of Nursing is to interprofessional learning,” she said. “I also appreciate the strong collaboration I observed between education

and practice at the school, and the aura of collegiality and respect both within the KU School of Nursing and between all the schools at KU Medical Center.”

She succeeds Karen Miller, PhD, RN, who served as dean from 1996 until her retirement in June 2015.

The school, one of three at the medical center, prepares hundreds of students each year for careers as clinical nurses, advanced practice nurses, educators, leaders, administrators, scholars and researchers.

Researcher wins Chancellor’s Club award – A University of Kansas Medical Center researcher who discovered compounds that give hope

to patients with sickle cell disease and other genetic blood disorders has been named 2015 recipient of the KU Chancellors Club Research Award.

Kenneth Peterson, PhD, a faculty member at the medical center since 1998, is known not only for his research but also for his excellence in training graduate and post-graduate students.

“Working in the lab and discovering something nobody ever knew before is hugely satisfying,” he said. “Teaching others how to do experiments and seeing the look on their faces when they discover something

new is simply exhilarating.”His nominators praised Peterson for his research that uncovered key

mechanisms by which DNA elements affect genes and for his identification of protein factors required in the process. Peterson devised a way to dissect the genetic mechanisms regulating the globin genes.

“This technical innovation was a seminal breakthrough that led to a quantum leap in understanding globin gene regulation and cemented Dr. Peterson’s position among the leaders in his field,” the nominators wrote.

Peterson also is a leader and actively involved in a number of organiza-tions related to expansion of research activities at the medical center.

A diagnosis of breast cancer was the last thing Jill Heckman thought about with her first mammogram. The

softball standout was shocked when she was diagnosed with two types of breast cancer.

After a year of treatment at The University of Kansas Cancer Center, Jill is cancer free and healthy. “The mammogram saved my life,” she said.

Get your pink on!

Schedule your mammogram today. Call 913-588-1227 or visit kumed.com/getchecked.

#getyourpinkon

Robert Winfield, MD Trauma/Critical Care Surgery

New

Phy

sici

ans

Paul Pena, MD Internal Medicine

Bryant Staples, MD Anesthesiology

Anne O’Dea, MD Oncology

Tara Quesnell, DO Neurology

Alykhan Nagji, MD Thoracic surgery

Maliski

Peterson