November 14, 2011 Vol. 1, No. 17

In this issue: • Merger Progress: Hear It From Your Manager • Common IT System to Link Newco HIM, Patient Access and Patient

Accounting • Answers to the Questions You’ve Been Asking • Meet Newco: Frazier Rehab Institute

Merger Progress: Hear It From Your Manager

Watch for an invitation from your manager to attend a Newco conversation – one of dozens to occur throughout Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare, Saint Joseph Health System and University of Louisville Hospital.

It all starts this week, when the leaders of the three potential partners will work together to provide an update on the merger progress, along with Paul Edgett, senior vice president of national business lines for Catholic Health Initiatives. Each chief executive will share this update with senior leaders within their organizations. Those leaders will share the update with managers in their areas, and managers will be responsible for sharing the update with their teams during the following few days.

Leaders will have presentation materials to help them share the information, and each presentation will be followed by a conversation about what the

information means to employees. After each meeting, managers will provide employees’ feedback to senior leaders by completing a brief online survey. This “communication cascade” will include plans for OneCare, the initiative that will create a universal health record across the three merged organizations, and other topics.

Common IT System to Link Newco HIM, Patient Access and Patient Accounting

“What is best for the communities in Kentucky and the people we serve?” This challenge energized team members from all three proposed partners as they met at Jewish Hospital in Louisville recently to kick-off planning for new information technology to unify the revenue cycle model across Newco.

McKesson STAR (the name of the technology system) is a proven hospital revenue cycle platform that supports functions such as patient registration and billing, among many others.

“McKesson STAR will provide a consistent and standard software platform for large and small facilities alike,” said Dorothy Zimmerman, CHI Regional Director

of Revenue Cycle. “It will help make the patient experience more uniform across Kentucky Newco.”

Teams from Health Information Management (HIM), Information Technology, Patient Access and Patient Accounting will work together on a multi-year plan to design, build and implement the program. Although the project’s core group is small, the scope of the project will touch everyone in Newco, from physicians

to clinicians to support staff, by creating a more efficient system for supporting the future state Kentucky Newco enterprise revenue cycle business requirements.

"The positive energy in our meetings results from learning about the variety of services offered by the facilities in the proposed partnership and meeting knowledgeable colleagues from across Kentucky. In addition to the financial

aspects of the patient's experience, the McKesson STAR platform helps to coordinate records and care, allowing for improved patient care and safety," notes Tom Walton, UMC Director of Service Access and Management Engineering.

Debby Cornett, JHSMH Corporate Director of HIM, Transcription, Scheduling and Patient Access, agrees, “The eventual implementation of McKesson will ensure the coordination of care will be transparent and seamless for patients and providers.”

Answers to the Questions You’ve Been Asking

“We have been providing care for our community since 1947.  Last year our charity care was $11,613,000, or 56.2 percent of our net patient revenue.  In this harsh economy, we continue to fulfill our mission because we are dedicated to the people we serve and our charity care continues to climb.” 

Kathy Stumbo  President

Saint Joseph – Martin

Do you have a question for Partnership Progress? Submit your question here.

Q. What will happen to indigent care as a result of the merger?

A. The three prospective partners have a long shared history of caring for the at-risk, the underserved, and the uninsured. In fact, in 2009, the organizations provided more than $270 million in community benefit. One main focus of integration planning is assuring increased access and high quality care for all patients across Kentucky, regardless of their ability to pay.

Q. What happens if there is no merger?

A: Without the merger, vitally important health care organizations, thousands of jobs and the well-being of people across Kentucky will be at risk.

“Hospitals must adopt costly electronic health record systems or pay penalties to the federal government. The price tag is more than $100 million for JHSMH and University of Louisville Hospital | James Graham Brown Cancer Center combined.  Without the merger, the IT costs will squeeze our resources, resulting in deteriorating facilities and equipment, and ultimately could affect clinical programs.” 

Ron Farr Chief Financial Officer

The consequences of not merging include:

• Further reducing the health care safety net for the poor and curtailing

other medical services. • Deteriorating facilities and equipment. • Loss over time of jobs and tax base. • Inability to meet new government standards, resulting in financial

penalties. • Loss of access to capital markets, limiting the ability to reinvest to

provide services people need, want and demand.

Meet Newco: Frazier Rehab Institute Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare offers comprehensive rehabilitation services through Frazier Rehab Institute with more than 20 locations throughout Kentucky and southern Indiana. Providing therapy in an acute care setting for inpatient and outpatient rehab needs, Frazier offers a number of specialties focused on helping individuals reach a higher quality of life.

Patients span the age range from infancy to geriatrics and have a wide variety of diagnoses, including neurologic (spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke), amputation, multiple trauma, orthopaedic, arthritis, cardiopulmonary, congenital, developmental, degenerative and general medical cases.

Frazier is accredited by both the Joint Commission and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. The organization, through its partnership with faculty at the University of Louisville, is committed to the development of programs and services that combine traditional rehab with innovative therapeutic techniques, including physical medicine rehab, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, rehab nursing, psychology/neuropsychology, pulmonary rehab and recreational therapy. In addition, Frazier offers a multitude of specialty programs to meet patients’ specialized rehab needs.

Our Vision Statement

We are the premier, integrated comprehensive health system in the Commonwealth known for efficiently providing the highest quality care and service close to home; reducing the incidence of 

disease; and eliminating inequities in access throughout  the communities we serve. 

With unmatched geographic reach, we are differentiated by our faith based and academic identity, developing the best next generation of health care professionals, and for being the fastest in 

translating research from bench to bedside. 

Because we are the most vital nationally recognized health system, we are the go­to organization for any major health policy initiatives in the State.