Hillemeier shares fiscal year highlights at public Board of Directors meeting

Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center once again demonstrated strong financial performance in a fiscal year highlighted by continued transformation designed to meet the needs of a rapidly-evolving health care industry. Dr. A. Craig Hillemeier, dean of Penn State College of Medicine, chief executive officer of Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Health System, and Penn State's senior vice president for health affairs, today shared with members of the Medical Center’s Board of Directors, faculty, staff, students, special guests, and members of the community highlights of the organization’s 2014-2015 fiscal year performance.

Hillemeier reported that during fiscal year 2015, outpatient visits increased by 7.7 percent from the previous year to more than 1 million. The Medical Center saw more than 30,000 surgical cases, up 2.2 percent. The organization finished the year with a total margin of 7.7 percent, and provided $60 million to support the academic mission of the College of Medicine.

Hillemeier noted that the healthcare landscape continues to move toward population health management, under which reimbursement will be determined by how well health systems care for each patient – instead of how much care is provided to each patient. At Penn State Hershey, this change is giving rise to new collaborations to enhance quality and safety, reduce infections and improve patient satisfaction. Telemedicine is one example of how patient access and efficiency of care can be improved through strategic partnerships, Hillemeier said. LionNet, Penn State Hershey's telemedicine program for stroke, added four community hospitals to its network in the past year for a total of 14 partner hospitals. LionNet brings the resources of Penn State Hershey's comprehensive stroke center to communities across the region. Meanwhile, Penn State Hershey dermatologists have started conducting consults via telemedicine, utilizing secure technology that allows providers to send data and images. The result for patients is enhanced access to timely, cost-effective specialty care closer to where they live. Hillemeier also shared how Penn State Hershey is expanding its telemedicine program to include tele-dermatology services to private practice physicians and their patients in Lancaster and Dauphin counties.

As of August 1, the Medical Center's Department of Emergency Medicine is now assisting in the management of Emergency Department operations at Carlisle Regional Medical Center. The agreement between the two organizations came after nearly two years of discussion aimed at finding ways to build on the safe, quality emergency medical care already offered to people in the greater Carlisle area.

Penn State Hershey is also strategically partnering with other hospitals and health systems to create a health enterprise that will allow for the delivery of the highest-quality care to patients in the most appropriate and cost-effective setting.

• In March, the Penn State Board of Trustees approved a proposal to bring the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and PinnacleHealth System together to form a new health enterprise under the umbrella of Penn State Health. The PinnacleHealth System Board of Directors also voted to approve the plan. The proposal still requires approval from the state Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission, which is expected in the coming months.
• Penn State Health and Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) completed the transfer of ownership of St. Joseph Regional Health Network in Reading to Penn State Health.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health named the Medical Center an Ebola Treatment Center by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The designation recognizes that the Medical Center is one of only four hospitals in Pennsylvania prepared to provide comprehensive care to patients with a suspected or confirmed Ebola diagnosis. Over the past year, staff from more than 30 departments across the organization have worked to ensure that all levels of staff are prepared to care for an individual with Ebola while minimizing risk to the workforce and patients.

Technology will play an increasingly important role in the future of health care. In January, ground was broken for a 46,000-square-foot, $54-million data center on the Medical Center and College of Medicine campus. Expected to open in April 2016, the University Technology Center is the next step toward enabling Penn State Hershey to utilize “big data” to enhance patient care through disease modeling and predictors for disease by more efficiently processing and analyzing clinical information.

Caring for – and protecting – children

This past year saw several important developments related to the care of central Pennsylvania's youngest citizens.

Construction began on a new Pediatric Emergency Department, which will include 12 private treatment rooms as well as equipment and amenities designed for children. Penn State Hershey has board-certified emergency physicians trained to care for children. The unit will also be staffed by nurses who specialize in pediatrics. The Pediatric Emergency Department is scheduled to open in January.

The Penn State Hershey Center for the Protection of Children marked some important accomplishments over the past year:

• The Center created an online training module – iLook Out for Child Abuse – designed to help early child care professionals meet new state laws regarding training and reporting of suspected child abuse. So far, 300,000 mandated reporters have used the training module.
• A new clinic in Harrisburg now serves as the medical home for children in out-of-home care, providing primary care as well as evidence-based mental and behavioral health services. The James M. and Margaret V. Stine Foundation TLC Clinic on North Third Street in Harrisburg provides comprehensive primary care services including medical evaluations and ongoing care coordination, as well as mental health services for children who have experienced abuse or neglect.

Educating tomorrow's providers

In May, the College of Medicine graduated its 45^th class and awarded 129 medical degrees and 76 graduate degrees. Of the medical class of 2015, 30 percent matched to residency programs in Pennsylvania – with half of them opting to stay at the Medical Center for their residency training. Nearly 38 percent of the graduates will enter primary care training, helping meet the nation's growing need for internists, pediatricians, family practitioners and dual specialists in internal medicine and pediatrics.

The college's University Park Regional Campus saw several important developments this past year, resulting in enhanced health care offerings for residents in the Centre County region and growth of medical education opportunities there.

• A new initiative will involve students in developing a new four-year curriculum that integrates the basic sciences and clinical study, with a goal of preparing physicians for the new realities of health care. Beginning in July 2016, as many as eight students at the Regional Campus will work with medical educators to design the new curriculum.
• A new Family Medicine residency program, developed in collaboration with Mount Nittany Medical Center and other State College health care providers, earned accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Currently, more than 50 third- and fourth-year medical students attend the Regional Campus.

In addition to preparing the next generation of physicians and advanced care practitioners in the U.S., Penn State Hershey entered a partnership designed to improve healthcare on another continent. The College of Medicine signed an agreement with MountCrest University College (MCU) to assist the school in becoming the first private medical school in Ghana. MCU later broke ground on its medical school, and is welcoming its first class of medical students this month.

Awards and recognition

Penn State Hershey was fortunate to be recognized by statewide and national organizations over the past year:

• Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital was ranked in eight specialties – its most ever – in U.S. News & World Report's 2015-16 Best Children's Hospitals rankings. This marks the fifth consecutive year in which the Children's Hospital has been ranked in multiple specialties.
• Penn State Hershey Medical Center was one of just nine hospitals statewide to be recognized through the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania's 2015 Achievement Awards program. HAP presented Penn State Hershey with an Optimal Operations Award for enhancing efforts to catch and report medical errors, and an In Safe Hands Award for efforts to reduce venous thromboembolism, a potentially fatal condition involving blood clots.

Penn State Hershey was recognized as one of 1,224 hospitals in the United States to achieve the 2013 Top Performer distinction on Key Quality Measures® by The Joint Commission, an independent agency that accredits hospitals. The Medical Center was recognized as part of the commission's 2014 annual report “America's Hospitals: Improving Quality and Safety,” for achieving excellence in performance on its accountability measures during 2013.

Philanthropy

The John E. Morgan Foundation in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County recently committed $1 million to establish an endowed scholarship to benefit medical students at the College of Medicine. This commitment – and the Stabler Foundation's $1 million gift a few years ago – represent the largest contributions the College has received for scholarship support. The John E. Morgan Foundation Scholarship will provide financial assistance for medical students who are graduates of high schools in Schuylkill, Luzerne, Carbon, Berks and Lehigh counties.

Penn State students raised $13,026,653.23 for Four Diamonds during THON 15. This year's theme was “Empower the Dreamers.” Some of the students danced or volunteered in honor of, or in memory of, someone they love. Many Four Diamonds families also joined the festivities in State College, sharing stories of hope and gratitude, and of what it means to them for their child to be able to receive world class care at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital and not have to worry about how they will pay for that care.

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