Words like prevention, wellness and partnerships are more than the latest buzzwords at Adventist Health. Since St. Helena Sanitarium opened its doors 136 years ago in California’s picturesque Napa Valley, the heritage of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been about whole–person health. Adventist Health not only wants to promote healthy individuals and families but also healthy communities — a natural fit in today’s environment.
With health care reform in the near future, Adventist Health has dedicated a team to develop and deploy what we’re calling the Mission Model: The Adventist Health Way. The Mission Model embodies the three core care elements contained in Adventist Health’s mission - sharing God’s love through physical, mental and spiritual healing – and seeks to empower our populations to live healthier lives.
In 2013, each of our hospitals completed a comprehensive triennial community health needs assessment. Through the analysis of these results, each hospital has chosen priority areas unique to the communities they serve. Adventist Health believes where and how we live is vital to our health. Building healthy communities requires working together with a common purpose and belief. Communities, schools, work places and health care systems must work together to promote and support a healthy environment that makes healthy choices the easy choice.
Population health is a whole-person, outcomes-based approach that works to improve the health of entire communities. It requires collaboration among researchers, providers, public health entities and policy makers. Population health aligns with Adventist Health’s philosophy of care and, as overall health declines in North America, provides unprecedented opportunities.
Adventist Health believes that improving the health status of entire populations begins at home. In 2013, Adventist Health introduced two health plans for employees and their families: Engaged! and Base. Both plans offer wellness-focused programs and tools, including a wellness website, fitness activities, nutrition guidance, smoking cessation workshops, and more. As an incentive for employees and their families to take a more active role in their wellbeing, the Engaged! Plan offers lower contributions and deductibles. Participants complete a biometric screening and wellness assessment. And those with high-risk conditions take part in a free care-management program that provides support and education. Nearly 97 percent of employees signed up for the Engaged! Plan.
The health plans empower employees, their families and, by extension, the larger community to take an active role in managing their health so they may live vibrant and productive lives.
Care Transformation in Adventist Health reflects our promise to deliver and continually improve care and patient experience while extending our mission across all care settings. The vision created by the Adventist Health Care Model focuses our transformation efforts by effectively blending people, processes, and technology. It includes consistent design, delivery and evaluation of care performance.
Our caregivers are working hard every day to exceed top quartile regulatory and quality performance requirements. In 2013, our hospital, hospital-based home care agencies and clinics, were once again accredited through The Joint Commission to ensure the safest, highest quality health care we can provide.
Adventist Health focuses not only on quality patient care, but also provides a quality work environment for its employees. Maintaining a culture of teamwork and safety among its clinicians and staff is a crucial component to the Care Transformation Model. For the past five years, we have participated in the "Safety Attitude Questionnaire." The survey provides Adventist Health with insight into focused areas where actions can be taken to improve the safety and teamwork climate in clinical departments.
This past year, Adventist Health presented its culture results at the Institute for Health Care Improvement’s annual conference. A key piece to the culture results is the strong and continued increase in the spirituality culture which is consistent with our faith-based mission.
Ambulatory care clinics throughout Adventist Health provide general medical care as well as specialized care for patients of all ages in an outpatient setting. Adventist Health Physician Services (AHPS) operates within a variety of clinic models, including direct employment, hospital-based clinics, rural health clinics and a medical foundation.
Adventist Health Physician Services provides comprehensive management services for all physician models operated across our four-state system. The AHPS management team provides key leadership and business functions such as administrative, operational, financial and clinical services, recruitment, acquisitions, and information and application technology.
Our physician practices are characterized by clinical excellence and have a reputation for quality service; high physician satisfaction with the working environment; high patient satisfaction; and a physician-driven culture that continually works on improvements and is accountable for results.
Active partnerships with our physicians are critical for building clinically integrated networks that can meet the demands of health care reform. By developing new partnerships, we can reach beyond the doors of our clinics to maintain a healthier population in our communities. Our delivery of highly coordinated care and involvement of patients and their families with healthcare decisions is integral to our goal of providing whole person care, the core of our mission and values.
Adventist Health’s goal is to advance the quality of care in our communities as well as improve patient experience through technology and services. To accomplish this, we have strategic partnerships, alliances and an array of vendors encompassing many business arrangements.
Adventist Health made a strategic decision to standardize, modernize and consolidate its revenue cycle functions. To achieve this goal, we partnered with Cerner to create an innovative approach for our revenue cycle operations. This expanded partnership builds upon our decade-plus relationship with Cerner and allows us to leverage a single platform, ensure consistency in our revenue management operations, and reach top quartile – or better – performance in the industry. Our patients, communities and employees, will benefit by this shared vision that advances the quality of care and improves the patient experience.
Also in 2013, a partnership was formed with Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to provide facilities and real estate management services at more than 550 properties, representing in excess of 8 million square feet. This allows Adventist Health to focus on our core mission of providing quality health care, while leveraging JLL’s knowledge and expertise. JLL benefits our workforce, our patients and visitors to our facilities. The working relationship ensures service excellence, streamlines and standardizes facilities management and reduces costs.
Adventist Health is a long-standing member of Premier, Inc., a health care performance alliance that aims to improve the efficiency of health care facilities. This partnership allows our facilities and affiliates to realize significant supply chain costs, while improving performance.
We also partner with other health care systems in various areas to advance our missions and leverage respective strengths in delivering high quality, innovative care. Building alliances with established hospitals and health systems to create regional provider/payer networks, as well as aligning physician practices through regional clinical integration, ensures the health needs of the community are being met effectively, while providing a high level of care.