October 28, 2015
Present:
Philip Alderson, M.D., Adrian Di Bisceglie, M.D., Robert Heaney, M.D., Donald Jacobs, M.D.,
Mary McLennan, M.D., Robert Wilmott, M.D.
Excused:
F. David Schneider, M.D.
In Attendance: Saleem Abdulrauf, M.D., Jastin Antisdel, M.D., Jeffrey Brown, M.D., Pratap Chand, M.D.,
Marty Clay, Greg Crook, John Dombrowski, M.D., Peggy Fisher, Dee Anna Glaser, M.D.,
Yadira Hurley, Patty Klingelhoefer, Alyce Lanxon, Dean Marty, William Maynard, M.D.,
Kathleen Merlo, Rebecca Moed, Esq., Henry Nasrallah, M.D., Howard Place, M.D., Melynda
Pryor, Beth Simon, Amy Yost Hansel
SLUCare Update
Revised Deposition Policy & Fee Schedule – Rebecca Moed, Esq.
Ms. Moed stated that the Policy for depositions has been revised and the fee schedule has
been standardized (includes fees by department and by service being provided). The
policy confirms that there should be no ex parte communication with outside legal
counsel regarding patient care. This policy applies when the physician is a non-party to
the suit. The legal department will continue to work with the departments to schedule the
depositions and communicate with the outside counsel.
SLUCare Financials – Beth Simon
Ms. Simon highlighted the Statement of Activities stating that we were slightly under
budget. The net patient fees are at 100.6% of budget. Dr. Heaney stated that we had the
best first quarter of FY16 in charges and that the patient volume continues to increase.
PMO-Alyce Lanxon
Ms. Lanxon indicated they are still tracking ICD-10 on a daily basis. Denials have not
increased, but department coders report that there has been a slowdown in coding related
to ICD-10. Overall, the impact of ICD-10 has been minimal.
Clinical Operations Report – Melynda Pryor
Ms. Pryor stated that the Access Committee met twice and their initial focus will be
appointment availability. There are many influences that impact access. The committee
is reviewing setting a standard on session duration for the entire practice The Access
Committee will be present their findings and recommendations to the Clinical Operations
Committee and then to the Executive Committee. Ms. Pryor reported that the Call
Center Committee met for the first time yesterday and that the chronic pain management
team will be meeting later today.
Report of the CEO
Chief Operating Officer Report
We are currently 65% compliant for the annual flu shots. Peggy Fisher sent spreadsheets
to the business managers and chairs today on those in their department that are not
compliant. Non-compliant SLUCare employees will be suspended without pay until they
become compliant.
Ms. Merlo stated that there was one town hall meeting last night and there are two more
on Thursday. The themes of the meetings include updates on commitments made at
previous meetings, a report on faculty and staff engagement, absenteeism and facility
planning. Ms Merlo noted that everyone in the SLUCare community needs to be engaged
and coming to work regularly is an essential step. SLUCare absenteeism rate is
extremely high and that negatively impacts our service to our patients and hurts the
morale of employees that do not abuse the absenteeism. We will gather the absenteeism
rates and report on same. We also need to do more to hire the right people.
Master Facility Planning (MFP)
Ms. Merlo asked that everybody be understanding during the Master Facility Planning
(MFP) process. As soon as we receive deadlines we immediately pass them on to those
involved, but we do know the timelines are extremely tight. There will be four care
stream meetings hosted by the design consultants on November 11 and 12. The meetings
are organized around 4 patient entry portals: emergency service, peri-procedural services,
non-invasive diagnostics, and ambulatory services. The November meetings will focus
on the current state and additional meetings at the beginning of December will focus on
future state of the SLUH and Ambulatory Center. Ms. Merlo stated this part of the
process is focused at the Grand campus.
Ms. Merlo reported that everyone in SLU will receive an e-mail regarding MyCare. This
is not a new program but has not been fully socialized in the past and more effort is being
put into marketing it at this time. This is a program between HR and Family &
Community Medicine to try to get employees of the university to utilize SLUCare
Family physicians for primary care. We do get paid by HR for this program and need to
make it work, in order to provide high quality care and get necessary referrals into the
specialty departments.
Executive Update – Robert Heaney, M.D.
MRI Installation
Dr. Heaney stated that there are cosmetic changes going on with Project AMC, but there
are also other changes going on, such as getting a new magnet for the MRI. This,
however, will bring SLUH down to one MRI for several months. Dr. Brown stated that
he has been working with his team to come up with a plan to keep up with the need
during this time. St. Mary’s is an option to send patients to for MRIs during this time as
they are within our practice. Hours at SLUH are likely to be extended to provide services
in a timely manner. Dr. Brown indicated he was disappointed with some responses
indicating that SLUCare physicians will send their patients elsewhere. Dr. Brown noted
that the quality of outside imaging services is inferior to that provided by SLUH and St.
Mary’s Hospital. Instructions from SLUH were disseminated to medical staff:
Beginning Monday November 2nd, the hospital will begin the de-install, construction
and install for the new 3T MRI. The process will take 12 weeks, and during this time
the MRI department will expand hours to meet the patients’ needs for MRI imaging.
The MRI Department will be working:
·
6:30am to 6:30am Monday – Thursday,
·
6:30am-10:30pm Friday
·
7am -11pm Saturday
·
9:30am-6:00pm – Sunday
·
10:00pm Sunday-6:30am Monday
·
Any non-staff hours will be covered on an “on-call” basis, by calling the
Radiology Resident on call at 314-268-5787.If you have questions please contact
Roberta McQueen-Eads, Imaging Manager at 314-568-1586 or Marsha
Forrest, Assistant Director Imaging at 314- 490-6048.
Items of Interest –
Dr. Heaney stated that the Sustainable Growth Act (SGA) was repealed, but has now
been replaced by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). We
will be asked within two years to declare if we will move to the alternative payment
models or remain in the merit-based incentive payment system. We would like the
practice to move into the alternative payment models and start the discovery process into
moving in this direction.