WellStar Medical Group to Open Pulmonary Medicine Location in East Cobb

Folu Akinnusi, M.D.

Mark Schlosberg, M.D., FCCP

WellStar Medical Group is pleased to announce the May 9 opening of its East Cobb Pulmonary Medicine office, at the intersection of Roswell Road and Indian Hills. The new office address is WellStar Pulmonary Medicine, 3939 Roswell Road, Suite 110, Marietta, GA 30062. The phone number is 770-422-1372. This location will serve as a satellite location to the existing practices and will open two days a week to accommodate patients in the area. If needed, patients seen at this practice will be admitted to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.

Folu Akinnusi, M.D. and Mark Schlosberg, M.D. will provide care for patients at this location. Drs. Akinnusi and Schlosberg are board certified in Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care Medicine and Internal Medicine.

WellStar Medical Group Opens First Allergy and Immunology Practice

Grace Chiang, M.D.

WellStar Medical Group is pleased to announce the opening of WellStar’s first allergy and immunology practice, WellStar Medical Group Allergy & Immunology. On April 1, 2011, Grace Chiang, M.D., began seeing patients at a new office in Smyrna.

Dr. Chiang cares for patients of all ages, with conditions such as asthma, allergic rhinitis (hayfever), sinusitis, eczema, food allergies, insect allergies, hives, anaphylaxis, and other allergic conditions.

Dr. Chiang graduated Phi Beta Kappa and received her Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Wisconsin. She then completed her residency in pediatrics at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, followed by an allergy/immunology fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to joining WellStar Medical Group, she cared for patients in the Atlanta area in private practice.  Dr. Chiang is board-certified in allergy/immunology and pediatrics.

WellStar Allergy & Immunology is located at 4480 Cooper Lake Rd SE, Suite 101 in Smyrna. Office hours are Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, please call 770-333-2027.

WellStar’s Clinical Laboratory Services Awarded CAP Re-accreditation

The WellStar Clinical Laboratory has been awarded re-accreditation by the internationally-recognized College of American Pathologists (CAP), based on the results of unannounced site inspections at all five WellStar hospitals in early February.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid recognizes the CAP accreditation program as being equal to, or more stringent than, the federal government's own inspection program.

“CAP is widely-considered to be the world’s leader in laboratory quality assurance,” said David Schlosnagle, M.D., medical director of WellStar Kennestone Hospital’s Clinical Laboratory and chair of the WellStar Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. “We are proud of our teams’ efforts in achieving re-accreditation and honored by comments made by CAP site inspectors on how well run and organized our labs are. They also suggested that other labs could learn from our best practices.”

During the CAP accreditation process, inspectors examine the laboratory's records and quality control of procedures for the preceding two years. CAP inspectors also examine laboratory staff qualifications, management of the laboratory, as well as its equipment, facilities, safety program and record.

Physician Networking Socials at WellStar Douglas and Kennestone Hospitals

The first WellStar Douglas Hospital Physician Networking Social, held on Feb. 17 at The Centre at Arbor Connection, proved to be a huge success with more than 35 physicians in attendance. The Physician Relations Team welcomed WellStar senior leaders from WellStar Douglas and Paulding hospitals and the WAB to enjoy an evening of great company and food. Click here to view some photos from the event.

The second WellStar Kennestone Hospital Physician Networking Social was held on March 15t at the Marietta Country Club. More than132 physicians joined WellStar Senior Leaders and the Physician Relations Team for this eagerly anticipated annual event. Click here to view some photos from the event.

Patient Satisfaction Scores

  

  

Tips for Improving Patient Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction is important for many reasons, the most important being improved health outcomes for our patients. Satisfied patients are more likely to:

• Follow treatment recommendations

• Follow referral recommendations

• Remain loyal patients

• File fewer malpractice claims

However, dissatisfaction occurs for many reasons, including:

• Prolonged waiting times

• Isolation in the exam room

• Lack of understanding diagnosis and treatment plan

• Difficulty in obtaining an appointment

• Billing disputes

• Physician/staff attitudes and communication

Physician/staff attitudes and communication is the number one reason for dissatisfaction among patients. In order to ensure a positive perception of care, and, therefore, better outcomes for our patients, employ the following evidenced-based practices when interacting with patients and their families:

Update on WellStar Health Parks Initiative

As all of you are aware, WellStar announced the Health Parks initiative in the summer of 2010. The Health Parks initiative involves the development of community-based outpatient care centers to be strategically located for convenient access by our community. Each Health Park will be different in the services provided, but will contain some or all of the following: office space for primary care, pediatric and specialty physicians, outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging and lab services, urgent care, and primary care and specialty outpatient services such as cardiac, oncology, physical rehabilitation and women’s health. We also plan to focus on the overall health and wellness of our community, not only through clinical services, but also by providing services such as chronic disease management, complementary medicine, screenings, fitness programs and education.

The American College of Surgeons™ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)

WellStar is implementing The American College of Surgeons™ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP), the first nationally-validated, outcomes-based program to measure and improve surgical quality. Unlike administrative databases, ACS NSQIP utilizes 30-day, risk-adjusted surgical outcomes, which allow valid benchmarking among participating hospitals.

The program will give WellStar the ability to monitor its quality improvement efforts and compare its surgical outcomes — on a blinded basis — with peer hospitals and national averages. The comprehensive analytical tools and clinical data will enable WellStar to prioritize resources and time to the most important surgical quality and safety initiatives.

ACS NSQIP is currently being implemented at WellStar Douglas Hospital, and will follow with WellStar Cobb, Kennestone and Paulding hospitals later this year.

For additional information, please visit http://www.acsnsqip.org/.

2011 Medical Staff Satisfaction Survey Will Run Through May 29

Physician satisfaction with the services we provide is a key indicator of our progress toward our vision. This year’s Press Ganey survey, which began April 18 and will conclude May 29, requests your opinion regarding patient care quality, hospital / medical staff leadership, and access to information technology you need. We will utilize the information gathered in the survey to make decisions and prioritize our efforts to improve performance. The survey provides an opportunity for you to give candid feedback to administrative and physician leaders and, when appropriate, recognize a job well done.

The survey is confidential; no one outside of the company that administers the survey will see your questionnaire. If you did not receive the survey last weekend at the Physician Retreat, you can expect to receive a hard copy in the mail next month. At that time, you will also receive a website link and a 16 character PIN number in case you prefer to complete the survey via the Internet.

May Department Meetings

For a list of May department meetings, click "Read more>>."

New Medical Staff - March Credentials - As Approved at the March WellStar Governing Board Meeting

 For a complete list of new medical staff, click "Read more>>."

New Medical Staff - April Credentials - As Approved at the April WellStar Governing Board Meeting

For a complete list of new medical staff, click "Read more>>."

UpToDate - Coming to WellStar Very Soon!

Benefits of UpToDate:

• An enterprise-wide contract has been signed for all WellStar Medical Staff
• Includes CME Credits
• Will be accessed through the Physician Portal
• No cost to medical staff
• Provides answers to clinical questions, latest clinical findings, treatment recommendations, patient education and more.

Remote Learning Now Available for all Providers

NetLearning is now available for use by all medical staff members for remote learning. Many physicians used the application to complete their safety training. NetLearning can also be used to complete the didactic portion of ACLS recertification through the HeartCode program.
If on a WellStar computer, the NetLearning application is available via eSource by clicking on the WellStar Learning Network tab and then “NetLearning” under the “WLN Links” menu on the left.  When accessing NetLearning remotely, not through a WellStar computer, open an Internet browser and go to https://netapp.netlearning.com/ncsi/login.aspx?id=317.

WellStar team members can log in to NetLearning by using their employee number. Physicians, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, and others who are not employed by WellStar will log in to NetLearning using the login provided by the medical staff office for Safety First 2011.
We plan to post other learning programs in the near future.  The next will be a learning module concerning Georgia’s Advance Directive law and the POLST document. Most of the programs you will access in NetLearning will be associated with CME credits. Some programs, like HeartCode, may be associated with fees. For more information, contact the Organizational Learning staff through eSource.

Colonoscopy Screenings

WellStar is developing a community campaign to promote colon health. This effort will encourage those 50 and older to schedule a screening colonoscopy.

All Medical Staff members credentialed to perform colonoscopies have been invited to participate. The promotion is scheduled to launch May 16, and it will run for an initial 12-month period.

Direct mailers will be targeted to consumers to encourage them to contact the WellStar Call Center, 956-STAR. Call center team members will screen and schedule respondents using a rotational system of participating physicians, unless the caller has a preferred physician.

956-STAR will also work with callers to schedule screening colonoscopies at the WellStar hospital most convenient for them. We will track patient response through their screening, including a next day follow-up call.

For uninsured callers – or for insured patients choosing not to file their insurance for the procedure – a special flat rate of $999 will be offered. Typical charges for this procedure range from $4,000 to $5,000.

This exciting initiative will provide a valuable community health service.

Thoracic Aortic Disease Multidisciplinary Case Conference

Every third Tuesday of the month
7-8 a.m.
Quantum Radiology Conference Room
61 Whitcher Street, Suite 3150
*Led by William Cooper, M.D., medical director, cardiovascular surgery

Upcoming CME Events

For a list of upcoming CME events, click "Read more>>."

WellStar Kennestone Hospital Recognized as One of the Top 10 Percent of Inpatient Rehabilitations Facilities in the United States

WellStar Kennestone Hospital is pleased to announce that it ranked in the top 10 percent of 797 inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) that qualified to be ranked in the IRF database of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSmr) in 2010. This is the third consecutive year Kennestone has ranked in the top 10 percent.

Stars Implementation Plan at WellStar Kennestone Hospital

Goal:  To address the patient satisfaction survey question regarding “response to concerns/complaints made during your stay.”

Situation:  We acknowledge that patients have unique needs and not all needs can be anticipated. As a result, we must be quick and consistent in our response to concerns and complaints brought forth by patients and family members.