September 25, 2019

Recently, several executives, physician leaders, and Revenue Cycle team members gathered at the John P. McGovern Campus to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Texas Children’s Physician Service Organization (TCPSO). The TCPSO manages payor contracting and revenue cycle functions of our physician group.

“The TCPSO is the core body that represents our physicians, and having that within Texas Children’s allows us as hospital leaders to partner with our physician leaders,” said Executive Vice President Dan DiPrisco, who served as one of the first directors of the TCPSO until 2014.

For the past 60 years, Texas Children’s Hospital has had an affiliation with Baylor College of Medicine, serving as the primary pediatric training site for Baylor’s physicians. Prior to 2009, Texas Children’s funded the physician group, while Baylor provided the governance, including billing and contracting.

As Texas Children’s began to expand rapidly, developing strategies for sustainable long-term growth was critical. Subsequently, Texas Children’s and Baylor developed an operating agreement to create an employment structure for physicians and allow contracting and revenue cycle operations to function under the Texas Children’s umbrella.

“When it comes to learning all the ins and outs of how to sustain the TCPSO structurally as an organization, it was important to define roles and create a productive team of leaders, which we will continue to refine and expand over the years,” DiPrisco said.

On July 1, 2009, 145 Baylor employees in the revenue cycle and contracting area transitioned from Baylor to employment at Texas Children’s, forming the TCPSO. Ten years later, 54 were present for the festive anniversary celebration, which included cake and a commemorative pin for the “original” TCPSO staff.

“There was a strategic vision 10 years ago, and it’s hard to imagine the growth of Texas Children’s without the TCPSO,” said Pathologist-in-Chief Dr. Jim Versalovic. “As we look ahead to the next 10 years, we know that we have learned many lessons, and we have certainly demonstrated that the TCPSO can be a very effective platform for the growth, management, and connecting the clinical practice with the business.”

Versalovic was among the first physician leaders to transition to Texas Children’s when the TCPSO was formed, and he served as a TCPSO board member. He has been a part of the organization’s evolution over the past 10 years, and emphasized that the TCPSO has established itself as a core entity of Texas Children’s and, through strategic planning, has significantly advanced during that time.

In the TCPSO’s first decade, its growth has mirrored that of the hospital. Within the first year, professional billing was managed for 655 physicians, comprising 32 pediatric and adult specialties. Within 10 years, the number of physicians has grown to more than 1,800 billable providers and 45 specialties. Net patient revenue had grown 151 percent to $282 million annually in 2019. And August 2019 alone was the organization’s highest cash collections month ever, at just over $26 million.

As Texas Children’s expands into further markets and continues to provide high quality care to patients and their families around the globe, the TCPSO will be right there as well, providing the revenue cycle support and collections.

“The level of collaboration between the TCPSO and the Baylor physicians on payor contracting and revenue cycle functions has never been stronger,” said Richelle Fleischer, President of the TCPSO and Senior Vice President of Revenue Cycle. “Everyone is excited about what we will accomplish together over the next 10 years!”

September 23, 2019

Just a few months after being named the No. 1 destination in the country for pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery for the third straight year, Texas Children’s Heart Center® is celebrating another milestone.

One year ago, on September 25, the Heart Center made the historic move into its new home in Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower.

Watch the video of move day.

The entire day was a carefully orchestrated ballet of coordination.

“The move to the Heart Center was the culmination of two years of preparation and was a momentous day for us all,” said Chief of Critical Care Dr. Lara Shekerdemian. “There were lots of moving parts all working together in concert, which was incredible. The entire day was a testament to collaboration and great planning.”

Six specially trained teams made up of more than 200 members transported 64 heart patients, some critically ill, safely to their new, state-of-the-art rooms. The patients ranged in age from 3 days to 22 years. As units in the new tower prepared for patients’ arrival, team members in a command center were monitoring patients’ conditions, making sure facilities were ready, and stationing support teams along the travel routes in case of emergency.

“Fortunately, we had experience since we had moved the pediatric and the transitional intensive care units over to the new building in the months prior to the Heart Center move,” said Maria Happe, Texas Children’s nurse practitioner and clinical project manager for Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower. “There was a lot of excitement and tons of activity in each unit as we were getting patients, parents and teams ready to move.”

Settling in

The new Heart Center was designed from top to bottom with families in mind. One of the most important difference-makers that Heart Center staff and employees are quick to point out is the ability for families to stay together while a child receives care.

“Being able to have parents in the rooms with their children, for them to be able to comfortably stay in the space, has been a huge improvement, said Carmen Watrin, director of nursing for inpatient units. “It’s also made families essentially a part of the care team, which has been phenomenal. The families are so grateful.”

The new space also increased desperately needed care capacity. During one especially difficult period in 2013, spatial constraints rendered Texas Children’s incapable of accepting additional transports of critically ill children. We were simply too full. This prompted the historical expansion of critical, surgical and emergency care capacity that included the construction of Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower.

“We never want to be in a position where we say no to a family or to a child,” said Chief of Cardiovascular Anesthesiology Dr. Emad Mossad. “This new setting has given us the privilege, and the space and resources, to be able to serve as many patients as come our way. It’s been a great thing to move to a new space, a new place, a fresh start, and to have the capacity to be able to say yes to families who are seeking our help.”

In addition to new space, the Heart Center has been on a mission to ensure that it has the staff needed to deliver the highest possible level of care. One example has been the onboarding of over one hundred new nurses to ensure that nurse-to-patient ratios are always at the optimum level. There’s also no substitution for experience, especially in health care, which is why in the months leading up to the Heart Center move, cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) leadership worked not only to recruit the best nurses, but also to retain them. As a result, the number of CICU nurses with greater than two years’ experience has increased over the past year, which helps improve the overall quality of the team.

Eyes on the future

With a year now in the books, the No. 1 heart center in the country is focused on continuing to deliver the best care, but also to improving wherever possible and to growing as a team.

“I’m looking forward to further consolidating the concept of a heart center as something that we all are part of,” said Chief of Congenital Heart Surgery Dr. Christopher Caldarone. “We all have allegiances to many things – to our community, to our families, to our homes, to the hospital, to our academic department. Over the next year, we want to continue creating a culture here in the Heart Center where people feel like they are truly a part of this big team.”

Additionally, the Heart Center is looking forward to growing care capabilities, including an expansion of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) program. Over the course of the next year, the Heart Center will develop a dedicated center for adults with congenital heart disease, where they will be treated by specialists who recognize and understand their unique needs.

“This expansion will be a huge statement by Texas Children’s Hospital,” said Chief of Pediatric Cardiology Dr. Daniel Penny. “There should never be an expiry date on the care of children with congenital heart disease as they transition to adulthood. Our ACHD team already provides amazing care, but with this expansion, all aspects of care for adults with congenital heart disease will be available on one dedicated unit. It’s an exciting time at Texas Children’s Heart Center.”

Learn more about the world-class care and services provided at Texas Children’s Heart Center.

The Texas Children’s footprint continues to expand in the capital. On September 16, Texas Children’s Pediatrics Dawson & Ramirez Pediatrics located at 1111 W 34th suite 102 Austin, TX 78705, opened its doors and became the fourth location in the city.

Drs. Thomas Dawson, Jaime Ramirez and Britni LeBoeuf lead the Practice’s care team, and are dedicated to understanding the importance of a parent feeling completely comfortable with a child’s primary care physician. These board-certified, expert pediatricians have extensive training in children’s health care, and will focus on maintaining Texas Children’s mission of providing high quality care in the Austin community.

“I’m excited to welcome Drs. Dawson, Ramirez and LeBoeuf, as well as their amazing team, to our TCP family,” Kay Tittle, president of Texas Children’s Pediatrics, said. “We know the value pediatricians bring to the community. They are more than doctors – they are partners in your child’s health.”

Texas Children’s Pediatrics locations provide full-service pediatric care for children of all ages including, among other offerings, prenatal counseling; newborn and infant care; well and sick child visits; immunizations; and hearing and vision screenings; as well as camp, school and sports physicals.

In 2018, Texas Children’s expanded its pediatric health care offerings into the Austin community. The first Texas Children’s Pediatrics practice in Austin, Texas Children’s Pediatrics Austin Pediatrics at 5625 Eiger Road, suite 225 opened on June 18.

For more information about Texas Children’s Pediatrics in Austin, visit www.texaschildrenspediatricsaustin.org

On September 19, Texas Children’s Nursing Professional Development and the Shared Governance Interdisciplinary Education Council hosted Professional Day at Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

Approximately 572 participants attended the conference across the hospital’s three campuses – 353 at Medical Center Campus, 110 at West Campus and 109 at The Woodlands. The conference is designed to promote the enhancement of quality care and patient outcomes through evidence-based practice in the areas of pediatrics and obstetrics. The full day event included a pre-conference session, 95 podium and poster presentations, exhibitors, food along with nourishments and fun prizes.

“For the second time, the annual conference was open to the public and we had 31 external participants in attendance,” said Amanda Garey, Nursing Professional Development specialist who was integral to the organization of this event. “Traditionally, Professional Day had been primarily a nursing event, but we have expanded the event to include clinical staff from multiple disciplines who play a critical role in quality patient care and outcomes.” The conference attracted 416 nurses, 14 speech, occupational or physical therapists, 24 social workers, 53 respiratory therapists, five registered dietitians, 10 physicians and 62 other inter-professional clinicians. Professional Day brought over 150 podium and poster speakers from across the system and throughout the community to share their expertise.

Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre presented the keynote address which was shared to the community sites via telehealth platform. All of the conference speakers were acknowledged as subject matter experts in their fields and delivered the content based on latest trends and evidence. In total, 33 exhibitors and professional organizations supported this conference, which provides a platform for colleagues to collaborate, network, share knowledge and make professional connections.

The event awarded contact hours for nurses, physicians, social work, respiratory therapy, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and registered dietitians. Amanda Garey and Jill Stonesifer were the event leaders at the Medical Center Campus. Lauren Ivanhoe and Deborah Lee were the event leaders at West Campus and The Woodlands.

If you missed this year’s Professional Day, make sure you keep an eye out for the next save the date.

September 16, 2019

Nurse research scientist Krisanne Graves shares the many opportunities available to our nurses to be at the forefront of nursing research and impact the care they provide to patients and their families. Read more

Houston is both the home of significant chemical processing operations and an identified target for terrorism by Homeland Security. As such, Texas Children’s MUST be prepared to provide decontamination for victims of an accidental or intentional release of chemicals in the Houston area.

During September 30 to October 4, “Decon Week” will be held at Texas Children’s Hospital. The department of Organizational Resilience will host a series of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) approved decontamination trainings for Texas Children’s staff. These will include an 8-hour first receiver training and a 4-hour awareness training at Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

The 8-hour training is for staff interested in becoming members of the decontamination or “Decon” team. This team is made up of volunteer staff members who attend the annual training, bi-annual meetings, and also participate in an annual decontamination exercise (to be held the last half of October 2019). Both operational and support members are needed on the team.

The team plays a vital role in protecting the safety and security of patients, visitors, and staff by performing decontamination activities prior to entry into our facilities. Further, the decontamination process helps the victim by limiting exposure to the contaminant on their skin and clothing.

The 4-hour awareness training is meant for Emergency Center and Urgent Care Nursing, and other staff who may encounter a “one off” contamination that occurred at a home, school, or industrial setting. These staff are trained to identify potentially contaminated patients, and direct them outside to our built-in decontamination showers (or outdoor decon area at Urgent Cares) to receive instruction to conduct “self-decon” before entering the facility.

Any staff interested in joining the decontamination team and attending the 8-hour training, or staff interested in the 4-hour awareness training, should contact Emergency Management at ext. 4-1237 or use the link below to sign up for a training and exercise that are convenient to their schedule.

Emergency Management Event Sign Up

September 10, 2019

Texas Children’s recently hosted the Patient Access Collaborative’s Pediatric Patient Access Symposium held on September 5 and 6. This two-day conference provides a forum for the nation’s largest and most prestigious health systems to discuss, collaborate and advance initiatives that can vastly improve patient access to ambulatory care.

Each year, industry leaders from across the country come together to share ideas on solving some of the most challenging aspects of patient access. Approximately 50 attendees representing 20 of the largest pediatric hospitals in the country convened at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women to attend this annual conference. “The Patient Access Collaborative offers us a forum – year round – to collaborate with our peers and move towards the shared goal of advancing access to care for children across the country,” shared Grace Karon, Assistant Director of Business Operations and Strategic Planning.

Highlights from the first day of the symposium included opening remarks from Texas Children’s Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier, who shared this video of our hospital’s patient access journey, and the incredible strides our organization has made in the last year to improve access for our patients and their families system wide. Guests also had the opportunity to tour our state-of-the-art Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower and Mission Control.

The Patient Access Symposium also included several insightful workshops and presentations on patient access-related topics including scheduling optimization, national benchmarks, and referral management, to name a few.

Discussion groups run by Texas Children’s leaders offered attendees the opportunity to transparently share barriers and lessons learned from their own access journeys.

  • Challenges of Governance, Sustainability, Leadership and Change Management in Access Journey

Trent Johnson, Assistant Vice President

Ramzey Ibrahim, Manager – Business Process Transformation

  • Patient Access Technology Opportunity: Reducing No Shows, Call Center Optimization, Patient Portals

Julie McGuire, Director – Enterprise Systems

Colleen Julien, Manager – Enterprise Systems

Martin Wortley, Assistant Director – Customer Care Contact Center

Dr. David Bank, Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs – Ambulatory Services and Network Development at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, delivered the welcome address for day two of the annual symposium. “As a result of the efforts of everyone involved in the Access initiative, Texas Children’s national reputation will become even stronger as we emerge as “THE” leader in the national effort to improve access to care for children and their families.” Dr. Bank is the founder of the Pediatric Access Collaborative and also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Patient Access Collaborative.

Day two of the symposium highlighted some of the recent milestones of two major Access initiative ventures that leveraged technology solutions to solve complex operational problems:

  • Texas Children’s Space Utilization Program

Sara Montenegro, Assistant Vice President – Texas Children’s Pediatrics

Taylor Pierce, Business Process Engineer

  • Texas Children’s Move to Online Scheduling

Diesa Samp, Director of Transplant and Ambulatory Nursing

Martin Wortley, Assistant Director – Customer Care Contact Center

Elisa Lange, Lead – Marketing Special Projects

“We are so honored to have this opportunity to host this year’s symposium at Texas Children’s Hospital,” said Texas Children’s Assistant Vice President Carrie Rys. “It was a tremendous opportunity to share our access improvement journey as well as gain valuable insight on improvement ideas from our peer network.”