April 12, 2016

41316drshilt175Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Jeffrey Shilt as chief surgical officer. Shilt is also a member of the Division of Orthopedics.

“Dr. Shilt brings an exciting combination of academic, surgical and community practice experience which will be a tremendous asset to us as we open our hospital in The Woodlands,” said Texas Children’s Hospital Surgeon-In-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr. “I am excited to welcome him to the team and I look forward to the outstanding pediatric surgical leadership he will bring to The Woodlands community.”

Shilt comes to Texas Children’s from St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho, where he was an active pediatric orthopedic surgeon and director of the hospital’s Spasticity Clinic and motion analysis lab for children and adults. Prior to his time in Idaho, Shilt held positions as associate professor and residency program director at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. When Wake Forest established Brenner Children’s Hospital, Shilt served as the director of pediatric orthopedics where he assisted in the further development of pediatric specialty care. His research interests include management of spasticity in cerebral palsy, sports performance and the treatment of endurance sports injuries.

As a recognized leader in both academics and clinical practices, Shilt brings a breadth of experience to the Texas Children’s team. While he served as the program director of the Wake Forest University orthopedic surgery residency he participated in pioneering work in the treatment of children with spastic cerebral palsy, as well as sports medicine applications of tissue engineering. He has presented numerous lectures, both nationally and internationally, and serves on various committees and advisory boards. Additionally, he has served as the team physician for the USA triathlon team at the two world championships, two years as a team physician for a professional cycling team, and as a medical consultant for multiple World Champion athletes, Olympians & gold medalists, and multiple professional ironman and other endurance athletes.

A Missouri native, Shilt obtained his medical and undergraduate degrees at the University of Missouri – Kansas City six-year combined BA-Medical Degree program directly out of high school. He then completed his general surgery internship and orthopedic surgery residency at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, as well as a year of basic science research at the Pediatric Research Institute at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. This was followed by a pediatric orthopedic fellowship at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. After completing his clinical training, Shilt took part in the personalized leadership development program at Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management’s Institute for Executive Education in Winston-Salem.

Slated to open in 2017 under the leadership of President Michelle Riley-Brown, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Charles Hankins and Shilt, the 560,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is being designed specifically to serve children and families. Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands will offer inpatient and outpatient specialty pediatric care in areas including: cancer, cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, diabetes and endocrinology, urology, sports medicine, gastroenterology and nutrition, pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, otolaryngology, allergy and immunology, dermatology, adolescent medicine and physical rehabilitation.

The facility will open with 25 emergency center rooms, 72 outpatient rooms, 12 radiology rooms, four operating rooms, 28 critical care beds and 32 acute care beds with plans to add up to 200 additional beds in the future to meet community needs. In addition to serving families throughout The Woodlands, Texas Children’s anticipates serving families in counties throughout Greater North Houston including Montgomery, Walker, Grimes, Liberty, Harris, Polk, San Jacinto and Hardin counties and beyond.

41316WCAmbulatoryOpenHouse640Practice administrators and all Health Center community leaders recently attended an open house at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus to focus on ways to embed “systemness” into our leadership structure.

In order for Texas Children’s to successfully expand across the Houston metropolitan area, it is critical that all leaders partner across the system to enhance the patient experience. These core ideas tie with the efforts around creating practice councils, which are ensuring patient care across the system is consistent at each location.

The day included a teambuilding activity, updates from West and The Woodlands, formal rounding expectations and a tour of West Campus.

April 5, 2016

When a patient comes to Texas Children’s looking for an answer to their medical woes, lab work plays a big part in the diagnosis and treatment of that patient and their family.

A recent report by the Institute of Medicine has highlighted the need for improved diagnosis in healthcare. We at Texas Children’s want to continue to lead in that effort and build on our wide range of consultative services on clinical tests that are vital in guiding the diagnosis and therapy of patients.

That’s why we have partnered with Quest Diagnostics to provide outpatient reference lab services to our patients receiving care at our locations or any Quest Diagnostics Patient Service Center in the greater Houston area. Hospital patients will continue to utilize the Texas Children’s Pathology department for lab services.

“Many providers have been frustrated with the idea of dealing with 60-plus reference labs and trying to figure out how to provide the best possible care and quality to our patients,” Executive Vice President John Nickens said. “We took this as an opportunity to look at the market as one entity, as one Texas Children’s experience.”

As a result of our partnership with Quest Diagnostics, a pediatric trained phlebotomist will be available at most Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Health Centers, and The Centers across the Houston area. The partnership will allow Texas Children’s to take advantage of the company’s technical expertise and pair it with our medical knowledge to improve the quality of testing for our patients.

“As we look ahead in the 21st century, we know we’re going to need to be even more accurate and more refined in terms of diagnosis so we can deliver the very specific treatment each patient needs and deserves,” Pathologist-in-Chief Dr. James Versalovic said. “This partnership will allow us to do that and to foster innovation in a way we weren’t able to do before.”

If you would like more information or have questions about the partnership between Quest Diagnostics and Texas Children’s, please contact Cindy Beckley, project manager, at chbeckl2@texaschildrens.org or Ext. 4-5115.

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The Texas Children’s Code of Ethical Behavior sets forth the guidelines that govern our interactions among workforce members, patients, and vendors, and sets expectations for our behavior, in order to ensure we achieve our purpose in full compliance with our values and the law.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does Texas Children’s have a Code of Ethical Behavior?

  • Ethics are an essential and integral part of any successful company, especially in health care. Since we work in a complex and highly regulated industry, it is essential that we have a uniform code that guides workforce members on carrying out the Texas Children’s mission ethically and with integrity, and protects Texas Children’s, its employees, and its patients.

2. What is the Texas Children’s Code of Ethical Behavior?

The general principles that guide our behavior at work. These include:

  • Following the law: Not sure about whether something is legal? Contact the Compliance and Privacy Office at 832-824-2085 or at compliance@texaschildrens.org and ask!
  • Ethical business practices: Texas Children’s values openness, honesty, and expects its workforce to adhere to the highest standards of ethical business practices.
  • Avoiding conflicts of interest: Taking part in an activity that may influence or appear to influence your decision making.
  • Following Texas Children’s policies and procedures: All Texas Children’s policies and procedures are available on PolicyTech, accessible here: https://texaschildrens.policytech.com/
  • Reporting inappropriate or unethical conduct or activity: Texas Children’s provides a confidential and anonymous way to report compliance or ethical concerns, for which regular channels may be uncomfortable or otherwise inappropriate. To make an anonymous report, workforce members can either: 1) call the Texas Children’s Confidential Hotline (1-866-478-9070) to report their concerns, or 2) make a report online at http://mycompliancereport.com (enter password TEX).
  • Maintaining confidentiality: Every Texas Children’s workforce member has a duty to safeguard the health information of our patients and members, and shall not access/use/disclose any patient/member protected health information except for the purposes of payment, treatment, or operations. No one may access a patient’s or member’s protected health information unless it relates to their work-duties at Texas Children’s.
  • Keeping accurate and complete records: It is essential that all documentation and records are accurate. When a mistake is made, Texas Children’s expects that error to be reported so it can be corrected.
  • Doing what is right, not what it easy: Sometimes doing nothing, or taking the wrong action, is easier than doing the right thing. All Texas Children’s workforce members are expected to take action and report unethical behavior, even if it is difficult.

3. To whom does the Code of Ethical Behavior apply?

  • The Code of Ethical Behavior applies to all Texas Children’s entities, and all Texas Children’s workforce members individually, including employees, medical staff, volunteers, contractors, consultants, temporary employees, trainees, or other persons whose performance of work is under the direction or supervision or on behalf of Texas Children’s, whether or not they are paid by Texas Children’s.

Remember, if you see something that you believe to be unethical or illegal, you should raise your concerns or ask questions. Thank you for your commitment to ensuring Texas Children’s continues its high standard of ethical practices in order to best serve our patients.

March 29, 2016

Texas Children’s six in-chiefs lead a team of some of the top pediatric specialist in the nation. That team and their leaders are being recognized this week in honor of Doctor’s Day. See for yourself how integral they are to the success of our organization and the health of the many children who come to Texas Children’s each year.

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When you see Texas Children’s growing footprint in the Houston community – like the construction of Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands and the 19-floor vertical expansion of Pediatric Tower E – we’ve achieved amazing things to ensure we deliver the right care at the right place and time to our patients. While our physical footprint reflects our commitment to patient care, it also demonstrates our commitment to green building initiatives in the design and construction of our health care facilities.

Our Facilities Planning and Development Department has used the new construction checklist from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) as a guide for designing Texas Children’s buildings to help maximize efficiency while significantly reducing operational costs across the organization.

“We design energy-efficient buildings to meet or exceed current energy codes as well as assess energy saving ideas for payback of five years or less,” said Jill Pearsall, Texas Children’s assistant vice president of Facilities Planning and Development. “Texas Children’s has historically invested in our long-term facilities for optimal performance including assessment of the first costs, long-term maintenance costs and replacement costs over the life of the buildings.”

Energy-efficient applications in the building design include high performance exterior glass, lighting motion sensors, public restroom hands-free motion sensor faucets, durable floor materials to avoid high maintenance costs and chemical cleaners, and the installation of building system controls to monitor and adjust energy consumption.

“Our iconic Texas Children’s granite on the outside of our facilities is a regional material from Marble Falls, Texas, and we incorporate daylight into our interior designs as much as possible,” Pearsall added.

With Texas Children’s Earth Day celebration less than one month away, there are so many other green initiative milestones worthy of recognition. Click here to read the accomplishments spearheaded by our Green Team.

Save the date – Texas Children’s Earth Day celebration

On Friday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Green Team will host two celebrations on Earth Day – one on The Auxiliary Bridge at Main Campus and one at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.

Dozens of vendors will be available to provide eco-friendly, cost-saving tips to employees including how to become more energy efficient, tips on eating green, as well as ways to reduce waste and recycle more.

At Main and West campuses, Pharmacy will be hosting the “Medication Disposal and Medication Take Back Program.” Please gather and bring expired medications to the event for proper disposal.

Two tree planting events are slated for Earth Day. West Campus President Chanda Cashen Chacón and Vice President Matt Schaefer will plant a tree at West Campus and Executive Vice President John Nickens will plant one at Main Campus thanks to the generous donations from Trees for Houston.

Stay tuned to Connect for more details about Texas Children’s Earth Day celebrations. Also, if you’d like to reach out to the Green Team with your green ideas, email teamgreen@texaschildrens.org.