The Pavilion is hosting an event to help mothers and daughters learn how to cope through the journey of adolescence. Girls ages 10-18 and their mothers and caregivers are invited. Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/girls-elevated-an-event-to-empower-teens-and-tweens-tickets-9432989325 to register.
Texas Children’s is going North. Or more specifically, we’re headed to The Woodlands. In fall 2017, Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands will begin providing specialized care to children and families in a world-class, 548,000-square-foot facility.
“We stand at the forefront of an exciting new time in pediatric health care as we continue to grow, save more lives and create better futures for children everywhere,” said Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace at Friday’s groundbreaking ceremonies for the new hospital. “Our next 60 years start today – here in The Woodlands – with a Texas Children’s community hospital built right on this spot.”
More than 700 Texas Children’s supporters, including many residents, leaders and donors from The Woodlands area, joined Friday’s groundbreaking events to help celebrate both the new hospital and Texas Children’s 60th birthday. Along with the ceremonial turning of the first shovels of dirt, the festivities included presentation of a birthday cake: local children, all former patients of the hospital, helped Wallace sing happy birthday and blow out the candles.
A video commemorating Texas Children’s 60 years of history was shown, and guests heard remarks from Wallace, long-time hospital supporter and Woodlands resident, Carol Garner, and from Carol Ann Demaret, mother of David Vetter, known widely as the “Bubble Boy.”
A peek inside
Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands will offer specialty pediatric care in cancer, cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, diabetes and endocrinology, urology, sports medicine, gastroenterology and nutrition, plastic surgery, otolaryngology, allergy and immunology, dermatology, adolescent medicine and physician rehabilitation.
Hospital facilities will include 24 emergency center rooms, 74 outpatient rooms, five radiology rooms, four operating rooms and 30 acute care beds at opening with plans of up to 200 beds. Ample free parking will be available with 1,000 spaces planned. Along with serving families throughout The Woodlands area, Texas Children’s anticipates serving families in counties throughout Greater North Houston including Montgomery, Walker, Grimes, Liberty, Harris, Polk, San Jacinto and Hardin.
Partnering with Nordstrom, The Woodlands
On the heels of the birthday and groundbreaking was another big announcement of Texas Children’s newest partnership. Wallace announced that national retailer Nordstrom has chosen the new pediatric hospital in The Woodlands as the beneficiary for the opening gala of its much-anticipated new Woodlands store.
“Houston has been a great home for us and we can’t wait to open our second full-line store at The Woodlands,” said Nora Cummings, vice president and regional manager for Nordstrom. “We’re honored to partner with Texas Children’s Hospital and through our opening gala support their new Pediatric Hospital in The Woodlands.”
All proceeds from the pre-opening event, slated for Wednesday, September 3, 2014, will go toward the new hospital. The new Nordstrom at The Woodlands opens Friday, September 5, 2014. Ticket information will be shared on Connect closer to the event.
Patients and families are the lifeblood of our organization. We want to hear your thoughts on how well we provide family centeredness in our patient care areas across the system.
To better understand best practices related to family centered care we have partnered with Institute for Patient and Family Centered Care (IPFCC), an organization dedicated to “advancing the understanding and practice of patient- and family-centered care in all settings where individuals and families receive health care.”
Below is a survey developed by the IPFCC, designed to help us better understand where we excel and still have growth related to family centered care system-wide. Please take five minutes to fill out this survey, providing your personal thoughts about family centered care in your patient care area. Families are an important piece of the nursing strategic plan, and your feedback will help ensure that any improvement effort we commence aligns with our needs.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TRQVJ2L
Our goal is to have everyone and anyone that works or provides care on any patient care unit to fill out this survey (inpatient, outpatient, EC, Pediatrics, Health Centers, etc.). This is an anonymous survey and is asking for your personal opinion! Please complete by Tuesday, February 18.
In just a few short months, the codes that health care organizations use to describe patient care will become standard across the globe. It’s the first time in more than 30 years that all health care organizations will use the same system for reporting patients’ diagnoses and procedures. The change that will make this sweeping impact is the mandated transition to the ICD-10 coding system on October 1.
Last year, Texas Children’s launched its efforts to be ready for the mandatory implementation of ICD-10. On October 1, the current ICD-9 code sets that have been used to report medical diagnoses for the last 30 years, as well as inpatient procedures, will be replaced by ICD-10 code sets.
“We believe that communicating this change clearly and consistently will help all of us make the transition,” said Texas Children’s Chief Safety Officer Dr. Joan Shook. “Some of the tools we’ve developed – like a fact sheet that answers frequently asked questions – are specific to this change, while other times we use existing hospital and provider publications to keep everyone informed.”
The transition to ICD-10 is required for organizations covered by the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA). This includes hospitals, clinics, laboratories and other providers of ancillary services (i.e., radiology, rehabilitation, psychiatry, home health, etc.).
What is ICD-10?
ICD-10 is the abbreviated term for the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases. It’s a coding system used to report and code diagnoses, injuries, impairments and other health problems and their manifestations. ICD-10 was implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1993 to replace ICD-9, the current coding system used at Texas Children’s. ICD-10 is the standard coding system used in almost every country in the world, except the United States.
So why the change to a system that seemingly worked in the U.S. for 30 years? The current ICD-9 system has simply run out of space to accommodate new diseases and procedures. The data fields are limited, are not sufficient for accurate medical research, and the system doesn’t support the exchange of health data with other countries. Because the system is 30 years old, it has many outdated or even obsolete terms and is not consistent with current medical practices.
Finally, it lacks sufficient detail to be able to understand exactly what care was given. Many discoveries have been made in the past few decades, and the structure of the current coding system is not designed to expand for the inclusion of specific details and new advances in medicine.
Why it matters
The specificity that the ICD-10 codes will allow is perhaps the most important change that will be realized with the conversion. The ICD-10 codes allow greater specificity and exactness in describing a patient’s diagnosis and in classifying inpatient procedures. For example, after the conversion to ICD-10, an accidental fall can be classified as a fall from a specific type of playground equipment (i.e., fall from playground slide), or asthma can be coded by degree of severity.
“This information will provide a better record for everyone, from providers to billing staff, on what care a patient receives,” said Texas Children’s Chief Nursing Officer Lori Armstrong. “And we all know that the more specific and comprehensive that data is, the more useful it becomes.”
The increased level of detail within ICD-10 more accurately reflects the care provided. Better quality data can reveal patterns of care and other insights that help caregivers make better decisions and achieve better outcomes.
From a financial perspective, conversion to ICD-10 allows performance-based payment systems, more accurate data and more accurate billing. The billing process is more streamlined, efficient and more robust, which helps prevent fraud and abuse.
“ICD-10 provides an opportunity for Texas Children’s to elevate the specificity and scope of our collective clinical documentation efforts,” said Robert Mattix, vice president of Revenue Cycle Administration. “Our organization-wide ICD-10 preparedness is critical to capturing information for quality measurements, such as AHRQ Pediatric Quality Indicators, CHCA complications and mortality, and appropriate third-party reimbursements.“
Getting ICD-10 ready
Texas Children’s ICD-10 preparedness teams already have been working diligently for months to ensure we are ready for the mandatory October 1 conversion. The most important action everyone else can take is to get educated and be ready for the transition, as it will impact physicians, coders, billing staff, nurses, lab, front desk and many other areas.
The two roles most affected by the ICD-10 conversion are physicians and coders. For the medical staff, Texas Children’s is partnering with Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) to provide e-learning videos. Physicians’ education will be specific to their respective specialties and will fulfill the education requirements for both Texas Children’s and BCM. The coder staff will attend an on-site ICD-10 coding boot-camp for training and education.
For the other impacted roles, the ICD-10 education team has prepared a role-specific curriculum offered online.
“If we all focus on educating ourselves over the coming months, the result will be a smooth transition come October 1,” said Myra Davis, senior vice president of Information Services. “In the end, the goal is worth it: to improve the quality of our operations and ensure even better outcomes for our patients.”
For more information
Today, Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace announced a new organization-wide mission statement. The new mission statement was approved by Texas Children’s Board of Trustees just before the holidays.
The mission statement: Texas Children’s mission is to create a healthier future for children and women throughout our global community by leading in patient care, education and research.
“This organization-wide statement gives all Texas Children’s entities a single focus: we are one Texas Children’s with one mission,” Wallace said. “Our mission statement is important. It tells the world who we are. It guides our growth and clarifies our vision. Since 1954, the core of our mission has not changed – to provide the best possible care. What has evolved is the way we do that.”
There has been a lot of change in the last several decades. Over the last 60 years, Texas Children’s has built recognized Centers of Excellence in pediatric subspecialties; created the nation’s first HMO for children; formed the largest pediatric primary care network in the country; and developed a global health program that’s channeling care to children and women all over the world. Our physical footprint includes three hospitals, three research facilities, more than 50 local primary care and subspecialty care practices, and we’re still growing.
“Today, Texas Children’s is a diverse and comprehensive global organization, intensely focused on a single mission that’s full of endless possibility,” Wallace said. “There’s still much to be done, but we already have so much to celebrate.”